15 Responses to “[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Microsoft Multiplan”

1. Stan Says:
   April 13th, 2015 at 1:54 pm

   AppleWorks! My friends and I used to have these goofy little sports leagues and I used the AppleWorks spreadsheet to keep track of the standings. And I think I used the the database track the results of each game.

2. TBFL Says:
   April 13th, 2015 at 2:43 pm

   VisiCalc on the Atari 800XL…

   I still have the original case and discs on a shelf in the other room…

3. Moondog Says:
   April 13th, 2015 at 6:10 pm

   it was either Exel or Lotus 123

4. TNLongFellow Says:
   April 13th, 2015 at 6:34 pm

   I have to go with Lotus 123. It came with an old Packard Bell 286 on 5 1/2 inch disc. I used it to keep up with hockey stats 🙂

5. Jistuce Says:
   April 13th, 2015 at 10:29 pm

   Microsoft Excel, like a POSER.

   I do have a copy of the 99/4a version of Multiplan, though. Maybe I should fire it up for street cred.

6. John Says:
   April 14th, 2015 at 9:35 am

   I think it was BusiCalc for me. I didn’t use spreadsheets that often back then – usually for tracking D&D and Car Wars stuff just for fun.

7. SirFatty Says:
   April 14th, 2015 at 11:56 am

   VisiCalc….

   as a side note, I just purchased a few reconditioned laptops that came with Wordperfect suite that features Quatro Pro.

   I had no idea any of that still exists… and why does it exist?

8. Chester Says:
   April 14th, 2015 at 3:03 pm

   Not sure if it was CP/M SuperCalc or Apple II VisiCalc – “alternative” copies of both were available on the Apple II with Z80 SoftCard that my dad got second-hand when I was a kid. But the first “serious” uses were on AppleWorks.

   Later in the game, I also used a Double Hi-Res WYSIWYG spreadsheet software that was command-compatible with Lotus 1-2-3, but can’t remember its name. It claimed to read/write 1-2-3-compatible files, but given that no one I knew had a disk drive capable of reading/writing MS-DOS disks, the ability was kind of moot. I always awed people with that one and MultiScribe when they asked why I insisted on the Apple II when everyone migrated to “more powerful” DOS PCs. Anyone remembers the name for that?

9. DNA Says:
   April 14th, 2015 at 5:29 pm

   The first computer I ever owned, just a teenager at the time, was a TRS-80 (Tandy Color Computer) 3. I recall having a spreadsheet program, though can’t remember if it came bundled or whether I did anything other than tinker about with the UI.

   I do remember playing Tetris on that machine and pretty much thinking it was the coolest thing ever… until the Game Boy came around.

10. Mattel Aquarius Says:
    April 14th, 2015 at 9:15 pm

    Deskmate 3 on the COCO III. I was never able to get FinForm for my Aquarius bitd, but eventually got it around 1999. By then, it was horribly out of date, and included a fatal bug that prevented accurate subtraction, of all things.

    We also used a DOS based one in high school. The amber screen is burned in my retina, but I can’t remember the software brand. Those amber screens were quite pleasing to the eyes.

11. Alexander Says:
    April 14th, 2015 at 11:29 pm

    Excel, for sure. At least that’s my best guess.

12. Benj Edwards Says:
    April 15th, 2015 at 1:57 pm

    It’s funny that you guys mentioned non-business uses of spreadsheets. My brother and his friends used AppleWorks running on an Apple IIc in the 1980s to keep track of their Pursue the Pennant fantasy sports teams. They also kept stats on their favorite Bard’s Tale characters.

    Oh, and the first spreadsheet program I ever seriously used (aside from trying something once or twice, as I did with many before) was Excel 2000, part of the Microsoft Office 2000 suite. Heck, I still use it, but don’t tell anybody.

13. Galactus Says:
    April 15th, 2015 at 3:04 pm

    Lotus 1-2-3, the best! 🙂

    MS Multiplan was crappy and clunky.

14. Daniel Says:
    April 17th, 2015 at 1:41 pm

    First spreadsheet I ever used was Lotus 1-2-3 for MS-DOS back in high school. Lotus 1-2-3, WordPerfect 5.1 and QBASIC were taught in our high school back in the late 80s.

15. Alexandre MONTARON Says:
    September 6th, 2015 at 9:39 am

    Hi !

    Just hacked an enhanced (colored – 4 colors) version of this Multiplan I used in the 90’s under CP/M Plus (or 2.2) snapshoot here : http://canal.chez.com/CPM/mp4color.gif

    on a 4MHz Z80: was pretty slow however …
    Alex. – http://canal.chez.com/CPM/mp-vt100.htm

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