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Microsoft Excel (Windows)
Microsoft Office Excel Icon

A typical blank Microsoft Excel 2007 spreadsheet running on Windows Vista. Windows Vista (ˈvɪstə is a line of Operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on Personal computers including home and business desktops
Developed byMicrosoft
Latest release12. A software developer is a person or organization concerned with facets of the software development process wider than design and coding a somewhat broader scope of Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer A software release is the distribution whether public or private of an initial or new and upgraded version of a Computer software product 0. 6214. 1000 (2007 SP1) / December 11, 2007
OSMicrosoft Windows
GenreSpreadsheet
LicenseProprietary EULA
WebsiteMicrosoft Office Excel Homepage
Microsoft Excel (Mac OS X)

Microsoft Excel:Mac 2008 spreadsheet running on Mac OS X 10.5. An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a Computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination Microsoft Windows is a series of Software Operating systems and Graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Computer software can be organized into categories based on common function type or field of use A spreadsheet is a Computer application that simulates a paper worksheet A software license (or software licence in commonwealth usage is a Legal instrument governing the usage or redistribution of copyright protected software Proprietary software is Computer software on which the producer has set restrictions on use private modification copying, or republishing. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages Mac OS X version 105 “Leopard” is the sixth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server Operating system for Macintosh
Developed byMicrosoft
Latest release12. A software developer is a person or organization concerned with facets of the software development process wider than design and coding a somewhat broader scope of Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer A software release is the distribution whether public or private of an initial or new and upgraded version of a Computer software product 0. 0 (2008) / January 15, 2008 (2008-01-15); 146 days ago
OSMac OS X
GenreSpreadsheet
LicenseProprietary EULA
WebsiteMicrosoft Excel: Mac 2008

Microsoft Excel (full name Microsoft Office Excel) is a proprietary spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Events 588 BC - Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah 's reign 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a Computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination Mac OS X (mæk oʊ ɛs tɛn is a line of computer Operating systems developed marketed and sold by Apple Inc, the latest of which is pre-loaded on all currently Computer software can be organized into categories based on common function type or field of use A spreadsheet is a Computer application that simulates a paper worksheet A software license (or software licence in commonwealth usage is a Legal instrument governing the usage or redistribution of copyright protected software Proprietary software is Computer software on which the producer has set restrictions on use private modification copying, or republishing. A website (alternatively web site or Web site, a back-construction from the Proper noun World Wide Web) is a collection of Web pages Proprietary software is Computer software on which the producer has set restrictions on use private modification copying, or republishing. A spreadsheet is a Computer application that simulates a paper worksheet Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer Microsoft Windows is a series of Software Operating systems and Graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Mac OS X (mæk oʊ ɛs tɛn is a line of computer Operating systems developed marketed and sold by Apple Inc, the latest of which is pre-loaded on all currently It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables and, except for Excel 2008 for Mac OS X, a macro programming language called VBA (Visual Basic for Applications). Visual Basic for Applications ( VBA) is an event-driven implementation of Microsoft's Visual Basic, a Procedural programming language It is overwhelmingly the dominant spreadsheet application available for these platforms and has been so since version 5 in 1993, and is bundled as part of Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office is a set of interrelated desktop applications servers and services collectively referred to as an Office suite, for the Microsoft Windows and Excel is one of the most popular microcomputer applications to date.

Contents

History

Microsoft originally marketed a spreadsheet program called Multiplan in 1982, which was very popular on CP/M systems, but on MS-DOS systems it lost popularity to Lotus 1-2-3. Multiplan was an early Spreadsheet program developed by Microsoft. Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) CP/M (Control Program for Microcomputers is an Operating system originally created for Intel 8080 / 85 based Microcomputers by Gary Kildall MS-DOS (short for M icro' s' oft D isk O perating S ystem is an Operating system commercialized by Microsoft. Lotus 1-2-3 is a Spreadsheet program from Lotus Software (now part of IBM) The first version of Excel was released for the Mac in 1985 and the first Windows version (numbered 2. 05 to line-up with the Mac and bundled with a run-time Windows environment) was released in November 1987. Lotus was slow to bring 1-2-3 to Windows and by 1988 Excel had started to outsell 1-2-3 and helped Microsoft achieve the position of leading PC software developer. This accomplishment, dethroning the king of the software world, solidified Microsoft as a valid competitor and showed its future of developing GUI software. Microsoft pushed its advantage with regular new releases, every two years or so. The current version for the Windows platform is Excel 12, also called Microsoft Office Excel 2007. The current version for the Mac OS X platform is Microsoft Excel 2008.

