04/08/96 FOR PCS, PAPERLESS POST-ITS

FOR PCS, PAPERLESS POST-ITS

IT'S A RARE OCCASION WHEN a simple invention or product turns into a multimillion-dollar success story. Take Post-It notes, those little paper message pads that office workers use to stick notes on contracts and faxes. Hard to imagine that adding non-marring glue to one side of the message paper would make it an office-supply mainstay for 3M over the last 15 years. Now, the company, based in St. Paul, Minn., is hoping a paperless version of Post-Its will be just as popular.
Post-It Software Notes, a $19.95 program for Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and the Mac operating system, puts a virtual Post-It notes dispenser on the computer desktop. Workers merely click on the pad and a single ``sheet'' is torn off that can be used to post quick notes. The software even allows users to set alarms for each note--say, a reminder for a lunch date--and can work with such E-mail programs as cc:Mail or Microsoft Mail. 3M offers trial software at its Web site: http://www.mmm.com.
EDITED BY IRA SAGER By Paul Eng