If you ask people to choose words to describe Excel, chances are the answers will include adjectives such as 'powerful,' 'fast,' 'popular,' and even 'smart.'
HISTORY OF MICROSOFT EXCEL? Microsoft originally marketed a spreadsheet program called Multiplan in 1982, which was very popular on CP/M systems, but. Jan 28, 2016 The history of MS Office starts officially from November 19, 1990, when Office for Windows (also called MS Office 1.0) came out for use with Windows 2.0. Before Office 1.0, the basic elements of. Microsoft released two versions of Excel under the name 2016, one for Windows (22 September 2015) and one for Apple (9 July 2015 ). History of the spreadsheet (The Early Years): 1985 – Excel (Apple Macintosh) 1987 – Excel 2.0; 1990 – Excel 3.0; 1992 – Excel 4.0; 1993 – Excel w/VBA 5.0; 1995 – Excel 95; 1997 – Excel 97. This is why Microsoft initially released Excel for Mac users. But in the end, Jazz failed miserably, and Excel was later released for Windows users in November 1987. Many tech history buffs believe that if Lotus had simply released 123 to the Mac instead of working on Jazz, we might all be working on Lotus 123 now instead of Excel.
Here's another possibility: How about 'cool'?
Don't believe us? Read on for six of the coolest facts about Microsoft Excel.
Microsoft initially released Excel to Mac users as a strategic decision.
The major spreadsheet program at the time Excel was released in 1985 was called Lotus 123, but it was never developed for Mac users. Instead, Lotus decided to develop a new spreadsheet program for Mac users called Jazz. This is why Microsoft initially released Excel for Mac users. But in the end, Jazz failed miserably, and Excel was later released for Windows users in November 1987. Many tech history buffs believe that if Lotus had simply released 123 to the Mac instead of working on Jazz, we might all be working on Lotus 123 now instead of Excel.
It wasn't always going to be called Excel.
Microsoft considered other names for the program including 'Mr. Spreadsheet' and 'Master Plan' before deciding on 'Excel,' a clever hint to the many cells that make up the spreadsheets while declaring the excellence of the program. Some say that the name was chosen specifically because Microsoft wanted to suggest that its program excelled over Lotus 123.
It was the first application to use a toolbar.
Excel 3.0 is credited for introducing the toolbar, which became the standard for many desktop applications in the years to come.
It incorrectly assumes that the year 1900 is a leap year.
Surprisingly, Excel does have a few bugs; this is one of its most famous.
It actually started because Lotus 123 counted 1900 as a leap year. Excel used the same serial date system used by Lotus 123, thereby making it easier for users to move spreadsheets from one program to the other.
Although this bug could be corrected, many problems would ensue as a result, including almost all dates in Excel worksheets being decreased by one day. With 1900 as a leap year, the only incorrect dates are prior to March 1, 1900. As a result, the folks at Microsoft decided to include this bug in all the later versions of Excel.
Its rows and columns have increased.
This is probably not a surprise, but Excel can handle a lot more cells than it used to. Versions up to Excel 95 had a limit of 16,384 rows. Excel 97 through 2003 could handle 65,536 rows and 256 columns. By the time Excel 2007 came along, it offered 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns; that's a total of 17,179,869,184 cells. That's a lot of data.
The earlier versions included some incredible video games.
Apparently the developers got tired of looking at grids, because earlier versions of Excel contained some amazing Easter eggs.
Excel 95 contained a form of the popular game Doom. Users simply had to scroll to row 95, select the entire row, press the tab key once, click on the ? icon and select 'About Microsoft Excel,' press Ctrl, Alt and Shift at the same time and use the mouse to click on technical support. This would bring you to a window called 'The Hall of Tortured Souls,' which you could navigate to see pictures of some of the Office 95 developers.
Another Easter egg was contained in Excel 97 in the form of a 3D flight simulator. To find it, you needed to press the F5 key, enter X97:L97 in the lower text box next to 'Reference,' press the tab key once, and then hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys and use your mouse to click the Chart Wizard.
Excel 2000 contained a very decent racing action game. To find it, you merely had to save a blank file as a web page, choose 'publish' and 'add interactivity,' open the page with Internet Explorer, scroll down to row 2000, highlight the row, press tab to make column WC active, and click on the Office icon while holding Control, Alt and Shift.
Sadly, the more modern Excel versions do not contain Easter eggs such as these; at least, not to our knowledge. According to urban legend, Bill Gates forbade developers to continue, fearing that the company might be sued.
Now that's cool.
For Microsoft, 1987 brings the announcement of Excel for Windows, we ship our first CD-ROM application and Microsoft announces the 'New Mouse' which is nicknamed the 'Dove Soap Bar'.
Previous Episodes:
The History of Microsoft - 1975
The History of Microsoft - 1976
The History of Microsoft - 1977
The History of Microsoft - 1978
The History of Microsoft - 1979
The History of Microsoft - 1980
The History of Microsoft - 1981
The History of Microsoft - 1982
The History of Microsoft - 1983
The History of Microsoft - 1984
1987 Revenue/Headcount
The 1987 fiscal year-end sales total $345,890,000. The 1987 fiscal Year employee headcount totals 1,816 people.
Official Subsidiary Launched: Microsoft MS Iberica S.R.L. (Spain)
February 26, 1987
A total redesign of corporate materials is introduced. Spearheading the new corporate identity is a new logo, 'Pacman Logo,' earmarked by its simplicity, and a clean, uncluttered design. Says designer Scott Baker, 'The former logo ( the 'Blibbet' ( was more in keeping with how we saw our company five years ago.' The new logo, in Helvetica italic typeface, has a slash between the 'o' and 's' to emphasize the 'soft' part of the name and convey motion and speed.
