Dear readers of this column, forgive the delay. In the sense that, after having told you a few weeks ago how Word has changed, many of you will have expected to read closely how Excel has changed.
Here we are, a couple of weeks late. Perhaps due to the fact that, if we want, Excel scares. Because if it is true that by now almost all of us have become familiar with the use of the Microsoft program for writing, we always look with a certain awe at the most famous and widespread program for producing spreadsheets. Very easy to use in its basic functions, it is perceived with a certain terror because it contains a series of important and precious advanced features. However, usually only professionals or those who are preparing to give a public competition can handle with ease.
But let's stop for a moment and, as is our custom, let's give a definition of what we are talking about. So let's find out, before seeing how Excel has changed, what it is.
Cos'è Excel
Excel is the best known and most used program for producing and managing spreadsheets.
Definition from the textbook, but that only partially does justice to everything that can be done with Excel. The program allows you to create complex diagrams, graphs, macros (and more) to be used in reports.
But when was Excel born, and how did it change?
The birth of Excel
Microsoft put Excel 1.0 on the market in 1985 for the Macintosh operating system, in response to the two already existing calculation programs, VisiCalc and Lotus 1-2-3. VisiCalc, the pioneer of spreadsheets, was released in May 1978, while Lotus 1-2-3 hit the market five years later, in 1983.
But, listen, listen, the first Microsoft spreadsheet, created precisely to stem the monopoly of VisiCalc, is Multiplan. Which is released in 1982 and will be replaced by Excel in 1985.
Excel per Windows
It is only two years later, in 1987, that Microsoft will release the first version of Excel for Windows 2.0: Excel 2. Even if the spreadsheet is distributed with a special version of Windows, created ad hoc to run the program.
The popularity of the spreadsheet spreadsheet grows with Excel 3, from 1990, although the main market share is still Lotus 1-2-3.
The fundamental year is 1992, when with version 4 Excel begins to be part of the Office package.
The legal dispute
To understand how Excel has changed, it is necessary to write down the date of 1995, when a young programmer from Guatemala sues Microsoft.
The reason? In 1990 Carlos Alberto Amado, then a student at Stanford University, had developed and then patented a code to transfer data between Office products. In 1992 he had tried (unsuccessfully) to sell the code to Microsoft. However, the company introduced the same code in Excel 95.
Amado sues Microsoft, and in 2005 the Central California District Court found the company guilty, and forced it to pay a $ 8,96 million fine.
At the turn of the millennium
However, Excel begins to dominate the spreadsheet market since the mid-nineties of the last century.
The versions Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel XP (of 2002) and Excel 2003 introduce important innovations every time and facilitate interaction with the user. Macros security tools, pivot tables, adaptive menu, template-based interface, among other features. And, in Excel 97, the much-loved Office Assistant (which will in fact disappear in later versions).
Excel 2021: The Complete Guide to Mastering the Basics of ...
- Garrett, Fabian (Author)
The latest versions of Excel
Excel 2007 and Excel 2008 improve the presentation of data processing. In 2007 the ribbon appears, replacing the menu and toolbar. But only for Windows: Mac users will have to wait until 2011.
With Excel 2013 comes the instant filling of cells and the touch function for tablets, and the ability (for the entire Office package) to save data on OneDrive and share spreadsheets on social networks.
Excel 2016 offers new charts, 3D maps, and other notable improvements. Including some features to ward off data loss.
Excel 2019 brings with it sophisticated graphs, including map ones that can be viewed on a geographical map.
New formulas and charts also appear in Excel 2021, the latest version of the program so far.
And let's not say that the in-depth knowledge of the most popular spreadsheet is reserved for engineers who work twelve hours a day in the semi-dark basement. From 2020, you think, there is even the world championship of calculations with Microsoft Excel.
