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VisiCalc Turns 25, Creators Interviewed

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the column-z-row-2 dept.

Xaroth writes "It's hard to believe that it's already been 25 years since the release of one of the world's first 'killer apps.' 1979 saw the creation of VisiCalc, the first microcomputer-based spreadsheet and the single application that launched widespread computer use among businesses. To remember this event, PC World has published portions of interviews with the three co-creators of the modern spreadsheet: Dan Bricklin, Bob Frankston, and Dan Fylstra. Alternately, check out the Software History website for more information on this and other historical bits."

2 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Small fact... by networkGhettoWhore · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I dont think the article mentioned this, but VisiCalc was also the first (known) enterprise app to be ported from the Apple OS to a *Nix based system.

    --
    Natural Selection: self-destruction of the poor and lazy
  2. Re:jEdit beats the pants off it by OscarGunther · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The spreadsheet is productive, very. In fact, it doesn't mimic paper+calc+pencil for doing banking, it superceeds it.

    And yet VisiCalc was designed to mimic a real-world operation. IIRC, industrial planners used to have large blackboards divided into grids and each square in the grid could hold a number or an equation. When a number was changed in one square, all the dependent squares had to be recalculated. Of course, the concern was that something had been missed. I believe Bricklin heard one of his professors describe this process and chose it as his model for what eventually became VisiCalc.

    I think I read this in Cringely's Accidental Empires.