Apr 22, 2020 visicalc, short for visible calculator, was the first spreadsheet program and the first fully functional computer application to run on personal computers. He also holds an honorary doctor of humane letters from. In this super techies interview, software inventor dan bricklin shares with cnet s dan farber his thoughts on software innovation past and present. Go to dan bricklin s web site and download a fully working copy. Dan bricklin came up with the idea for an electronic spreadsheet while still a graduate student at harvard business school. Visicalc was soon sold to lotus development corporation where it was developed into the lotus 123 spreadsheet for the pc by 1983.
In fact, bob had worked since the 1960s at interactive data corporation, a major timesharing utility that was used for some of them and i was exposed to some at harvard business school in one of. Before visicalc, there was nothing that remotely resembled an electronic spreadsheet. Dan bricklin conceived visicalc while watching a presentation at harvard business school. Just before the release of vision, personal software was renamed visicorp. Visicalc, codeveloped with his friend bob frankston whom he met at mit, is widely credited for fueling the rapid growth of the personal computer industry. It was then ported to a wide variety of platforms including the apple iii, trs80 series, sony smc70, hp. Dan bricklin became widely recognized in the computer business for his contributions. Prior to founding trellix in 1995, he served as president of software garden, inc. Jun 20, 2019 prior to founding trellix in 1995, he served as president of software garden, inc. The success of software arts continued until 1984 when it entered into an extended legal battle with visicorp over the rights to visicalc.
The professor was creating a financial model on a blackboard that was ruled with vertical and horizontal lines resembling accounting paper to create a table, and he wrote formulas and data into the cells. Information from its creators, dan bricklin and bob. Quite interestingly, the inventors of visicalc, dan bricklin and bob frankston, had background in word processing, hacking and financial forecasting budgeting. To a student of software, visicalc is the embodiment of so many novel and important ideas in software, lessons which are still relevant today. Visicalc, short for visible calculator, was the first spreadsheet program and the first fully functional computer application to run on personal computers. In a related matter, software arts, the developerof the original visicalc spreadsheet software filed a separate action against lotus claiming that lotus 123 was an infringement of visicalc. Dan bricklin, inventor of the electronic spreadsheet low. The program was created for the apple ii computer in 1979 by harvard business graduate student dan bricklin and his partner, bob frankston. Visicalc on july 16, 1951, computer scientist dan bricklin was born. Bricklin never received a patent for visicalc because software programs were not eligible for patents by the supreme court until after 1981. It was originally created by dan bricklin and bob frankston of software arts and first released in 1979 for the apple ii. It was written by dan bricklin and bob frankston and came from an insight bricklin had one day while attending harvard business school.
It has material directly from dan bricklin and bob frankston, the cocreators of visicalc, including scans of original photographs from visicalcs development days, a working copy of the program, and other things from software arts, inc. Thoughts on the 20th anniversary of the ibm pc which includes pictures of my notes in my notebook from those days and ibm pc announcement 1981 which consists of a transcript of a videotape taken of the software arts. Dan bricklin is best known for codeveloping visicalc, the first electronic spreadsheet, while he was a student at the harvard business school. A copy of the ibm pc visicalc is available for you to try on this web site. This was dan bricklins high point as well because he was given the grace hopper award for significant accomplishment in computers by people under 30. Dan bricklin and bob frankston, creative computing. Lotus development, which owns the for visicalc, has allowed this download from bricklin s site.
Software garden is also known for products i produced in the past, including dan bricklins demo program and demoit demo and demoit. Dan bricklin invented the spreadsheetbut dont hold that. For many such users, visicalc was the program that convinced them to purchase a pc. Daniel singer dan bricklin born 16 july 1951, often referred to as the father of the spreadsheet, is the american cocreator, with bob frankston, of the visicalc spreadsheet program. Demo was first released in 1985 by dan bricklins consulting firm software garden. For advancing the utility of personal computers by developing the visicalc electronic spreadsheet. This was dan bricklin s high point as well because he was given the grace hopper award for significant accomplishment in computers by people under 30. Visicalc was designed to address and replace the manual spreadsheet management process, where changing a single value required altering the entire spreadsheet because with visicalc, the changes made to. Bricklin worried about producing a second product for fear of it ruining their superb track record in selling visicalc. While visicalc is long gone from the mainstream market, you can still run it on your pc today. For more information about the announcement of the ibm pc, see these pages on this web site. We can look back and recognize that visicalc was the first killer application for personal computers. It became personal softwares flagship product, financing the groundbreaking vision office suite and gui.
Dan bricklin, bob frankston, and the first spreadsheet. Jan 03, 2016 visicalc was the worlds first spreadsheet program. Visicalc was the first computer spreadsheet program. Why a simple spreadsheet spread like wildfire opinion the. Briefly, lotus won the legal battles, but lost the market share war to microsoft. Visicalc of dan bricklin and bob frankston history of the. Visicalc for visible calculator was the first spreadsheet computer program for personal.
Bricklin has since founded software garden, his newest venture, which was officially incorporated in november 1985. Electronic semiconductor industry analysis, research. History of computers and computing, birth of the modern computer, software history, visicalc of dan bricklin and bob frankston. Over the years, various spreadsheets have come and gone. Since software patents were rare when he created visicalc, rival spreadsheet programs like lotus 123 and microsoft excel quickly emerged. Dec 22, 2015 for bricklin, the spreadsheet is history.
