VisiCalc Redux

A month ago, I wrote about Dan Bricklin’s TED talk on VisiCalc. Bricklin’s talk was in honor of the 40th anniversary of the modern spreadsheet. The spreadsheet idea was an old one but it was so labor intensive that it was used sparingly. Bricklin’s idea of implementing the spreadsheet on a low cost personal computer—the Apple II—changed everything. It’s hard to overstate how much VisiCalc, Lotus 123, and the others revolutionized business.

Happily, we don’t have to imagine. Steven Levy, famous for being a chronicler of the computer revolution has reprinted a 1984 article that explored the then new spreadsheet and how it had to a large extent turned businesses upside down. In typical Levy style, it’s a long and thorough article. It’s well worth reading whether or not you were there at the time.

David Cassel has a shorter article on the same subject. He also makes the point that VisiCalc was the first killer app. People were buying Apple IIs just so they could run VisiCalc. Steve Jobs credits VisiCalc with driving the success of the Apple II.

These days the original spreadsheets are all gone. Microsoft’s Excel and, to a lesser extent, Apple’s Numbers have almost all the mindshare. Still, it’s hard to imagine running any business (or even personal finances) without a spreadsheet. It’s interesting to see how it all started.

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