How Microsoft beat Apple to buy PowerPoint for $14M • Hacker News Board

Re: How Microsoft beat Apple to buy PowerPoint for $14M

#31

Post by bad_user » Fri, Jun 10, 2016, 3:52 PM UTC

baldfat wrote: post #24

bluedino wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> they out Advertised or eventually caught up and passes you (Word Perfect). WordPerfect kind of killed itself. They never embraced the GUI because they thought Windows was ugly. The keystroke-based interface was trashed by critics. They were all over the map trying to make a suite of strange, semi-office-related programs. When they went from 4.x to 5.0 they had to re-do the printer driver model, just as Windows was…

OK same kind of idea: Netscape vs Internet Explorer (MS just gave the browser away for free) For a good 6 months Netscape was out "selling" IE but eventually IE won the war for a good 15 years.

Back then Internet Explorer was the superior product, being fast and clutter free.

Re: How Microsoft beat Apple to buy PowerPoint for $14M

#32

Post by efaref » Fri, Jun 10, 2016, 3:54 PM UTC

bad_user wrote: post #31

baldfat wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK same kind of idea: Netscape vs Internet Explorer (MS just gave the browser away for free) For a good 6 months Netscape was out "selling" IE but eventually IE won the war for a good 15 years.

Back then Internet Explorer was the superior product, being fast and clutter free.

It's weird, but I really do remember IE4 being great.

Re: How Microsoft beat Apple to buy PowerPoint for $14M

#33

Post by chime » Fri, Jun 10, 2016, 3:55 PM UTC

Random trivia for tech history buffs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forethought,_Inc. under founder Rob Campbell sold PowerPoint to MS and FileMaker to Apple.

Of course everyone knows PowerPoint but even most techies today have never touched FileMaker - it was the Django/Rails/WordPress/SquareSpace/RAD application back in the day. At a time when very few could code, FileMaker let anyone create a full-featured database. And even today, if you are running a small business and want basic data-collection features for internal use, it is still relevant and useful: http://www.filemaker.com/solutions/starter-solutions.html

90% of "please make me a typical DB app" requests I get, I just point them to FileMaker. I say spend $75/mo for 5 users for a couple of months to work out the process. If the process works and the pain-point is FileMaker, come back to me and I will make a custom solution.

Re: How Microsoft beat Apple to buy PowerPoint for $14M

#34

Post by efaref » Fri, Jun 10, 2016, 3:58 PM UTC

abritinthebay wrote: post #16

PowerPoint would never have become what it was without being on Windows and part of Office. So no, not really. Ignoring network effects makes this kind of silly. Keynote has also been better for a number of years now. Still not as popular just because Macs are less common than PCs with office.

You're right. Powerpoint has the advantage of being good enough, and ubiquitously available (for people with Office, which is pretty much everyone).

Re: How Microsoft beat Apple to buy PowerPoint for $14M

#35

Post by coldcode » Fri, Jun 10, 2016, 4:01 PM UTC

raldi wrote: post #15

The deal of the century was when SAIC bought Network Solutions for $4.7M in 1995. Five years later, they sold it to VeriSign for $21B.

Hedge fund bought Skype for around $1B and sold it to MS for $8B

Re: How Microsoft beat Apple to buy PowerPoint for $14M

#36

Post by hamilyon2 » Fri, Jun 10, 2016, 4:03 PM UTC

babuskov wrote: post #27

ralfd wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4 years?? Holy shit, what a return.

That's interesting. I also read it as "Four", but now I look at it and it reads "five". Could be some brain trick.

Same for me. Very interesting. Non-native speaker from mobile device

Re: How Microsoft beat Apple to buy PowerPoint for $14M

#37

Post by rogerbinns » Fri, Jun 10, 2016, 4:04 PM UTC

martin-adams wrote: post #3

I think it's so ironic that the first version of Powerpoint was for Mac which ended up helping give Windows it's name when running Office. I've seen Powerpoint used for so many crazy things. Most notably non-technical managers designing a UI in Powerpoint. It's just one of those, lets just get the job done pieces of software.

I work with someone who uses PowerPoint as a digital whiteboard. It does turn out to be very effective at that, and as a bonus the results can easily be shared without viewers having to use some obscure whiteboard software.

Re: How Microsoft beat Apple to buy PowerPoint for $14M

#38

Post by coldcode » Fri, Jun 10, 2016, 4:04 PM UTC

pmarreck wrote: post #11

martin-adams wrote: post #3

I think it's so ironic that the first version of Powerpoint was for Mac which ended up helping give Windows it's name when running Office. I've seen Powerpoint used for so many crazy things. Most notably non-technical managers designing a UI in Powerpoint. It's just one of those, lets just get the job done pieces of software.

The first version of Excel was ALSO for Mac. I think the Macintosh doesn't get enough credit for what it inspired at the time.

Everything (modern, not DOS) debuted on the Mac first in the mid-end 80's. Windows was not a viable first platform until 3.0. I worked on three apps all of which debuted on Mac and two were eventually ported to Windows in the 90's. By the time Office took over the Mac become the second platform or not at all.

Re: How Microsoft beat Apple to buy PowerPoint for $14M

#39

Post by coldcode » Fri, Jun 10, 2016, 4:05 PM UTC

abritinthebay wrote: post #16

PowerPoint would never have become what it was without being on Windows and part of Office. So no, not really. Ignoring network effects makes this kind of silly. Keynote has also been better for a number of years now. Still not as popular just because Macs are less common than PCs with office.

Having worked on Persuasion 1.0 (Powerpoint's only real competitor for a while) being part of Office eventually killed Persuasion (when Adobe owned it later) because Powerpoint was "free".

Re: How Microsoft beat Apple to buy PowerPoint for $14M

#40

Post by vidarh » Fri, Jun 10, 2016, 4:07 PM UTC

ralfd wrote: post #20

raldi wrote: post #15

The deal of the century was when SAIC bought Network Solutions for $4.7M in 1995. Five years later, they sold it to VeriSign for $21B.

4 years?? Holy shit, what a return.

That's what happens when get to buy a company with a fixed price government contract at a low-ish multiple of the contract value (fair enough price based on the contract), that you can get revised to let you charge end-users for the service months later in a field that's growing at a ridiculous rate.