Although a text-mode program, Sidekick's window-based interface echoed that of the Apple Macintosh and anticipated the eventual look of Microsoft Windows 2.0.

It included a personal calendar, text editor (with WordStar-like command interface), calculator, ASCII chart, address book, and phone dialer.

[1] Sidekick 1.0 included Calculator, Notepad, Appointment Calendar, Auto Dialer, ASCII Table and other tools.

Sidekick 1.0 Plus included a broader selection of calculators (Business, Scientific, Programmer, Formula), a 9-file Notepad text editor, Appointment Book and Scheduler, a terminal communication tool and ASCII Table.

In addition to variants on and enhancements to the 1.0 features, Plus included a 9-file Outliner, a file and directory manager, Clipboard, and supported Expanded Memory and a RAM disk.

Starfish's co-founder Sonia Lee Kahn designed the look and feel of Sidekick 95, which was launched simultaneously with Windows 95 with great success.

New/modified features included: Sidekick Deluxe added more than 40 content files for access to online information, Dashboard 3.0 for Windows, and the "Organized for Success" video.

It included Write (a word processor with a spell check feature), EarthTime (a clock), Expense (record keeping tools), Reminder (scheduler), Phone Dialer (communication), Contact Manager and Calendar (with an added daily Almanac).

Address tools added drag and drop, ability to create web pages from Sidekick Cardfiles (via WP add-on).

[6] Rating it as "Excellent" in all categories, InfoWorld stated in November 1984 that "whoever wrote this gem understands Murphy's law ... Sidekick stands in the shadows behind whatever program you are using".

Noting that for programmers, the software was less expensive "and a lot handier" than a Texas Instruments hexadecimal calculator, the magazine concluded that "Sidekick is a time-saving, frustrating-saving bargain [and] is the first step to making paper and pencil obsolete".

[8] Jerry Pournelle praised Sidekick in Byte in October 1984: "Philippe Kahn ... now has a product that IBM PC users won't be able to do without.

[9] Elsewhere in the issue, the magazine stated that Sidekick's existence "seems to point out a major drawback in quite a few integrated software packages.

Why should owners of advanced, multifunction business programs that are supposedly easy to use and that claim to solve all problems be compelled to purchase a utility like Sidekick?