April 2, 1987
Microsoft and IBM announce OS/2. This is the first product to be announced as a result of the Joint Development Agreement between Microsoft and IBM in August 1985.
May 1, 1987
Bill Gates throws the first pitch to start the Seattle Mariners baseball game.
June 26, 1987
In honor of the birthday of Buck Ferguson, Director of Investor Relations, a 300-lb., 16-foot duck appears in 'Lake Bill.' This is part of a running gag about Buck's concern over too many ducks in the pond.
July 30, 1987
Microsoft acquires Forethought, the developer of PowerPoint, a leading desktop presentation application.
August 31, 1987
Microsoft announces the 'New Mouse', 1.0, a plug-compatible mouse. The design of the mouse is nicknamed the 'Dove Soap Bar'.
September 8, 1987
Microsoft ships its first CD-ROM application, Microsoft Bookshelf, a collection of 10 of the most popular and useful reference works on a single CD-ROM disk.
September 14, 1987
Microsoft unveils Works for DOS, a breakthrough productivity software package for Home/Small Business workers.
October 6, 1987
Microsoft announces Excel for Windows offering unprecedented functionality, presentation capabilities, and customizability to spreadsheet users. It ships November 19.
October 13, 1987
Microsoft acquires InterMail, an electronic mail program for Apple Macintosh systems developed by Interactive Network Technologies Inc. It will ship one month later as Microsoft Mail 1.0 for the Mac.
December 9, 1987
Windows 2.0 and Windows/386 ships to dealers and distributors.
Other Products Shipped in 1987: PageView, Quick C 1.0, Microsoft C Optimizing Compiler, Quick Basic 4.0, XENIX System V/286 2.23, Word 4.0 for DOS, Word 3.0 for XENIX, Macro Assembler 5.0, Chart 3.0, Project 4.0, Word 3.01 for the Mac, OS/2 Software Development Kit, MS-DOS Manager 1.0, BASIC and PASCAL compilers for XENIX System V/286, MS-DOS v 3.3, Quick Basic 3.0, MS-DOS CD-ROM Extensions 1.0, Fortran Optimizing Compiler 4.0, Windows Software Development Kit 1.03, Multiplan 3.0
Notable new hires: Mike Appe, Melinda French (Gates), Jonathan Lazarus, Peter Neupert
In the World:
§ Treaty: Soviet Secretary Gorbachev and U.S. President Reagan sign the INF Treaty, reducing nuclear stockpiles.
§ Stock Market: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 2,000, then 2,500, for the first time, before plummeting back to 1738 barely three months later on Black Monday – the second largest one-day percentage decline in stock market history.
§ People: The world population reaches 5 billion. The largest external hard drive.
§ Flight: 19-year-old West German Mathias Rust lands a private plane in Red Square, Moscow. He is arrested and serves 432 days in jail.
§ Music: Guns N' Roses' debut album Appetite for Destruction is the #1 album in the U.S. and Johnny Logan from Ireland wins the Eurovision Song Contest with Hold Me Now.
§ Typhoon: Category 5 Typhoon Nina pounds the Philippines with 165 MPH winds and a devastating storm surge, killing 1,036 and causing an estimated $40 million worth of damage.
§ Court: The U.S. Senate rejects the controversial nomination of Robert Bork for Supreme Court Justice.
§ Music: Guns N' Roses' debut album Appetite for Destruction is the #1 album in the U.S. and Johnny Logan from Ireland wins the Eurovision Song Contest with Hold Me Now.
§ Typhoon: Category 5 Typhoon Nina pounds the Philippines with 165 MPH winds and a devastating storm surge, killing 1,036 and causing an estimated $40 million worth of damage.
§ Court: The U.S. Senate rejects the controversial nomination of Robert Bork for Supreme Court Justice.
§ Transfer: Portugal agrees to return sovereignty over Macau to China in 1999.
§ TV: The Cosby Show, Night Court, and ALF are among the top U.S. television programs. Full House, thirtysomething, and A Different World premiere.
§ Middle East: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict erupts into the First Intifada in the West Bank and Gaza.
§ Computers: IBM introduces the PS/2, popularizing the 3.5' floppy and bringing 256-color displays to home PCs for the first time through the introduction of the VGA standard.
§ Iran-Contra: Oliver North, John Poindexter and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger testify before Congress about the Iran-Contra Affair.
§ New Age: The Harmonic Convergence is observed around the world.
§ Games: Final Fantasy premieres on the Nintendo videogame system.
§ PTL: Americans are mesmerized by scandals surrounding televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and their PTL Club.
§ Earthquake: The magnitude 5.9 Whittier earthquake strikes the Los Angeles area, leaving 100 injured and eight dead.
§ Drugs: The FDA approves anti-AIDS drug AZT and antidepressant Prozac for sale in the U.S. market.
§ Nazi: Former Gestapo leader Klaus Barbie is convicted of war crimes in Lyon, France.
§ Chips: Sun introduces the SPARC processor.
§ Yachting: The America's Cup returns to the U.S. as San Diego Yacht Club challenger Stars & Stripes '87 defeats Australian defender Kookaburra III.
Excel Introduced
§ Movies: Top grossing movies of the year include Three Men and a Baby, Fatal Attraction, The Untouchables, and Lethal Weapon. The Last Emperor nets Oscars for Best Movie and Best Director (Bernardo Bertolucci). Sous le soleil de Satan (Under the Sun of Satan) wins the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
§ The first FAX boards, which let people send and receive faxes on a PC, are shown at COMDEX.
History Of Microsoft Excel Capabilities
§ Sun Microsystems debuts its first RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) workstation.
Microsoft Excel History Timeline
Paul Simon wins the best-album Grammy for 'Graceland.'
