Thursday, May 25, 2006

VisiCalc

If you use Excel, then you should thank the people who invented the first popular electronic spreadsheet for the computer.  It was called VisiCalc.Visicalc1  It was created by Dan Bricklin and Bob Franklin’s company Software Arts.  It was first shipped in 1979.

VisiCalc attributes:

  • It was interactive in a WYSIWYG way
  • The User Interface and design has stayed with us
  • It ran on an affordable, personal machine, so it was accessible to all
  • It shipped and was successfully marketed
  • It was a catalyst to the personal computer industry
  • Most subsequent spreadsheets are directly descended from it
It is the combination of all these things that made VisiCalc unique and special.
 
For more on this incredible early computer tool and a working model of VisiCalc, click here.

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