4 ms·

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

by ktpsns 8y ago

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)

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

by ktpsns 8y ago

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

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)