> "Then, to throw a little extra wrinkle into the mix, there was Lotus’s product strategy on the PC. If Improv wasn’t your thing, maybe their other Windows spreadsheet, 1-2-3/Windows, would feel more comfortable. Or their other-other option, Lotus Symphony. Or their other-other-other option, Lotus Works. Or their other-other-other-other option, Lotus 1-2-3 for DOS Release 4, which went on sale in 1994."
I had my first experience with spreadsheets in the early ’90s using Improv (in Hanover, home of CeBIT, there were lots of exotic computers available cheaply on the “second-hand” market).
Thanks to my experience with Improv, I later found it extremely easy to work with multidimensional data. In fact, I recently built an in-browser version of it. (Regardless of that, I highly recommend that everyone take a look at “PivotTable.js” [1]. Essentially, a direct implementation of the Lotus Improv UI.
Author here. Pito Salas, creator of Improv and inventor of the pivot table, dropped a note in the comments section of the blog. He said, "This article is an amazing tour the force analysis of Improv ... what I've read is accurate and the analysis is on point."
So, hey, if you're on the fence about reading, just remember: Pito likes it!
I really enjoy your writing on StoneTools. Sorry to post 'housekeeping' here but I couldn't find a way to reach you and it may be helpful in solving why so many people here on HN and over at TwoStopBits have reported trouble reaching your site due to bogus security errors.
Over time, I'd just accepted that I'd never be able to reach your site again but I was really interested to learn more about Lotus Improv on the Next! So, today I spent an hour with Claude.ai doing command line testing through various internet connections using different ISPs and determined that in my case, it's because my ASUS router, a quite popular brand used by millions, comes with a security setting turned on by default, which uses block lists supplied by Trend Micro and "Stonetools.ghost.io/" is blocked under the category "Phishing."
I'm sure this is a false positive, as there's nothing of concern on your site but it still probably impacts quite a lot of people who get a weird error and have no way to let you know. Unfortunately, there's no way in the browser to get around this error nor any way on an ASUS router to manually whitelist a site. I did submit a request to review your site at Trend Micro's website but it's much stronger if you as the site owner do so. I also asked the LLM to prepare the summary below. I hope it helps and please keep up the great work. We need more good retro computer writing!
====================
What's happening: a company called Trend Micro runs a popular website-rating service which many home routers and security products include by default. Trend Micro currently flags stonetools.ghost.io/ as "Dangerous" saying it may contain malicious software or phishing. Any router using that service interrupts the connection and, unfortunately, the error which appears in a user's browser contains nothing indicating it was blocked at the router, only a cryptic message saying "Secure Connection Failed" and "SSL ERROR RX RECORD TOO LONG", making it look like an issue with your site. Disabling the blocking requires changing four different router settings on different screens. The big "AiProtection On/Off" button alone doesn't do it. That's one reason it took a while to identify the root cause.
How I confirmed it: After tracking down all the settings and rebooting several times, your site now loads fine! It also loads fine from a phone on mobile data or through a VPN, so your site and your host are working. You can see the rating yourself at https://global.sitesafety.trendmicro.com/ and enter stonetools.ghost.io.
What to do:
1. Check your blog for anything odd: unfamiliar links, scripts or code injections you didn't add, and embedded content from other sites (old posts too). If you find anything, remove it first.
2. If the site is clean, go to that Site Safety Center page, click Check Now, then Reclassify Request, choose the rating Safe, and submit. Trend Micro will email you a confirmation link, so click it. Then wait for their reply, which can take a few days.
3. Forward this to Ghost support too. They host many blogs and may be able to get this reviewed faster, and they can tell you if anything on their side might have triggered it.
Until it's fixed, readers who can't get through can try their phone on mobile data, or turn off web filtering in their router.
4 comments
[ 2.4 ms ] story [ 15.3 ms ] threadPresented without comment
Thanks to my experience with Improv, I later found it extremely easy to work with multidimensional data. In fact, I recently built an in-browser version of it. (Regardless of that, I highly recommend that everyone take a look at “PivotTable.js” [1]. Essentially, a direct implementation of the Lotus Improv UI.
[1] https://pivottable.js.org/examples/
So, hey, if you're on the fence about reading, just remember: Pito likes it!
I really enjoy your writing on StoneTools. Sorry to post 'housekeeping' here but I couldn't find a way to reach you and it may be helpful in solving why so many people here on HN and over at TwoStopBits have reported trouble reaching your site due to bogus security errors.
Over time, I'd just accepted that I'd never be able to reach your site again but I was really interested to learn more about Lotus Improv on the Next! So, today I spent an hour with Claude.ai doing command line testing through various internet connections using different ISPs and determined that in my case, it's because my ASUS router, a quite popular brand used by millions, comes with a security setting turned on by default, which uses block lists supplied by Trend Micro and "Stonetools.ghost.io/" is blocked under the category "Phishing."
I'm sure this is a false positive, as there's nothing of concern on your site but it still probably impacts quite a lot of people who get a weird error and have no way to let you know. Unfortunately, there's no way in the browser to get around this error nor any way on an ASUS router to manually whitelist a site. I did submit a request to review your site at Trend Micro's website but it's much stronger if you as the site owner do so. I also asked the LLM to prepare the summary below. I hope it helps and please keep up the great work. We need more good retro computer writing!
====================
What's happening: a company called Trend Micro runs a popular website-rating service which many home routers and security products include by default. Trend Micro currently flags stonetools.ghost.io/ as "Dangerous" saying it may contain malicious software or phishing. Any router using that service interrupts the connection and, unfortunately, the error which appears in a user's browser contains nothing indicating it was blocked at the router, only a cryptic message saying "Secure Connection Failed" and "SSL ERROR RX RECORD TOO LONG", making it look like an issue with your site. Disabling the blocking requires changing four different router settings on different screens. The big "AiProtection On/Off" button alone doesn't do it. That's one reason it took a while to identify the root cause.
How I confirmed it: After tracking down all the settings and rebooting several times, your site now loads fine! It also loads fine from a phone on mobile data or through a VPN, so your site and your host are working. You can see the rating yourself at https://global.sitesafety.trendmicro.com/ and enter stonetools.ghost.io.
What to do:
1. Check your blog for anything odd: unfamiliar links, scripts or code injections you didn't add, and embedded content from other sites (old posts too). If you find anything, remove it first.
2. If the site is clean, go to that Site Safety Center page, click Check Now, then Reclassify Request, choose the rating Safe, and submit. Trend Micro will email you a confirmation link, so click it. Then wait for their reply, which can take a few days.
3. Forward this to Ghost support too. They host many blogs and may be able to get this reviewed faster, and they can tell you if anything on their side might have triggered it.
Until it's fixed, readers who can't get through can try their phone on mobile data, or turn off web filtering in their router.