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VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet
Spreadsheet

A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper worksheet. It displays multiple cells that together make up a grid consisting of rows and columns, each cell containing either alphanumeric text or numeric values....
 program available for personal computers. It is often considered the application that turned the microcomputer
Microcomputer

A microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit. Another general characteristic of these computers is that they occupy physically small amounts of space when compared to mainframe computer and minicomputers....
 from a hobby for computer
Computer

A computer is a machine that manipulates Data according to a list of Code .The first devices that resemble modern computers date to the mid-20th century , although the computer concept and various machines similar to computers existed earlier....
 enthusiasts
Hobby

A hobby is a leisure recreational pursuit....
 into a serious business
Business

A business is a legally recognized organization designed to provide good s and/or Service to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalism economies, most being privately owned and formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners....
 tool. VisiCalc sold over 700,000 copies in six years.

eived by Dan Bricklin
Dan Bricklin

Daniel S. Bricklin is the co-creator, with Bob Frankston, of the VisiCalc spreadsheet program. He also founded Software Garden, Inc., of which he is currently president, and Trellix Corporation, which is currently owned by Web.com....
, refined by Bob Frankston
Bob Frankston

Robert M. Frankston is the co-creator with Dan Bricklin of the VisiCalc spreadsheet program and the co-founder of Software Arts, the company that developed it....
, developed by their company Software Arts
Software Arts

Software Arts was a software company founded by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston in 1979 to develop VisiCalc, which was published by a separate company, VisiCorp ....
, and distributed by Personal Software in 1979 (later named VisiCorp
VisiCorp

VisiCorp was an early personal computer software publisher. Its most famous products are VisiOn and VisiCalc.It was founded in 1976 by Dan Fylstra and Peter R....
) 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.






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VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet
Spreadsheet

A spreadsheet is a computer application that simulates a paper worksheet. It displays multiple cells that together make up a grid consisting of rows and columns, each cell containing either alphanumeric text or numeric values....
 program available for personal computers. It is often considered the application that turned the microcomputer
Microcomputer

A microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit. Another general characteristic of these computers is that they occupy physically small amounts of space when compared to mainframe computer and minicomputers....
 from a hobby for computer
Computer

A computer is a machine that manipulates Data according to a list of Code .The first devices that resemble modern computers date to the mid-20th century , although the computer concept and various machines similar to computers existed earlier....
 enthusiasts
Hobby

A hobby is a leisure recreational pursuit....
 into a serious business
Business

A business is a legally recognized organization designed to provide good s and/or Service to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalism economies, most being privately owned and formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners....
 tool. VisiCalc sold over 700,000 copies in six years.

Origins

Conceived by Dan Bricklin
Dan Bricklin

Daniel S. Bricklin is the co-creator, with Bob Frankston, of the VisiCalc spreadsheet program. He also founded Software Garden, Inc., of which he is currently president, and Trellix Corporation, which is currently owned by Web.com....
, refined by Bob Frankston
Bob Frankston

Robert M. Frankston is the co-creator with Dan Bricklin of the VisiCalc spreadsheet program and the co-founder of Software Arts, the company that developed it....
, developed by their company Software Arts
Software Arts

Software Arts was a software company founded by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston in 1979 to develop VisiCalc, which was published by a separate company, VisiCorp ....
, and distributed by Personal Software in 1979 (later named VisiCorp
VisiCorp

VisiCorp was an early personal computer software publisher. Its most famous products are VisiOn and VisiCalc.It was founded in 1976 by Dan Fylstra and Peter R....
) 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. At the time, most microcomputers suffered from lack of storage space and display limitations that made them poor competitors in the word processing
Word processing

Word processing is the creation of documents using a word processor. It can also refer to advanced shorthand techniques, sometimes used in specialized contexts with a specially modified typewriter....
 and database
Database

A database is a structured collection of records or data that is stored in a computer system. The structure is achieved by organizing the data according to a database model....
 markets. 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. This likely motivated IBM
IBM

International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" , is a multinational corporation computer technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, New York, United States....
 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
Atari 8-bit family

The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology MOS Technology 6502 central processing unit and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips, giving them the most powerful graphic, sound and I/O subsystems of any 8 bit machine of their time...
, the Commodore PET
Commodore PET

The PET was a home computer-/personal computer produced by Commodore International starting in 1977. Although it was not a top seller outside the Canadian, US, and UK educational markets, it was Commodore's first full-featured computer and would form the basis for their future success....
, TRS-80
TRS-80

TRS-80 was Tandy Corporation's desktop microcomputer model line, sold through Tandy's Radio Shack stores in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The line won popularity with hobbyists, home users, and small-businesses....
, and the IBM PC
IBM PC

The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform ....
.

