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January 28, 2016

History & Evolution Of Microsoft Office Software

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When it comes to office automation, the first thing that comes to mind is Microsoft Office. One cannot imagine a Windows-
based computer without a local copy of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The future may hold the key to cloud-based apps, but as
of now, a pretty large chunk of Microsoft users is still dependent on local installations. For the past few years, an exception
being the statement released on Jan 24-25 2013, the office automation software bundle from Microsoft generated more
revenue compared to its Windows range of operating systems.

The evolution of office automation is tied to the evolution of Microsoft Office as the latter remained and stays ahead in offering
the latest features that enhance and support the functions required by the ever-changing needs of business houses worldwide.

Microsoft Word For MS-DOS – Pre Windows Era

The history of MS Office starts officially from November 19, 1990, when Office for Windows (also called MS Office 1.0) came out
for use with Windows 2.0. Before Office 1.0, the basic elements of the package were still available as separate programs but for
MS-DOS. The primary input devices for pre-Windows Microsoft Word were keyboards. The mouse was a luxury not used by
many. Though they have many good features, formatting and printing require good expertise. You can still download one of the
DOS-based Word from the Internet – but I won’t recommend any site as I don’t know if they would be clean.

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Evolution & History Of MS Office: From Keyboard To Touch Interface
We will take you on a pictorial tour of the different versions of Microsoft Office that debuted as an add-on for Windows 2.0 and
went on to change the face of office automation across the business houses on the planet. It shifted users from the then
famous WordPerfect to MS Word and killed the former’s market. A major factor for the huge success of MS Office was and is the
keyboard shortcut system as opposed to the formatting system of WordPerfect that required users to type in special codes.

The year 1990 – Microsoft Office For Windows (Office 1.0)

A combination of Word 1.1, Excel 2.0 and PowerPoint 2.0 released in November 1990

The above image is an advert from Microsoft for the first-ever Office suite (Office 1.0 for Windows 2.0) in “Electronics.”

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 A look at the interface of MS Word 1.1

 
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Year 1991 – MS Office 1.5 – Improved Excel (with Word 1.1 & PowerPoint 2.0)

Year 1992 – MS Office 3.0 For Windows (Office 92 on CD-ROM)

Contains – Word 2.0; Excel 4.0A and PowerPoint 4.0. Do note that the version numbers are not consistent; they were made for
only after Office 95 that we’ll check out below.

Splash Screen Of Excel 4.0A

IMPORTANT: For versions and subversions before Office 92, the distribution packages were either sequential storage devices
(tapes) or a set of floppies (Setup would be like: Insert Disk 2 to continue, etc.!)
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Year
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1994 – Office 4.0 For Windows
There was one small upgrade for Excel between Office 3.0 and Office 4.0, and the same was continued in Office 4.0.
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Instead of Excel 4.0a, it was now Excel 4.0. PowerPoint version was same – 3.0. The major overhaul was MS Word which now had
a very rich interface focusing on formatting.

Thus, Office 4.0 composed of following: Word 6.0, Excel 4.0, and PowerPoint 3.0.

Year 1995 – Office 7.5 or Office 95

Naming convention was changed to match the version numbers of each application software in Office suite! Thus, it was Word
95, Excel 95 and Presentation 95.

Note that each version of MS Office also brought in other software such as Publisher etc. For this picture article, we will stick to
the main three components as including others as well will confuse some. I will later talk about the other software in a separate
picture roll.

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IMPORTANT: This version was not backward compatible and would work only on Windows 95 and later operating systems. You
News get one from the Internet if curious but make sure it is not a fake or malware.
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Year 1996 Fall – Office 97: Introduction Of Office Assistant!

 I am sure many of you must have loved that dancing clip, Clippy, whenever you pressed F1 for Help

 The interface of Excel 97: Notice Word & Excel Icons In Windows Quick Launch Bar

Mid 1999 – Office 2000 (Better User Experience)

Among the many updates to previous versions were smoother user elements and improved security

Notice The Smoother Interface here.

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Mid 2001: Office XP
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With XP, Microsoft provided almost all features to users working under restricted mode on corporate networks. Notice the shine
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on the Window title that is inherited from the basic elements on Windows XP that continued to rule for almost a decade.
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Fall Of the Year 2003 – Office 2003: The Most Used MS Office Version Ever
In the case of MS Office, however, the most used version is version 2003 with plenty of functionality and security
features. Blended with Windows XP completely and presented icons and toolbars with the same look as the operating system.
Other than the looks, the rich feature arranged neatly under different menu tabs made it users’ choice to years until they were
forced to upgrade to Office 2007 and Office 2010.

Office 2007 introduced the Ribbon Interface

Office 2007 introduced the ribbon interface and helped you produce professional-looking documents by providing a
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comprehensive set of tools for creating and formatting your document in the new Microsoft Office Fluent user interface.
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Office 2010 introduced Office Web Apps
Microsoft Office 2010 let people & employees keep in touch and working effectively no matter where they were. They could use
the same applications from their PCs, from a smartphone, or a Web browser.

Office 2013 comes with cloud integration

The Evolution Of MS Office continues with Office 2013 and Office 365 and makes use of cloud computing and takes it to the next
level while introducing Touch.

Office 365
Office 365 was introduced in mid-2011  as a replacement to Microsoft’s cloud-based business suite. Since then, it has come a
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long way and has taken over standalone Office versions in colleges and businesses. It includes the web versions of Word, Excel,
PowerPoint,
Home OneNote, and a mail program. Also, it offers unlimited storage on OneDrive for the subscribers.

