5 ms·

Microsoft: The Early Days (2000)

74 points by kristianp 8y ago

mbrumlow 8y ago
This was a good read, but now the colors are all messed up. Nothing looks normal after looking at that green background for so long...
- jccalhoun 8y ago
  Holy Crap. That is what happened. I read it and then went to look up Multiplan and everything seemed pink. I was a little worried.
- senozhatsky 8y ago
  He also mentions: > Richard Brodie's published books include: > Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme http://www.memecentral.com/votm.htm http://www.memecentral.com/votm.htm I regret I clicked... -ss
ktpsns 8y ago
> My mission: write the world's first wordprocessor with a spreadsheet user-interface. Can somebody elaborate on this?
- ratboy666 8y ago
  The original Word for DOS had a user interface (for command selection) similar to MultiPlan, which was (similar) to VisiCalc. Windows was not yet a thing.
- cityzen 8y ago
  Yes! Well, sort of, but a little backstory... Yesterday, I believe, there was an article posted here called, “Perhaps it is simpler to say that Intel…was disrupted”. It was written by Steven Sinofsky (who I wasn't familiar with) but had a look at his Medium posts. There was an interesting article there titled, "Design for an “Audience of One” (https://medium.learningbyshipping.com/audience-of-one-107baddbe38f https://medium.learningbyshipping.com/audience-of-one-107bad...) Funny enough, there is a quote in there, "Did you know that a spreadsheet is a much better word processor than a word processor? After all, a word processor is just a spreadsheet with one cell." That design for an audience of one was a great read. It may not answer all your questions but I think it will at least point you in the right direction of what he is talking about. Btw, Steven Sinofsky is the former president of the windows division at M$.
  - seanmcdirmid 8y ago
    Sinofsky also took the blame for Microsoft’s Mexican stand-off culture when he was fired, though I think it was mainly billg and Balmer’s fault.
    - ThrowawayR2 8y ago
      If anecdotes are to be believed, Sinofsky wasn't exactly an unwilling participant either, though. Reportedly, he had no problems with squashing or grabbing control of projects that infringed on Windows' turf.
      - seanmcdirmid 8y ago
        Oh, he was definitely complicit. But he unjustly takes the fall for it all when it was a wider MS problem.
- UncleSlacky 8y ago
  I thought it would have been the word processor in Lotus Symphony, but apparently that only came out in 1984: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Symphony_(MS-DOS) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Symphony_(MS-DOS)
llaolleh 8y ago
Why did this guy have that super green background??!!! Everything is pink =(.
- wetpaws 8y ago
  https://outline.com/6jZFjf https://outline.com/6jZFjf
krylon 8y ago
When the father of a friend retired and cleaned out his office, I ended up with Multiplan manual. It's kind of funny, because I have never used Multiplan or even seen it run, and these days I find myself swearing at Microsoft for not providing decent manuals (or any manuals at all) for many of their products. And one day, I might even read that thing, just because I can. ;-)
2bitencryption 8y ago
"Meme Central, (C) 1996" oh my god. what a visionary.
- n4r9 8y ago
  Hah, "memetics" had been a thing for a long time by then. Easy to forget that Dawkins coined the term way back in 1976.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- toopsss 8y ago
  Not so much https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/1994/10/godwin-if-2/amp https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/1994/10/godwin-if...
- firemancoder 8y ago
  Eh, not exactly. Domain was registered in 2002. Still not a bad prediction tho
sram1337 8y ago
You can remove the green background with the Basic Formatting chrome extension and make this (and other unstyled sites) easier to read. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/basic-formatting/afeafeendipkcblhmnpmaloflafkodei https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/basic-formatting/a... Shameless self plug here :)
- wluu 8y ago
  Or just open the dev tools and remove the bgcolor attribute from the body tag? Pretty simple.
bdcravens 8y ago
Still committed to Microsoft after all those years: <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12">

74 points by kristianp 8y ago

This was a good read, but now the colors are all messed up. Nothing looks normal after looking at that green background for so long...

jccalhoun 8y ago
Holy Crap. That is what happened. I read it and then went to look up Multiplan and everything seemed pink. I was a little worried.
senozhatsky 8y ago
He also mentions: > Richard Brodie's published books include: > Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme http://www.memecentral.com/votm.htm http://www.memecentral.com/votm.htm I regret I clicked... -ss

ktpsns 8y ago

> My mission: write the world's first wordprocessor with a spreadsheet user-interface. Can somebody elaborate on this?

ratboy666 8y ago
The original Word for DOS had a user interface (for command selection) similar to MultiPlan, which was (similar) to VisiCalc. Windows was not yet a thing.
cityzen 8y ago
Yes! Well, sort of, but a little backstory... Yesterday, I believe, there was an article posted here called, “Perhaps it is simpler to say that Intel…was disrupted”. It was written by Steven Sinofsky (who I wasn't familiar with) but had a look at his Medium posts. There was an interesting article there titled, "Design for an “Audience of One” (https://medium.learningbyshipping.com/audience-of-one-107baddbe38f https://medium.learningbyshipping.com/audience-of-one-107bad...) Funny enough, there is a quote in there, "Did you know that a spreadsheet is a much better word processor than a word processor? After all, a word processor is just a spreadsheet with one cell." That design for an audience of one was a great read. It may not answer all your questions but I think it will at least point you in the right direction of what he is talking about. Btw, Steven Sinofsky is the former president of the windows division at M$.
- seanmcdirmid 8y ago
  Sinofsky also took the blame for Microsoft’s Mexican stand-off culture when he was fired, though I think it was mainly billg and Balmer’s fault.
  - ThrowawayR2 8y ago
    If anecdotes are to be believed, Sinofsky wasn't exactly an unwilling participant either, though. Reportedly, he had no problems with squashing or grabbing control of projects that infringed on Windows' turf.
    - seanmcdirmid 8y ago
      Oh, he was definitely complicit. But he unjustly takes the fall for it all when it was a wider MS problem.
UncleSlacky 8y ago
I thought it would have been the word processor in Lotus Symphony, but apparently that only came out in 1984: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Symphony_(MS-DOS) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Symphony_(MS-DOS)

llaolleh 8y ago

Why did this guy have that super green background??!!! Everything is pink =(.

wetpaws 8y ago
https://outline.com/6jZFjf https://outline.com/6jZFjf

krylon 8y ago

When the father of a friend retired and cleaned out his office, I ended up with Multiplan manual. It's kind of funny, because I have never used Multiplan or even seen it run, and these days I find myself swearing at Microsoft for not providing decent manuals (or any manuals at all) for many of their products. And one day, I might even read that thing, just because I can. ;-)

2bitencryption 8y ago

n4r9 8y ago
Hah, "memetics" had been a thing for a long time by then. Easy to forget that Dawkins coined the term way back in 1976.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
toopsss 8y ago
Not so much https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/1994/10/godwin-if-2/amp https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/1994/10/godwin-if...
firemancoder 8y ago
Eh, not exactly. Domain was registered in 2002. Still not a bad prediction tho

sram1337 8y ago

You can remove the green background with the Basic Formatting chrome extension and make this (and other unstyled sites) easier to read. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/basic-formatting/afeafeendipkcblhmnpmaloflafkodei https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/basic-formatting/a... Shameless self plug here :)

wluu 8y ago
Or just open the dev tools and remove the bgcolor attribute from the body tag? Pretty simple.

bdcravens 8y ago

Still committed to Microsoft after all those years: <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12">