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Meet the Guy Who Holds the Guinness World Record For Collecting Spreadsheets (fastcompany.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

harrymcc writes: Ariel Fischman, a financial advisor in Mexico City, has been using spreadsheet software for 30 years. And in recent years he's been collecting it: VisiCalc, 1-2-3, Excel, Quattro, and lesser lights in their once-familiar boxes, in a dizzying array of variants stretching back to the 1970s. Last year, Guinness World Records certified that his collection is without peer. I recently spoke to him about it -- starting with the obvious question -- Why spreadsheets? -- for Fast Company.

12 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. I had to collect them! by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

    Else they'd have spread!

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  2. Wow by fluffernutter · · Score: 4, Funny

    And I thought stamp collecting was the world's geekiest hobby, we have a new winner!

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    1. Re:Wow by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 3, Funny

      Sadly, he'll have no one to leave this collection to when he passes on... since he's obviously going to die a virgin.

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    2. Re:Wow by Dusthead+Jr. · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You think spreadsheet software is the geekiest thing you can collect? What about Star Wars memorabilia? Video games and video game consoles. Playboy.

    3. Re: Wow by amicusNYCL · · Score: 4, Informative

      The person who wrote this article does not know what a spreadsheet is. What he has collected is about 800 copies of various versions of applications that create spreadsheets.

      The person who wrote the article gets it correct once:

      Fischman collects spreadsheet software - boxes full of disks, manuals, and other accoutrements that were standard fare in every office until we started downloading most of our apps.

      It goes downhill from there:

      Why don’t we start with the most obvious question. Why spreadsheets?
      Once one sets out to collect spreadsheets, where does one get them?
      How many spreadsheets do you have?
      Is there such a thing as a valuable spreadsheet?
      VisiCalc, the PC spreadsheet that started it all.

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  3. He's not collecting spreadsheets by Patent+Lover · · Score: 5, Informative

    He's collecting spreadsheet software.

  4. No mention of GEOS for the 64? by fat+man's+underwear · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Bringing a graphical spreadsheet with graphing capability on a 64 was a tour de force. Not mentioned in this article?

    Here's a weird little web page about it

    http://geowriter.blogspot.com/...

  5. enquiring minds want to know by cellocgw · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So, which spreadsheet program does this guy use to organize and manage his collection?

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    1. Re:enquiring minds want to know by rjune · · Score: 5, Funny

      He uses 3" x 5" cards.

  6. Re:Oblg. Hobby by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because its tech related. Because a Guinness Book record is interesting in a light-hearted way. Cause the guy could actually speak intelligently about his hobby and tie it to the history of the mundane yet important market of consumer software?

    Exactly how much time does it take for one to ignore a slashdot article?

  7. Kudos to him by wired_parrot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    for preserving a slice of software history. Not only has he collected a rich historical collection preserving the evolution of spreadsheet software, but from the article he's also interviewed and corresponded with the software pioneers from the field, most of whom are in their 80s and 90s now, preserving their historical testimony. Without him an important part of software history might otherwise have been forgotten. I suspect his collection, and his research into the field, will be an invaluable archive for those interested in computing history. It's a shame that his interest in preserving software history is being met with more mockery than support by the slashdot community.

  8. Boxed spreadsheet software by Ecuador · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ok, the Guinness World Records have become a bit ridiculous, registering records for some very trivial things, but at least this guy is not collecting "spreadsheets", but boxed spreadsheet software. He has over 500 according to the "strict" record parameters, or 800 otherwise.
    It's still rather trivial of course, when I was a kid (almost 3 decades ago), I had asked for the Guinness Book of records for christmas and enjoyed reading about the tallest man, the fastest animal etc, but the biggest spreadsheet software collection is nothing like that. I mean, you could have thousands of records under the category "biggest xx software collection", or things like "biggest kellogs cerial box collection" etc. Maybe I should also apply, I have the worlds biggest "software written by myself" software collection...

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