[carrotleads]

been reading old articles from Joel Spolsky and the need for backward compatibility to break down barriers put up by prospective customers.

has a few passages that illustrate how that startegy helped Microsoft Excel trounce Lotus 123 plus chat wars won by AOL around that time.

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000052.html and http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000056.html