Wikipedia: Multiplan
Key Events in Microsoft History (Word document)
Microsoft Multiplan released 1984
Richard Brodie’s Website: Microsoft: The Early Days
“But Charles’s mission was to compete against the surprisingly successful VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program. He was to develop Microsoft’s spreadsheet, a project code-named “EP” (for “Electronic Paper”) and later marketed as Microsoft Multiplan. That task he entrusted to Doug Klunder, programmer extraordinaire, who would go on to lead the development of the unmatched Excel after Multiplan’s lukewarm market reception in the face of Lotus 1-2-3.”
