[DanBC]

> I remember reading one of the Windows programmers' hero's writing about some massive document of several hundred pages he wrote while on the Excel team at Microsoft and being overjoyed when he learned Bill Gates had actually looked at it.

When you have a spreadsheet programme you start with something relatively simple. You then add functionality. You add pivot tables and charting and macros and etc. At what point do you stop and say "We need to re-write the entire code from scratch to make sure this stuff is all tightly integrated and bug-free?" or "We need to split some of this functionality off into separate by integratable softs to protect the core product and provide split pricing for power users"?

Never re-write code from scratch:- (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html)

[leocassarani]

It's ironic that you're linking to one of Joel's articles in your response, given that he's actually the "Windows programmers' hero" that the comment was referring to: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/06/16.html.