Microsoft Excel 2.1 included a runtime version of Windows 2.1
Microsoft Excel 2. 1 included a runtime version of Windows 2.1

Early in its life Excel became the target of a trademark lawsuit by another company already selling a software package named "Excel" in the finance industry. In Computer science, runtime or run time describes the operation of a Computer program, the duration of its execution from beginning to termination Windows 21x is a family of Microsoft Windows Graphical user interface -based Operating environments Less than a year after the release of As the result of the dispute Microsoft was required to refer to the program as "Microsoft Excel" in all of its formal press releases and legal documents. However, over time this practice has been ignored, and Microsoft cleared up the issue permanently when they purchased the trademark of the other program. Microsoft also encouraged the use of the letters XL as shorthand for the program; while this is no longer common, the program's icon on Windows still consists of a stylized combination of the two letters, and the file extension of the default Excel format is . On Computer displays, a computer icon is a small Pictogram. Icons have been used to supplement the normal alphanumerics of the computer A filename extension is a suffix to the name of a Computer file applied to indicate the encoding convention ( File format) of its contents xls. Excel offers many user interface tweaks over the earliest electronic spreadsheets; however, the essence remains the same as in the original spreadsheet, VisiCalc: the cells are organized in rows and columns, and contain data or formulas with relative or absolute references to other cells. The user interface (or Human Computer Interface) is the aggregate of means by which people&mdash the users '&mdash interact with the System VisiCalc was the first Spreadsheet program available for personal computers

Excel was the first spreadsheet that allowed the user to define the appearance of spreadsheets (fonts, character attributes and cell appearance). It also introduced intelligent cell recomputation, where only cells dependent on the cell being modified are updated (previous spreadsheet programs recomputed everything all the time or waited for a specific user command). Excel has extensive graphing capabilities, and enables users to perform mail merge. Mail merge is a Software function describing the production of multiple (and potentially large numbers of Documents from a single template

When first bundled into Microsoft Office in 1993, Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint had their GUIs redesigned for consistency with Excel, the killer app on the PC at the time. Microsoft Office is a set of interrelated desktop applications servers and services collectively referred to as an Office suite, for the Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Word is Microsoft 's flagship word processing software. Microsoft PowerPoint is a proprietary Presentation program developed by Microsoft. A killer application (commonly shortened to killer app) in the jargon of computer programmers and video gamers has been used to refer to any Computer program IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT.

Since 1993, Excel has included Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), a programming language based on Visual Basic which adds the ability to automate tasks in Excel and to provide user defined functions (UDF) for use in worksheets. Visual Basic for Applications ( VBA) is an event-driven implementation of Microsoft's Visual Basic, a Procedural programming language Visual Basic ( VB) is the third-generation event-driven programming language and associated development environment (IDE from VBA is a powerful addition to the application which, in later versions, includes a fully featured integrated development environment (IDE). In Computing, an integrated development environment ( IDE) is a Software application that provides comprehensive facilities to Computer programmers Macro recording can produce VBA code replicating user actions, thus allowing simple automation of regular tasks. VBA allows the creation of forms and in-worksheet controls to communicate with the user. The language supports use (but not creation) of ActiveX (COM) DLL's; later versions add support for class modules allowing the use of basic object-oriented programming techniques. Component Object Model ( COM) is an interface standard for Software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993 Component Object Model ( COM) is an interface standard for Software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993 Dynamic-link library (also written without the hyphen or DLL, is Microsoft 's implementation of the Shared library concept in the Microsoft Windows Object-oriented programming (OOP is a Programming paradigm that uses " objects " and their interactions to design applications and computer programs

The automation functionality provided by VBA has caused Excel to become a target for macro viruses. A macro (from the Greek 'μάκρο' for long or far in Computer science is a rule or Pattern that specifies how a certain input sequence (often a sequence A computer virus is a Computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user This was a serious problem in the corporate world until antivirus products began to detect these viruses. Microsoft belatedly took steps to prevent the misuse by adding the ability to disable macros completely, to enable macros when opening a workbook or to trust all macros signed using a trusted certificate. Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer

Versions 5. 0 to 9. 0 of Excel contain various Easter eggs, although since version 10 Microsoft has taken measures to eliminate such undocumented features from their products. A virtual Easter egg is an intentional Hidden message or feature in an object such as a movie, Book Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational Computer technology Corporation, which rose to dominate the Home computer

Versions

'Excel 97' (8.0) being run on Windows XP
'Excel 97' (8. 0) being run on Windows XP
Office Excel 2003
Office Excel 2003
Excel 2003 icon
Excel 2003 icon

Versions for Microsoft Windows include:

Versions for the Apple Macintosh include:

Versions for OS/2 include:

Versions of Excel up to 7. 0 were limited to data sets containing up to 16K (2^14) rows. Versions 8. 0 through 11. 0 could handle 64K (2^16) rows and 256 columns (2^8 as label 'IV'). Version 12. 0 can handle 1M (2^20=1048576) rows, and 16384 (2^14 as label 'XFD') columns. [1]

File formats

Microsoft Excel up until 2007 version used a proprietary binary file format called Binary Interchange File Format (BIFF) as its primary format. [2] Excel 2007 uses Office Open XML as its primary file format, an XML-based container similar in design to XML-based format called "XML Spreadsheet" ("XMLSS"), first introduced in Excel 2002. Office Open XML (also referred to as OOXML or OpenXML) is a File format for representing Spreadsheets Charts Presentations Don't change "Extensible" [3] The latter format is not able to encode VBA macros.

