Thread by @trengriffin

1/ The origin of what would be called Microsoft Excel [original code name Plan 2.0 and then Odyssey] can be traced to a retreat at the Red Lion hotel in Bellevue in October of 1983. Bill Gates, Jeff Raikes, Doug Klunder, Jabe Blumenthal, Pete Higgins and others were there.

2/ Microsoft Multiplan version 1.00 for MS-DOS shipped on August 1, 1982 and had a valuable feature called re-calc. In 1981 there were about 70 or 80 different personal computer architectures (e.g., 6502, Apple II, Z80, CPM/80, MS-DOS, CPM/86). Mutliplan ran on all of them.

3/ January 20, 1983 Lotus shipped 16-bit 1-2-3, which finished a short fiscal year with about $53 million in revenue. The three key features of Lotus 1-2-3 were: faster spreadsheets, bigger spreadsheets and built-in business graphics, all of which were well mapped to the IBM PC.

4/ Bill Gates: “Multiplan targeting the 8-bit machines was a huge error. When we talk about, 'Are we aiming too low, in terms of system requirements,' we often think: 'Is this another case like Multiplan?' because it was a great product, but the basic strategy was wrong."

5/ In 1984 a controversial decision was made to focus Excel on graphical user interface which meant the first target for Excel wouldn't be PC character user interface. but rather the Apple Macintosh. Bill Gates: “We picked the Mac and they didn’t. They just didn’t do it.” 1989

6/ Bill Gates: “At [the] time [Microsoft committed to the Macintosh] we decided our app strategy would be to emphasize the Macintosh and win there, then roll back to the PC when graphical interfaces become popular.” InfoWorld, January 29, 1990

7/ Jeff Raikes: “Lotus Jazz was going to ship a little before Excel so we were trying to fend it off and so we put together a bundle of Microsoft Word, Microsoft File, Microsoft Chart and Microsoft Multiplan.” The "first version of Microsoft Office was in January of 1985."

8/ 1-2-3 was doing so well on DOS that making Mac the first bet with Excel and doing Windows later was low downside but big upside. "Porting code to other platforms always took longer than many people thought. People forget how long it took to create an integrated Office suite."

9/ My favorite DM response: "People forget how audacious the decision was. Mac wasn’t selling well, had a black and white tiny screen, etc." But just matching 1-2-3 wasn't the right decision. The best decision was the big upside but small downside bet on Excel on the Mac.

10/ Since enough people liked this thread more detail: IBM considered the Motorola 68000 for the first IBM PC (which Apple would later use in the Mac). Bill Gates argued in favor of the 68000. IBM chose Intel since the Motorola was too expensive and 68000 wasn't really ready.

11/ When "the Excel on Mac before IBM PC" decision was made by Microsoft the 286 based PCs were thought to be too slow for Windows to run well. Windows needed the 386. Putting Microsoft developers on the Mac moved them along the learning curve on doing graphics applications.

12/ The exclusive given to Apple was for a limited period and the delay in the Mac shipment meant the period was quite short anyway. Excel was a depth application; Works was for breadth users. Not trying to create all on one applications like Symphony enabled Microsoft to focus

13/ Originally APPL was going to pay MSFT a $10 per MAC shipped royalty but that ended when MSFT convinced APPL that they needed third party developers. So MSFT was able to direct to end customers on the Mac. A "switcher" was created to allow shifting between applications.

14/ Did Motorola gift the market to Intel by not pricing the 68000 lower as was done with DOS vs CP/M? Did Motorola not take:
(1) demand elasticity; and
(2) the fact that they were creating a pricing umbrella for competitors,
into account?

15/ IBM's decision to go with Intel rather that use Motorola's 68000 for the PC is 1) any interesting and important part of history; and 2) an example of "Rashomon effects" in that some people who were actually involved remember events in different ways. I must be very careful.

16/ Charles Simonyi describes the importance of Xerox PARC and Bob Taylor who “wrote the first check for ARPANET [and then at PARC] was responsible for the personal computer, at least the first personal computer. ...He was a great people collector.” archive.computerhistory.org/resources/acce…

17/ A history of Xerox PARC is here: parc.com/about-parc/par… "the world’s first bit-mapped display, graphical user interface with windows and icons, WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) editor, local area network/file storage, and commercial mouse." + Ethernet & laser printer.

18/ The Alto PC was first conceived in December 1972 by PARC’s Butler Lampson as described in this memo: history-computer.com/Library/AltoMe… One person called his Alto PC a “gozunda” as in “it goes under the desk.”

19/ Simonyi, Lampson and other colleagues created the first WYSIWYG text editor at PARC. Bravo software ran on Alto machines which were not affordable for mass markets. An initial run of 80 units was produced by Designlabs. Chuck Thacker said just Alto’s BOM was $12K.

20/ Simonyi: "2001 [A Space Odyssey] was a new film and the displays there had a big impact on me. I also remember some science fiction I read in the late '50s that described CAD-CAM, which is a form of WYSIWYG." The phrase was borrowed from Flip Wilson's routine on "Laugh In."

21/ Simonyi: "I realized I was a snob was when I saw VisiCalc running on an Apple machine. The word processing programs [at the time] I never took seriously because we were so much better on the Alto. But when I saw VisiCalc I said 'wow'."

22/ “Jobs kept saying that he couldn’t believe that Xerox had not commercialized the technology. “You’re sitting on a gold mine,” he shouted. “I can’t believe Xerox is not taking advantage of this.” Page 97 amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Wal…

23/ Bill Gates: “Xerox did a poor of taking commercial advantage... because its machines were expensive… Translating great research into products that sell is still a big problem for many companies." Page 58 amazon.com/Road-Ahead-Bil…