According to Bricklin, he was watching his university professor at Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School is a business school in the United States. It is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University.Founded in 1908, Harvard Business School started with 59 students....
 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.

Successors

Charles Babcock
Charles Babcock

File:St Andrew's Episcopal Church, Walden, NY.jpgReverend Charles Babcock was an United States architect, academic, Episcopal Church in the United States of America minister and founding member of the American Institute of Architects....
 of InformationWeek
InformationWeek

InformationWeek is a multimedia brand with a weekly print magazine, online site, face-to-face and virtual events, and research. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California and was first printed in 1979 by CMP Media, later called CMP Technology....
 argues that in retrospect, “VisiCalc was flawed and clunky, and couldn't do many things users wanted it to do.” Soon, more powerful clones of VisiCalc were released, including SuperCalc
SuperCalc

SuperCalc was a spreadsheet application published by Sorcim in 1980, and originally bundled as part of the CP/M software package included with the Osborne 1 portable computer....
 (1980), Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
's MultiPlan
MultiPlan

Multiplan was an early spreadsheet program developed by Microsoft. Known initially by the List of computer technology code names "EP" , it was introduced in 1982 as a competitor for VisiCalc....
 (1982), Lotus 1-2-3
Lotus 1-2-3

Lotus 1-2-3 is a spreadsheet program from Lotus Software . It was the IBM PC's first "killer application"; its huge popularity in the mid-1980s contributed significantly to the success of the IBM PC in the corporate environment....
 (1983), and the spreadsheet module in AppleWorks
AppleWorks

AppleWorks refers to two different office suite products, both of which are now discontinued. Originally, AppleWorks was an integrated software package for the Apple II platform, released in 1984 by Apple Computer....
 (1984). With Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet-application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables and a macro programming language called VBA ....
 (introduced for the Macintosh
Macintosh

File:Imac alu.pngMacintosh, commonly shortened to Mac, is a brand name which covers several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc....
 in 1985 and for Windows 2.0
Windows 2.0

Windows 2.0 was a 16-bit Microsoft Windows graphical user interface-based operating environment that superseded Windows 1.0. Windows 2.0 was supplemented by Windows 2.1x and Windows 2.1x in 1988....
 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
VisiCorp

VisiCorp was an early personal computer software publisher. Its most famous products are VisiOn and VisiCalc.It was founded in 1976 by Dan Fylstra and Peter R....
.

The idea was prominent enough that an entire spreadsheet was shipped as C source code as a mere application "sample" of Borland
Borland

Borland Software Corporation is a Computer software company headquartered in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1983 by Niels Jensen, Ole Henriksen, Mogens Glad and Philippe Kahn....
's Turbo C
Turbo C

Turbo C was a Integrated Development Environment and compiler for the C from Borland. It was first introduced in 1987 and was noted for its integrated development environment, small size, extremely fast compile speed, comprehensive manuals and low price....
 compiler: the TurboCalc.

See also

  • Triumph of the Nerds
    Triumph of the Nerds

    Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires is a documentary film written and hosted by Robert X. Cringely and produced for British television by Oregon Public Broadcasting....
    , A documentary hosted by Robert X. Cringley that featured the creators of VisiCalc and their contribution as the first killer app
    Killer application

    A killer application , in the jargon of computer programmers and video gamers, has been used to refer to any computer program that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as computer hardware like a video game console, operating system or other software....
     for the personal computer
    Personal computer

    A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose original sales price, size, and capabilities make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator....
    .
  • Timeline of computing 1950–1979


External links

  • – With history information as well as downloadable PC version
  • – By Bob Frankston, on his website
  • – PC World
    PC World (magazine)

    PC World is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal-technology products and services....
      interview with the creators of VisiCalc