Although supporting and encouraging the use of new XML-based formats as replacements, Excel 2007 is still backwards compatible with the traditional, binary, formats. In addition, most versions of Microsoft Excel are able to read CSV, DBF, SYLK, DIF, and other legacy formats. The comma separated list (CSL is a Data Format originally known as comma-separated values (CSV in the oldest days of simple computers dBase was the first widely used Database management system (DBMS for Microcomputers published by Ashton-Tate for CP/M, and later on the Symbolic Link ( SYLK) is a Microsoft file format typically used to exchange data between applications specifically Spreadsheets. Data Interchange Format (dif is a Text file Format used to import/export single Spreadsheets between spreadsheet programs ( Excel, Gnumeric

Binary

The binary format specification has been available from Microsoft on request but since February 2008 the . XLS format specification can be freely downloaded and implemented under the Open Specification Promise patent licensing. The Microsoft Open Specification Promise (or OSP) is an irrevocable Promise by Microsoft, published in September 2006, to not assert legal rights [4]

Office Open XML

Main article: Office Open XML

Microsoft Excel 2007, along with the other products in the Microsoft Office 2007 suite, introduces a host of new file formats. Office Open XML (also referred to as OOXML or OpenXML) is a File format for representing Spreadsheets Charts Presentations Microsoft Office 2007 (officially called 2007 Microsoft Office system) is the most recent Windows version of the Microsoft Office system, Microsoft's These are part of the Office Open XML (OOXML) specification. Office Open XML (also referred to as OOXML or OpenXML) is a File format for representing Spreadsheets Charts Presentations

The new Excel 2007 formats are:

New Excel 2007 formats
FormatExtensionAnnotations
Excel Workbook. xlsxThe default Excel 2007 workbook format. In reality a ZIP compressed archive with a directory structure of XML text documents. The ZIP File format is a Data compression and archival format. Don't change "Extensible" Functions as the primary replacement for the former binary . xls format, although it does not support Excel macros for security reasons.
Excel Macro-enabled Workbook. xlsmAs Excel Workbook, but with macro support.
Excel Binary Workbook. xlsbAs Excel Macro-enabled Workbook, but storing information in binary form rather than XML documents for opening and saving documents more quickly and efficiently. Intended especially for very large documents with tens of thousands of rows, and/or several hundreds of columns.
Excel Macro-enabled Template. xltmA template document that forms a basis for actual workbooks, with macro support. The replacement for the old . xlt format.
Excel Add-in. xlamExcel add-in to add extra functionality and tools. Inherent macro support due to the file purpose.

Export and migration of spreadsheets

APIs are also provided to open excel spreadsheets in a variety of other applications and environments other than Microsoft Excel. These include opening excel documents on the web using either ActiveX controls, or plugins like the Adobe Flash Player. ActiveX is a Component object model (COM developed by Microsoft for Windows. Adobe Flash (previously called Shockwave Flash and Macromedia Flash) is a set of Multimedia software created by Macromedia and currently The Apache POI opensource project provides Java libraries for reading and writing excel spreadsheet files. Open source is a development methodology which offers practical accessibility to a product's source (goods and knowledge Java refers to a number of Computer software products and specifications from Sun Microsystems that together provide a system for developing Application software Attempts have also been made to be able to copy excel spreadsheets to web applications using comma-separated values. The comma separated list (CSL is a Data Format originally known as comma-separated values (CSV in the oldest days of simple computers

Programming

A valuable aspect of Excel is the ability to write code using the programming language Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Visual Basic for Applications ( VBA) is an event-driven implementation of Microsoft's Visual Basic, a Procedural programming language This code is written using an editor viewed separately from the spreadsheet. Manipulation of the spreadsheet entries is controlled using objects [1]. With this code any function or subroutine that can be set up in a Basic- or Fortran-like language can be run using input taken from the spreadsheet proper, and the results of the code are instantaneously written to the spreadsheet or displayed on charts (graphs). The spreadsheet becomes an interface or window to the code, enabling easy interaction with the code and what it calculates.

