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Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program from Microsoft Corporation as part of Microsoft Office software suite. Microsoft initially launched a spreadsheet program called Multiplan in 1982. This was very popular on CP/M systems, but on MS-DOS systems it lost popularity to Lotus 1-2-3. When Microsoft developed Excel the goal was, according to Doug Klunder, to "do everything 1-2-3 does and do it better".
The first version of Excel was released for the Macintosh in 1985 and the first Windows version (numbered 2.0 to keep pace with the Macintosh version) was released in November 1987. Lotus was late with the transfer of 1-2-3 for Windows, which helped to Excel pass Lotus 1-2-3's sales in 1988. This was a key contribution in Microsoft taking a leading position as a software developer for the PC environment.
Microsoft has continued to develop the software with regular new releases roughly every two years. The current version is Excel 12, also known as Microsoft Office Excel 2007. Today Excel is usually bundled with Microsoft Office and appears on most new computers.