VisiCalc

An example VisiCalc spreadsheet on an Apple II.
Developer(s)	VisiCorp
Stable release	VisiCalc Advanced Version / 1983
Operating system	Apple II, CP/M, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore PET, TRS-DOS, DOS
Type	Spreadsheet
License	Proprietary EULA
Website	www.danbricklin.com

VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet program available for personal computers. It is often considered the application that turned the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool.^[1] VisiCalc sold over 700,000 copies in six years.^[2]

Origins

Conceived by Dan Bricklin, refined by Bob Frankston, developed by their company Software Arts^[1], and distributed by Personal Software in 1979 (later named VisiCorp) for the Apple II computer, it propelled the Apple from being a hobbyist's toy to being a much-desired, useful financial tool for business^[1]. At the time, most microcomputers suffered from lack of storage space and display limitations that made them poor competitors in the word processing and database markets.^{[citation needed]} The spreadsheet, however, did not depend on powerful displays or storage media, and so was an ideal fit for microcomputer technology available at the time.^{[citation needed]} This likely motivated IBM to enter the PC market which they had been ignoring until then. After the Apple II version, VisiCalc was also released for the Atari 8-bit family, the Commodore PET, TRS-80, and the IBM PC^[1].

According to Bricklin, he was watching his university professor at Harvard Business School create a financial model on a blackboard. When the professor found an error or wanted to change a parameter, he had to tediously erase and rewrite a number of sequential entries in the table, triggering Bricklin to realize that he could replicate the process on a computer using an "electronic spreadsheet" to view results of underlying formulae^[3].

Successors

Charles Babcock of InformationWeek argues that in retrospect, “VisiCalc was flawed and clunky, and couldn't do many things users wanted it to do.”^[4] Soon, more powerful clones of VisiCalc were released, including SuperCalc (1980), Microsoft's MultiPlan (1982), Lotus 1-2-3 (1983), and the spreadsheet module in AppleWorks (1984). With Microsoft Excel (introduced for the Macintosh in 1985 and for Windows 2.0 in 1987), a new generation of spreadsheets was born. Due to the lack of a patent (which until then had never been issued for a computer program), none of the developers of the VisiCalc clones had to pay any royalties to VisiCorp.

The idea was prominent enough that a spreadsheet program was shipped as C source code as a programming example of Borland's Turbo C compiler: the TurboCalc.

References

See also

• Triumph of the Nerds, A documentary hosted by Robert X. Cringley that featured the creators of VisiCalc and their contribution as the first killer app for the personal computer.
• Timeline of computing 1950–1979

External links

• Dan Bricklin's Own VisiCalc Website – With history information as well as downloadable PC version
• Implementing VisiCalc – By Bob Frankston, on his website
• Three Minutes: Godfathers Of The Spreadsheet – PC World  interview with the creators of VisiCalc
• Techdirt: What If VisiCalc Had Been Patented?