Word vs. WordPerfect

As you may know, pretty much all throughout the late 1980’s WordPerfect was the dominant DOS-based word processor in the industry. However, Microsoft kept on perfecting DOS-based Word in hopes that some day it would overtake and leave WordPerfect in the dust. As fate would have it, Microsoft beat WordPerfect to the Windows platform and Microsoft Word 2.0 for Windows was already well entrenched by the time WordPerfect 5.1 for Windows was released in late 1991.

Predicting their victory, Word’s developers buried a taunting Easter Egg in Microsoft Word 2.0 for Windows. As you’ll see, this taunting Easter Egg actually became a reality.

Word vs. WordPerfect

To access this Easter Egg, you launch Microsoft Word 2.0 for Windows normally.

Word vs. WordPerfect

When you see the Macro dialog box, type Spiff in the Macro Name text box and then click the Edit button.

Spaceman Spiff was the code-named for Word 2.0 for Windows while it was being developed.

Word vs. WordPerfect

You then see a new macro editing window, with the default Sub MAIN and End Sub instructions. You delete the instructions and then close the macro editing window by pulling down the File menu and choosing the Close command.

Word vs. WordPerfect

When you see the prompt dialog box, you click Yes to save the changes.

Word vs. WordPerfect

As soon as the men are gone, the dialog box goes black, a fireworks display begins, and then the standard Easter Egg credits appear.

Navigator vs. Internet Explorer

In Netscape Navigator 1.1, if you typed about:mozilla in the Location box, you saw a screen showing text from the fictional the Book of Mozilla.

Here the chapter and verse number 12:10 refers to December 10, 1994, the date that Netscape Navigator 1.0 was released.

The message here appears to reference two facts: First, that poorly wrtten HTML code would blink when veiwed with Navigator’s internal code viewer. Second, that Internet Explorer did not support Netscape’s Blink tag.

Navigator vs. Internet Explorer

In Netscape Navigator 6, if you typed about:mozilla in the Location box, you saw a another screen showing different text from the fictional the Book of Mozilla.

Here the chapter and verse number 3:31 refers to March 31, 1998, the date that Netscape Navigator code was released to the open source community.

The message here is predicting that by releasing the Netscape Navigator code to the open source community, the resulting browser will become more widely used than Internet Explorer and that Microsoft (Mammon) will start losing market share.

Navigator vs. Internet Explorer

In September of 1997, when Microsoft released Internet Explorer 4, its developers responded to the about:mozilla assault by incorporating their own version in their browser. If you typed about:mozilla in the Address box, you saw a blue screen.

The subtle message here is that using Netscape Navigator in Windows would cause the operating system to crash and show the blue screen of death.

Navigator vs. Internet Explorer

After AOL closed its Netscape browser division on July 15, 2003, the Mozilla Foundation was created to continue the browser’s development.

If you typed about:mozilla in the Location box in any version of the browser developed by the Mozilla foundation, you saw a another screen showing different text from the fictional the Book of Mozilla.

Here the chapter and verse number 7:15 refers the date AOL dropped Netscape. The message refers to death of the Netscape browser, the birth of the Firebird (now called Firefox) browser, and how this new browser will continue its assault on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.