Office
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Office 2016 is the latest version as of now. The version is completely optimized for mobile devices and touchscreens. As such, it
does not provide many new features over Office 2013 except for a tighter cloud integration that users may or may not feel
comfortable with.

Image sources: Microsoft.com and Office.com.

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ArunKumar@TWC
Arun Kumar is a Microsoft MVP alumnus, obsessed with technology, especially the Internet. He deals with the multimedia
content needs of training and corporate houses. Follow him on Twitter @PowercutIN

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more like evolution of sh**
Windows5
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Proceed
Jacob Daniel Agee > Raimu86 • 4 years ago
f*** you
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Charles Irwin > Raimu86 • 4 years ago

Excuse me? All Office did was become better to use. Just because you are nostalgic for crappy software does not make it sh**
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walter > Charles Irwin • 10 months ago

walter
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Vlad • 6 years ago

2013 = CRAP
4△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

Jacob Daniel Agee > Vlad • 4 years ago

besides 2016, its my favorite
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Mr Sugarbunny • 6 years ago

True dat!
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Matt Lewandowsky • 5 years ago • edited

FWIW, Word for DOS 5.5 is available directly for download (freely) by Microsoft still.

http://download.microsoft.c...

https://social.technet.micr...

As for "I won’t recommend any site as I don’t know if they would be clean" (in the article): if any site's going to be "clean", it would be
Microsoft's own download server.

Do note that there are a few things stripped out of the Word 5.5 download, but most of them can be found in the Softlib, amongst
everything else there...: ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/M...

While I certainly can't recommend anyone run Word for DOS in this day and age, it's definitely something that's interesting to install in
e.g. DOSBox to see how the software product has progressed.

Unfortunately, I do not know of any legal and free way to obtain MS Word 6 for DOS, the last version released.
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sheela • 5 years ago

it was great reading this
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Mr-Shahroz Khan • 5 years ago

Now Microsoft Also introduce Office 2016 please also include that in this list.
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Arun Kumar > Mr-Shahroz Khan • 5 years ago

Thanks for reminding. We will add it to the list.
2△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
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Adam • 5 years ago
Home Office 97 was definitely the most used version, not 2003. And all versions of office were held on to as long as possible, until forced to
upgrade. This being due to the prohibitive cost, ever intrusive DRM, and over awfulness of Microsoft products in general. Microsoft's
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deceptive business practices and lust to stifle competition through fascicle legal means meant its products were/are the only option,
and though the user has always desired literally any alternative, a lack of understanding by the worlds legal system allowed this
Windows
 monopoly to continue. So with office, as with windows itself, and now things like Xbox, each new version is forced upon the consumer,
and is more hated then the last. Clippy was universally hated, every modification to the UI was universally hated, The ribbon interface
is hated. People would actually still be using windows 9x and office 97/2000 if Microsoft itself hadn't covertly proliferated virii like the
nimda worm, to force migration to the then hated and buggy XP. Bad programming in all Microsoft software, to this day, is intentional
for this reason, and the security flaws are the sole reason to upgrade. If the Microsoft employees during the Gates and Balmer eras
were in literally any other industry, they would all be in jail. Like releasing a car with no brake lines installed on purpose.

"don't ever mess with the UI ever" and "make it so my grandmother isn't aware there was an upgrade" is a lesson Microsoft refused to
ever learn, and its killed them. Why they wont, now, just release a version of windows with a UI of 9x, but with modern security, is
beyond all reason. And any tablets should "do that, but with touch", not ludicrously try to make desktops into a tablet. One cannot even
call it a learning curve. There is no curve. flat line.

This is... common knowledge... no?

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Will > Adam • 4 years ago

For this one I would agree. For me, my favorite version was Office 97. It was also my introduction to the world of Microsoft
Office
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y3shuA imMANu3l • 4 years ago

"All real Initiation is an internal, not an external, process. The outer ceremony is dead and useful only so far as it symbolizes and
illustrates, and thereby makes clear the inward change.
To Initiate truly, means to transform; to transform means to regenerate; and this comes only by trial, by effort, by self-conquest, by
sorrow, disappointment, failure; and a daily renewal of the conflict. It is in this that man must 'work out his own salvation.' The
consummation of Initiation is the Perfect Master, the perfect consummation of human evolution."
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Greg Lovern • 4 years ago

For Office 4, this is different from what I recall.

I had pre-ordered Office 4.0 in late 1993. When it arrived in early 1994, it contained only Word 6.0, with cards saying that Excel 5.0 and
PowerPoint 4.0 would arrive when available. Also a card saying that I was licensed to use the Microsoft email client, but no software
for it, which was only provided with the server software.

Later, Excel 5.0 and PowerPoint 4.0 each came separately. Contrary to this article, my copy of Office 4.0 never included Excel 4.0 nor
PowerPoint 3.0.

Later they added Access and called it Office 4.3 Professional, and the original version without Access was renamed Office 4.2
Standard.
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Trent • 3 years ago

The "shine on the Window title" in your Office XP screenshot is not a feature of Office XP - the screenshot was simply taken on
someone's computer who was using Windows XP's Silver color scheme. If you use the default Windows XP theme, it will look like a
normal Windows XP window. If you use the Classic theme, it will have a classic-style window. Same goes for Office 2000 or 2003, if
they are installed on an XP system.
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tpotw • 2 years ago

MS Office 2010 (with service pack 2 and update 2017) works better than others and comfortable with PC than new versions.
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