Microsoft Excel turns 40! Nostalgic images show how much has changed

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Spreadsheets did not do much to excite computer users when they first invented, but it has proven to be very enduring.

The initial spreadsheet was created to provide accountants with a more efficient means of performing calculations.

However, as seen in these nostalgic photos, the first piece of software was considerably different from the advanced tool that office workers are familiar with today.

Since the early days, the program has undergone a significant transformation, evolving from a basic, monochrome system that was primarily used for data entry into a sophisticated, AI-powered mathematical powerhouse with a vibrant graphical user interface.

This legendary computer program was first made available to the public in September 1985, however its creation started as early as November of the previous year.

That means the Notepad app is even older than the Windows operating system itself.

Since its inception, Excel has encountered its fair share of challenges, yet it has evolved into the dominant spreadsheet application for an estimated considerable 1.1 billion individuals worldwide.

Excel was first introduced on Apple Macintosh computers prior to being one of the key products of Microsoft.

Pada bulan November 1984, jurutera Bill Gates memulakan pembangunan Excel sebagai penganti program papan hitam Microsoft yang lebih lama, Multiplan.

In 1985, the software was originally launched at the prestigious Tavern on the Green restaurant in New York, as an exclusive for the Apple Macintosh.

In contrast to its modern counterpart, Excel Version 1 was relatively straightforward, yet it nonetheless boasted numerous familiar features.

Users can create intricate tables, utilise the system for calculations, sort data, and create basic graphs.

Although its appearance may seem outdated by today's standards, Excel has quickly gained a reputation for its potential and user-friendliness.

In a 1985 review published in the 'MacUser' magazine, a critic described Excel as "the Uzi submachine gun of the business world."

The software was later released on the Windows operating system in September of the following year.

In those days, Excel faced stiff competition from a software called '1-2-3' developed by Lotus Software.

This software was designed to operate on IBM's advanced personal computers and was regarded as highly advanced for its era.

Upon its introduction, 1-2-3 held a strong grip on the market for spreadsheet software, having outshone Microsoft's previous offerings.

As soon as Excel arrived on Windows computers, people were struck by how much more accessible and user-friendly it was compared to its predecessors.

By the early 1990s, Microsoft's pioneering software had become more user-friendly, thus pushing 1-2-3 aside and making Excel the market's number one spreadsheet application.

This takeover would eventually mark the demise of Lotus Software, at the same time tightening Microsoft's grip as one of the largest software industry giants.

Microsoft continued updating the software regularly until it rejuvenated Excel and the rest of the 'Office' suite when Windows 95 was released in 1995.

Microsoft Excel 95 is renowned for secretly having an 'Easter Egg' embedded within its system when it was being developed.

By using Excel according to a particular set of steps, users can discover a hidden first-person video game called 'Hall of Tortured Souls'.

The user could stroll around a 3D environment to come across a picture of the developers along with their names displayed.

In line with this custom, Microsoft Excel 97, introduced in 1996, also sported a concealed flight simulator game that could be accessed via a special licence code.

This version of the software marked the introduction of 'Clippy', Microsoft's virtual assistant, which was added to assist users who were having a hard time with the software.

Ever since the year 2000, Microsoft has consistently upgraded its software every three years, with the most recent version released in the year 2021.

Throughout its evolution, Microsoft Excel has evolved into one of the most highly used and crucial software applications across various businesses globally.

The significance of using Excel is evident not just from the large number of users, but also from the numerous instances of mishaps and disasters that arose due to unsuitable and inadequate spreadsheet formatting.

In 2010, the UK's MI5 intelligence agency openly admitted that they had inadvertently recorded 134 wrong phone numbers in their records, attributed to a 'data entry error' in their computer systems.

It was then revealed that the programme had been instructed to truncate the figures to zero, so that the final few digits of the telephone numbers were all replaced with zeros.

In 2020, the Public Health England organisation lost a batch of 15,841 confirmed Covid-19 test results when their workers encountered a file that was too large for the Excel programme to process.

Excel was getting too crucial in research that scientists had no option but to rename several human genes to prevent the software from misconfiguring them.

They had long said that there was no method to prevent Excel from converting gene names like MARCH1 into dates such as 1-Mar.

The researchers eventually found that it was easier to rename 27 gene names chosen by humans rather than look for an alternative to Microsoft Excel.

For those who are deeply passionate about this indispensable tool, there is also the Microsoft Excel World Championship held annually in Las Vegas.

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