This Microsoft Excel Easter Egg Led To A Wild Conspiracy Theory...
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Like anthropomorphic rabbits and Jesus, software developers love an Easter egg. Microsoft is no different. For most of its history, the Windows developer has inserted hidden jokes and references into many, if not most of its programs. These range from a Utah teapot that appears in Windows 95's Pipes screensaver, to a secret magic 8-ball toy inside Microsoft Access.
But the most famous, or should I say, infamous Microsoft Easter egg is The Hall of Tortured Souls, a Doom-style 3D maze hidden inside Excel 95 that displays the credits of the designers who worked on it. Not only is it one of the more elaborate Easter eggs concealed in a Microsoft product, but this innocuous secret would also become the epicentre of a bizarre Internet rumour that Bill Gates was the Antichrist.
Hiding designer credits is something of a tradition for Microsoft, with credit-based Easter eggs stretching all the way back to Windows 1.0. Here, pressing Alt+Shift+Esc+Enter would bring up a window listing "The Windows Team". The list, which includes a young designer called Gabe Newell, was accompanied by the word "Congrats!"
Similar Easter eggs appear in Windows 3.0, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows 98. But The Hall of Tortured Souls was substantially more involved than these hidden screens and slideshows. It was accessed through Row 95 of Excel 95, pressing TAB to select the second cell of the row, before bringing up the 'Help' window and selecting "Tech Support."
Upon doing this, users were transported into a garish, pixel-y room, with Doom-like green pools, blue pillars that resemble tentacles, and walls seemingly decorated with Minesweeper tiles. Ahead of the user (now the player) stretched a staircase leading up to a crimson doorway with black walls on either side.
On these walls, the names of Excel 95's developers scrolled endlessly. Through the doorway lay another room, semi-hexagonal in shape. On the right-hand wall, a window looked out into an endless geometric abyss. Embedded into the wall ahead of the player was a viewport where Excel's credits also scrolled.
Adding to The Hall of Tortured Souls' mystique is that it ha
Source: PC Gamer
