Microsoft Multiplan

A spreadsheet from Microsoft originally developed for CP/M and released in 1982. It eventually got ported to a host of 8-bit computers and a few 16-bit ones in the form of DOS, Burroughs B-20, the Apple Macintosh and later OS/2, at its peak Multiplan was available in 100 different versions. While well received on the 8-bit platforms as being more advanced than what was currently available when it was released, it bombed on the IBM PC and other more powerful computers as it was considered seriously underpowered, the only exception being The Apple Macintosh, but Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates had made an exclusivity deal with Apple so for over a year it was the only spreadsheet available for the platform.

Nonetheless the company managed to sell a million copies of the program by late 1985, but the wast bulk of those sales were for 8-bit systems on one hand and on the other on the Apple Macintosh, the uptake on the IBM PC had been slow due to Lotus 1-2-3 although Multiplan initially gained some sales due to being much cheaper than 123, with the introduction of cheaper and more powerful spreadsheets like SuperCalc it more or less died in the DOS marketplace.

Versions

 * CP/M
 * 1981: 1.02
 * Aug 1982: 1.03 - for Apple II, Osborne
 * 1.05
 * 1.06
 * DOS
 * Oct 1982: 1.0 - first version for IBM PC DOS
 * 1983: 1.1
 * 1984: 1.2
 * 1985: 2.0 - extension of cells from 63x256 to 255x485
 * 1987: 3.0 - LAN support
 * DOS & OS/2
 * 1988: 4.0 - first version for DOS and OS/2
 * 1989: 4.1 - bugfix release
 * 1990: 4.2 - last version
 * Version 4.x came with both DOS and OS/2 executable but note that sales for the program had slowed down considerably by then and the 4.1 and 4.2 versions are very rare, and they are copy protected, which makes installing them on a modern system a bit of a hassle.


 * XENIX
 * 1984: 1.0 - ported by SCO
 * 1986: 2.0
 * 1987: 2.01 - multi-user
 * 2.201
 * SCO Multiplan 3.00N
 * 1987: SCO Multiplan 3.20E
 * Nov 1987: SCO Multiplan 3.25E
 * Macintosh
 * Jan 1984: Multiplan 1.0
 * 1985: Multiplan 1.1
 * Nov 1986: Multiplan 1.11

Author & publisher

 * Douglas Klunder
 * Microsoft

Publications

 * Robert E. Williams: The Power of Multiplan - MIS 1982, ISBN 0-943518-05-9
 * M. Laric: Multiplan for the IBM Personal Computer - W.C. Brown 1984, ISBN 0-697-00330-2
 * Rob Krumm: Understanding and Using Multiplan - Brady 1985, ISBN 0-89303-921-7