<P> As many calculations in Excel are executed using VBA, an additional issue is the accuracy of VBA, which varies with variable type and user - requested precision . </P> <P> In 2004 scientists reported automatic (and inadvertent) conversion of gene nomenclature into dates . A follow - up study in 2016 found many peer reviewed scientific journal papers had been affected and that "Of the selected journals, the proportion of published articles with Excel files containing gene lists that are affected by gene name errors is 19.6% . Excel parses the copied and pasted data and sometimes changes them depending on what it thinks they are . For example, MARCH1 (Membrane Associated Ring - CH - type finger 1) gets converted to the date March 1 (1 - Mar) and SEPT2 (Septin 2) is converted into September 2 (2 - Sep) etc . While some secondary news sources reported this as a fault with Excel, the original authors of the 2016 paper placed the blame with the researchers mis - using Excel . </P> <P> Microsoft originally marketed a spreadsheet program called Multiplan in 1982 . Multiplan became very popular on CP / M systems, but on MS - DOS systems it lost popularity to Lotus 1 - 2 - 3 . Microsoft released the first version of Excel for the Macintosh on September 30, 1985, and the first Windows version was 2.05 (to synchronize with the Macintosh version 2.2) in November 1987 . Lotus was slow to bring 1 - 2 - 3 to Windows and by the early 1990s Excel had started to outsell 1 - 2 - 3 and helped Microsoft achieve its position as a leading PC software developer . This accomplishment solidified Microsoft as a valid competitor and showed its future of developing GUI software . Microsoft maintained its advantage with regular new releases, every two years or so . </P> <P> Excel 2.0 is the first version of Excel for the Intel platform . Versions prior to 2.0 were only available on the Apple Macintosh . </P>

When was excel first introduced and for what computer