cross-posted from: https://reddthat.com/post/48301764
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this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2025
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I suppose I'm gonna have to be "that guy" again:
40 years ago, Microsoft did not "invent Excel". They developed yet another spreadsheet application and called it "Excel", presumably in a moment of coke-fueled hubris. (I mean, seriously, "Excel" as a product name? We don't think about that much these days, because we have gotten used to that name, but if you didn't already know about MS Excel, how high on your own supply do you need to be to call a software product that?)
The actual invention of the spreadsheet was done by other people. The earliest example was probably Visicalc for the Apple II, and a more prominent example predating Excel was Lotus 1-2-3.
Sorry to be so nitpicky, but urban legends like "Microsoft invented the spreadsheet", "Microsoft invented word processors", "MIcrosoft invented operating systems", "Apple invented GUIs", "Apple invented the computer mouse", "Apple invented portable MP3 players", "Apple invented smartphones" and the like form the base for some very distorted narratives about how our world works, and I don't like it.
I'm a bit confused by your post. Who is actually making the claims you're refuting? I don't see anyone saying anything about the invention of spreadsheets at all
Separately, I always just assumed that "Excel" was a pun on the fact that it handles cells
Excel is an excellent name for the software and I have no idea why they dedicated so much of their rant to it. If you want to talk about high on your own supply, look at Apple's....well, anything, but iwork in particularly.
Well, just so we're clear, the competition included WordPerfect and Lotus Symphony.
Excel feels right in line with that.
It makes some sense. At the time computer stuff was office stuff. They named software suites the same way they named photocopiers and desk lamps. "Ah, yeah, here's our LightMaster 2000 model. Really the best photons for your eyeball productivity. Please consider our Lightbulb Pro expansion as well".
The 80s were wild, because you were out there playing some videogames and then suddenly stumbled upon a bunch of accessories and content clearly meant for a balding, extremely sexually frustrated man in their late 40s.
Don't ask me if that was better or worse than living in a swamp of content intended exclusively for 12 year olds. I'm not ready for that question.
Why do you have to be that guy? Neither the OP nor any commenter has said that Microsoft invented spreadsheets, or even vaguely implied it. You're arguing with the void.
Indeed. They invented Multiplan. Which they later renamed to Excel when they ported it to their system (it was a MacOS thing originally).