TECHNOLOGY : Zoom, Drag and Drop: Software Outfit Tries to Broaden Appeal

Wizards, Zoom and the Drag and Drop are not terms that the ordinary person would necessarily associate with sophisticated computer software programs.

But Microsoft Corp., the leading independent software maker, hopes those words and others like them will help make a new spreadsheet program appeal to everyone from highfalutin’ financial analysts to the household tax expert.

The Redmond, Wash.-based company introduced the program, called Excel 4.0, at a trade forum here on Monday, saying the package not only makes spreadsheets easier to use but contains features never before available on such programs.

Excel 4.0, an updated version of the Excel 3.0 spreadsheet, is designed for both Microsoft’s popular Windows operating system and Macintosh platforms.

“In this version of Microsoft Excel, we’re building on a tradition of spreadsheet innovation,” said Bill Gates, Microsoft’s chairman and chief executive.

Gates said the Excel 4.0 should help Microsoft take a significant market share away from its competitors.

Microsoft is locked in a three-way race for command of the spreadsheet software market, the race led so far by Cambridge, Mass.-based Lotus Development Corp. and rival program Lotus 1-2-3.

The third contender is Borland International Inc., maker of the Quattro Pro spreadsheet program.