Criticism

Criticisms of spreadsheets in general also apply to Excel. See Spreadsheet shortcomings. A spreadsheet is a Computer application that simulates a paper worksheet Criticisms specific to Excel include accuracy, date problems and the Excel 2007 display error.

Accuracy

Due to Excel's foundation on floating point calculations, the statistical accuracy of Excel has been criticized,[5][6][7][8] as has the lack of certain statistical tools. In Computing, floating point describes a system for numerical representation in which a string of digits (or Bits represents a Real number. Excel proponents have responded that some of these errors represent edge cases and that the relatively few users who would be affected by these know of them and have workarounds and alternatives. An edge case is a problem or situation that occurs only at an extreme (maximum or minimum operating parameter

Date problems

Excel incorrectly assumes that 1900 is a leap year. A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing one or more extra days (or in the case of Lunisolar calendars an extra month in order to keep the [9][10] The bug originated from Lotus 1-2-3, and was purposely implemented in Excel for the purpose of backward compatibility. Lotus 1-2-3 is a Spreadsheet program from Lotus Software (now part of IBM) In Technology, especially Computing (irrespective of platform a product is said to be backward compatible when it is able to take the place of an older product [11] This legacy has later been carried over into Office Open XML file format. Office Open XML (also referred to as OOXML or OpenXML) is a File format for representing Spreadsheets Charts Presentations Excel also supports the second date format based on year 1904 epoch. In the fields of Chronology and Periodization, an epoch means an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular Era.

Excel 2007 display error

Screen shot of Microsoft Excel 2007 showing the 65,535 display error
Screen shot of Microsoft Excel 2007 showing the 65,535 display error

On September 22, 2007 it was reported[12] that Excel 2007 will show incorrect results in certain situations. Events 66 - Emperor Nero creates the Legion I Italica. 1236 - The Lithuanians Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Specifically, for some pairs of numbers with a product of 65,535 (such as 850 and 77. 1), Excel will display their product as 100,000. This occurs with about 14. 5% of such pairs. [13] In addition, if one is added to this result, Excel will display 100,001. However, if one is subtracted from the original product, the correct result of 65,534 is displayed. (Also if it is multiplied or divided by 2, the correct answers 131,070 and 32,767. 5 are displayed, respectively. )

Microsoft has reported on the Microsoft Excel Blog[14] that the problem exists in the display of six specific floating point values between 65534. 99999999995 and 65,535, and six values between 65535. 99999999995 and 65,536 (not including the integers). Any calculation that results in one of these twelve values will be displayed incorrectly. The actual value stored and passed to other cells is correct, only the displayed value is wrong. The error was introduced with changes made to the Excel display logic for the 2007 version, and does not exist in previous versions. On October 9, 2007, Microsoft released a fix to the public. Events 768 - Carloman I and Charlemagne are crowned Kings of The Franks. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. [15] This issue is also corrected with Service Pack 1.

Chris Lomont presented a detailed explanation of the bug, how it was likely caused by changing 16-bit formatting code to 32-bit code, why it only affects 12 values and then only while formatting, and how the hotfix corrects the bug. [16]

See also

References

  1. ^ The "Big Grid" and Increased Limits in Excel 2007. Online versus Desktop Web-based Spreadsheets do not in general depend on a particular Operating system or similar constraints and are therefore generally more The following is a list of Spreadsheets. Freeware/open source software Online spreadsheets See also List of online spreadsheets Visual Basic for Applications ( VBA) is an event-driven implementation of Microsoft's Visual Basic, a Procedural programming language Microsoft.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-10. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 879 - Louis III becomes King of the Western Franks. 1407 - the lama
  2. ^ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/840817/
  3. ^ http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa140066(office.10).aspx
  4. ^ Microsoft Office Excel 97 - 2007 Binary File Format Specification (*.xls 97-2007 format). Microsoft Corporation (2007).
  5. ^ http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~evagold/excel.html
  6. ^ http://www.cof.orst.edu/net/software/excel/no-stats.php
  7. ^ http://www.practicalstats.com/Pages/excelstats.html
  8. ^ http://www.mis.coventry.ac.uk/~nhunt/pottel.pdf
  9. ^ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/214058/EN-US/
  10. ^ http://support.microsoft.com/kb/214326/en-us
  11. ^ http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/06/16.html
  12. ^ http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.excel/browse_thread/thread/2bcad1a1a4861879/2f8806d5400dfe22?hl=en&
  13. ^ VeroBlog: Excel 2007 bug shows wrong answers to simple multiplications
  14. ^ Microsoft Excel team blog: Calculation Issue Update
  15. ^ Microsoft Excel team blog: Calculation Issue Update (Fix Available)
  16. ^ Chris Lomont's disassembly and analysis of the Excel 2007 bug

Further reading

External links

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