The compiler was subsequently repackaged by Microsoft under a distribution agreement as Microsoft C version 2.0.[4] Microsoft developed their own C compiler that was released in April 1985 as Microsoft C Compiler 3.0.[5] Lattice was purchased by SAS Institute in 1987 and rebranded as SAS/C. After this, support for other platforms dwindled until compiler development ceased for all platforms except IBM mainframes. The product is still available in versions that run on other platforms, but these are cross compilers that only produce mainframe code.
In a 1983 review of five C compilers for the IBM PC, BYTE chose Lattice C as the best in the "superior quality, but expensive and unsuited to the beginner" category. It cited the software's "quick compile and execution times, small incremental code, best documentation and consistent reliability".[6]PC Magazine that year similarly praised Lattice C's documentation and compile-time and runtime performance, and stated that it was slightly superior to the CI-C86 and c-systems C compilers.[3]
References
^"Software News". InfoWorld. Vol. 4, no. 22. Palo Alto CA: Popular Computing. June 7, 1982. p. 61. ISSN0199-6649. Lifeboat Associates' new Lattice C Compiler for the IBM Personal Computer produces relocatable machine code in Intel's 8086 object module format and takes advantage of the 8086 instruction set.
^"Software". Computerworld. 19 (15). Framingham, MA: CW Communications: 71. April 15, 1985. ISSN0010-4841. Microsoft has announced an enhanced version of its Microsoft C Compiler for the IBM Personal Computer… A vendor spokesman said Version 3.0 is the first C compiler developed internally by Microsoft.