Bonus: Egg wars!
Software developers are fierce partisans who generally have no respect for competing products. Hence, it's not surprising that some eggs belittle the competition. The blue screen hidden in Internet Explorer (described on the previous page) is one prime example, but there are more.

Paint Shop Pro eats Adobe for breakfast
The developer's code name for one version of Adobe Photoshop was Big Electric Cat, a reference to the shipping program's Easter egg. The developers of a rival, low-cost Windows photo editor called Paint Shop Pro had their own commentary about their feline rival.

The Photoshop salvo:

The egg: Udo the Big Electric Cat
Where to find it: Adobe Photoshop 5.0 (Windows or Mac version)
How to crack it:

1. In an open Photoshop window, hold down Ctrl+Alt (or Command+Option on a Macintosh).
2. Open the Help menu and select About Photoshop.
3. Enter the word burp when the Strange Cargo screen appears. Notice the crate in the water. It will open to reveal the Big Electric Cat.
4. To hear the cat meow, type its name, Udo.

Paint Shop's response:
So far, so cute. But Jasc Software had another take on the king of the photo-editing hill. In some of its versions, the Big Electric Cat has an Atomic Dog to contend with.

The egg: The Atomic Dog picture
Where to find it: Paint Shop Pro, versions 5.0 and up
How to crack it:

1. In an open Paint Shop Pro window, select Help > About Paint Shop Pro.
2. Hold down Ctrl+Shift and double-click in the screen. You won't see anything, but don't let this put you off.
3. In version 5.0 or 6.0, type paintshoppro with no spaces, punctuation, or capital letters. You won't see anything right away, so proceed with caution.
4. In version 7.0, type jascsoftware. The Atomic Dog appears with the Big Electric Cat in its mouth.

This is the best contemporary example of the get-the-competition genre of Easter eggs. But the PC archives hold more nasty examples to uncover. Check around those dusty older machines and see if you can find either of these.

Stomp, stomp...stomped!
Microsoft Word took on the then-leader of the pack WordPerfect in what now looks like the work of a big bully. At the time, it was more a case of sniping from an arrogant underdog.

The egg: Tiny men stomp out the WordPerfect monster
Where to find it: Microsoft Word 2.0
How to crack it:

1. In a blank Word document, select Tools > Macro.
2. Enter spiff as the macro name, then press Enter.
3. Select the lines "Sub Main" to "End Sub" and delete them.
4. Close the macro and save the changes.
5. Select Help > About and the clock on the icon.
6. Watch the action as little cartoon men come out and stomp a monster holding a tagged WordPerfect sign. With the benefit of hindsight, it's positively creepy.

Excellent bug-swatter
It's hard to remember that once upon a time, Lotus 1-2-3 was the king of the spreadsheet hill. Microsoft's Excel division, which had taken a lot of flak from lovers of the Lotus spreadsheet, had its own commentary on the issue.

The egg: A bug-infested Lotus 1-2-3 icon
Where to find it: Excel 4.0
How to crack it:

1. Open a blank document and select Options > Toolbars.
2. Click the Customize button. In the Categories list box, select Custom.
3. From the top row of icons, select the Solitaire icon and drag it onto your regular toolbar.
4. Click OK without assigning a command to the button. Click Close to get rid of the Customize dialog box.
5. Maximize the worksheet and hold down Ctrl+Shift while clicking the Solitaire icon.
6. A bouncing 1-2-3 icon moves across the screen and breaks open to let out a swarm of flies. Then an Excel icon swoops in and knocks it out of the picture. How prescient!

Claaaariiiiice!
An otherwise ordinary cast list takes on a macabre twist with a few additions at the top of the menu.

The egg: A menu with Silence of the Lambs overtones
Where to find it: Quattro Pro for Windows 1.0
How to crack it:

1. Type any text into a cell and press Enter.
2. Select Data > Parse and click the Create button.
3. Click Edit, hold down the Shift key, and press the question mark three times.
4. A Café Borland menu appears with Philippe's favorite listed as "Microsoft liver pâté with fava beans on a bed of shredded Lotus flowers." One can only assume that a nice Chianti is also on the table and that, given its current position in the market, Borland's bite wasn't quite as big as its bark.