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"Excel's team produced about 13,000 lines of code per staff year. Lotus's team produced 1,500 lines of code per staff year." Maybe this is one of the reason Mi
by mixmax 19y ago
"Excel's team produced about 13,000 lines of code per staff year. Lotus's team produced 1,500 lines of code per staff year."
Maybe this is one of the reason Microsoft beat the crap out of Lotus, starting from a position where Lotus had 90% marketshare and they had none.
- edw519 19y agoI wouldn't come to that conclusion for several reasons: 1. Lines of code is an almost meaningless measure. 1,500 lines of code can be (and often is) much better than 13,000 Lines of code. 2. Microsoft (by default) had a huge head start over Lotus in Windows apps (They wrote the OS, for crying out loud.) 3. Microsoft (by default) had a huge head start over Lotus because of their marriage to the hardware manufacturers and their borderline illegal business practices "If you put Lotus on that box, we won't give you your discount on Windows". (I have no idea if this exact arrangement was ever made, but you get the idea.) If Excel and Lotus were both being developed today as web apps, the story could very easily be different. At least the playing field would be more level.
- mixmax 19y agoLines of code is like democracy - a terrible system, but less terrible than the other ones.