The First Killer App: VisiCalc

Sabah Arif writes "The first electronic spreadsheet, VisiCalc, helped transform the Apple II from a home computer into a business computer. Without VisiCalc, it is possible IBM would not have introduced the IBM PC in 1981. Read about the software at VisiCalc's creator Dan Bricklin's site and a brief history at Braeburn."

Comments

Surprisingly

[Carthag]

it turns out VisiCalc looked more like a giant chick than a lizard.

Given the demographics of users back then ...

[cpu_fusion]

I don't think I'm going out on a limb here when I say the first killer app was probably pr0n.

Even if it was 20 character wide, uppercase ASCII, downloaded on a 110 baud accoustic-coupled modem and printed to a teletype machine hooked up to a CDC mainframe.

That was probably the point where someone said, "holy crap, this computer thing is gonna take off!"

Re:Right on!

[Sponge Bath]

...one of the first programs I bought for my Apple ][+ back in 1982

Why didn't you just download the torrent?

news..

[b100dian]

Slashdot. News for teens. Stuff that mattered.

Re:What?

[Anonymous Coward]

Paper tape? Don't make me laugh. They got together all my brothers and sisters and cousins and got each one of us to remember a bit. I remember the time we solved for the square root of 1337 to the nineteenth decimal place. Good days.

Re:What?

[mog007]

What about solitare?

first text processing and now spreadsheet

[lonedroid]

Today on /. I learned that text processing already existed 20 years ago (on the thread about Masachussetts choosing an open file format) and now... Now I learn that MS didn't invent the spreadsheet concept either !?

iPod killer

[zpok]

If only they made it portable, a little calculating device with maybe buttons and a small screen...

VisiCalc Song

[FunkSoulBrother]

I'm savin' all of those back issues of "Byte"
Making the micro conversion
I gotta handle text just right
Ya know what I mean?

I took you to a local computer store
Then to a compu-fair shopping spree
There's nothing left to purchase now
'less it's, programmability...

[BEGIN Chorus (invoked later)]
Let's get VisiCalc*, VisiCalc
I wanna get Visi-Calc, let's invoke VisiCalc
Let me hear your modem talk, your floppies squawk
Let me hear your I/O rock...
[END Chorus]

I've used paper, I've used wood
Tried to keep my pen on the table
It's getting hard, this hardware stuff
Ya know what I mean?

I'm sure you understand what eleven's* do
You know the software intimately
You gotta know, you're bringing out
the VisiPlot* for me...

[Invoke Chorus]

* VisiCalc, VisiPlot are TM's of VisiCorp, Inc.
        Eleven is a trademark of Digital Equipment Corp.

{ Original material by Randal L. Schwartz }

Re:What?

[hairyfeet]

Please don't remind me.Oh the pain that those evil things were.And stretching and skrinkage weren't the only worries.I gave up learning about computers for nearly ten years because of those things

I had just spent ten hours writing and saving an accounting program for my dad and another six writing a cool four player pong style game before going to bed.Saved and logged everything on tape.Next day i fire up the Vic20(God,I'm old!) and nothing- zip.I pop the tape in the tape deck to check it and hear--"Karma Chameleon".My sis pops in and says-" I found this tape by your computer and it was full of noise so i recorded something good on it for you".Too bad killing ones sister is illegal.:-0

I got back in when the came out with cdrw back in 98.Thank God for the guy that invented write once cds!Finally sister proof tech!