Microsoft Excel Turns 40, Remains Stubbornly Unkillable

Microsoft Excel, the 40-year-old spreadsheet application that helped establish personal computers as essential workplace tools and contributed to Microsoft’s current valuation of nearly $4 trillion, has weathered both the rise of cloud computing and the current AI boom largely unscathed. In its most recent quarter, commercial revenue for Microsoft 365 — the bundle including Excel, Word, and PowerPoint — increased 17% year over year, and consumer revenue rose 28%.

The…