It was published through personal software, who due to the success of visicalc, changed their name to visicorp. Why a simple spreadsheet spread like wildfire opinion. The spreadsheet application is called the first killer app for personal computers. Dec 06, 2016 dan bricklin is best known for codeveloping visicalc, the first electronic spreadsheet, while he was a student at the harvard business school. In the spring of 1978, a harvard business school student, dan bricklin, came up with the idea for an interactive visible calculator, the program called visicalc, which will be called later the first killer app of the computer era. In the view of many users, it was the application that most vividly showed the utility of personal computers for small businessesin some cases turning a 20hourperweek bookkeeping chore into a few minutes of data entry. It has material directly from dan bricklin and bob frankston, the cocreators of visicalc, including scans of original photographs from visicalc s development days, a working copy of the program, and other things from software arts, inc.
Entrepreneurs dan bricklin and bob frankston incorporate their company software arts to publish a little program called visicalc. Dan bricklin is best known for codeveloping visicalc, the pioneering. As cocreator of visicalc, the first computerized spreadsheet, dan bricklin literally created the pc industry. While most early microprocessor computers had been quickly supported by basic and a few games, visicalc introduced a new level in application software.
Dan bricklin is best known for codeveloping visicalc, the pioneering electronic spreadsheet, while he was a student at the harvard business school. Bricklin has created innovative, cuttingedge products. Before this, companies were investing time and money creating financial projections with. Visicalcs dan bricklin weighs in on the tablet revolution. Conceived by dan bricklin, a harvard student, and programmed by a friend, bob frankston, it became a major success. The software was released under their company name software arts.
Join the software engineer and computing legend as he explores the tangled web of first jobs, daydreams and homework problems that led to his transformational. Information from its creators, dan bricklin and bob frankston. Prior to forming software arts, bricklin was a market researcher for prime. Visicalc is widely credited for fueling the rapid growth of personal computers in business. On january 2, 1978, software arts was founded by dan bricklin and bob frankston to create an electronic spreadsheet. It was simple to use and enabled sorting and storage of data in tabular rows and columns. He wears the uniform the software industry issues all its conscripts sneakers, clean but. Dan bricklin was born in philadelphia, pennsylvania, in 1951. Bricklin and bob frankston then coinvented or cocreated the software program visicalc. The first spreadsheet program was visicalc, written for the apple ii computer in 1979.
It is often considered the application that turned the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool, prompting ibm to introduce the ibm pc two years later. Aug 24, 2016 visicalc was short for visible calculator. This program is notable as having been written by dan bricklin, the author of visicalc. In may 1985, dan bricklin left software arts to be a consultant at lotus for a short time. Note taker was designed and programmed by dan bricklin, the same person who 30 years ago came up with visicalc, the pioneering electronic spreadsheet for the apple ii that made working with numbers on a personal computer so easy. It has historical information ive accumulated including about visicalc, some of my thoughts and writings, material from others that i find of interest, and material specific to me for reporters and researchers. On 11 may 1979, dan bricklin and bob frankston released the first pc killer app and true father of the personal computer era, the visicalc spreadsheet running on an apple ii computer. Dan bricklin helped fuel the rapid growth of the personal computer industry. Quite interestingly, the inventors of visicalc, dan bricklin and bob frankston, had background in word processing, hacking and financial forecasting. In the spring of 1978, a harvard business school student, dan bricklin, came up with the idea for an interactive visible calculator, the program called visicalc, which will be called later the first killer app of the computer era bricklin certainly was not he inventor of the electronic spreadsheet. Dan bricklin writes, with the years of experience we had at the time we created visicalc, we were familiar with many rowcolumn financial programs. Meet the inventor of the electronic spreadsheet dan bricklin. It was considered a fourth generation software program. Daniel singer dan bricklin born on july 16, 1951, often referred to as the father of the spreadsheet, is the american cocreator, with bob frankston, of the visicalc spreadsheet program.
In 1979, dan bricklin wrote the most innovative piece of software in history. This is a personal web site that i maintain myself. Together with bob frankston he created visicalc, the first spreadsheet computer program 1979 which created a market beyond hobbyists for the emerging personal computers. Visicalc for visible calculator was the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers, originally released for the apple ii by visicorp. Since software patents were rare when he created visicalc, rival spreadsheet programs like lotus 1. Bricklin is best known for codeveloping visicalc, the first electronic spreadsheet, while he was a student at the harvard business. Jul 16, 2014 visicalc on july 16, 1951, computer scientist dan bricklin was born.
Dan bricklin invented the spreadsheetbut dont hold that against. Bricklin could not patent visicalc, since software programs were not eligible for patent protection at the time. Conceived by dan bricklin, a harvard student, and programmed by a friend, bob frankston, it. It was later sold under peter norton computing, and then sage software. Today, everybody knows spreadsheet programs, no matter if you choose a desktop application or a web based. It was the first digital, real spreadsheet tool which didnt require extensive programming. Thoughts on the 20th anniversary of the ibm pc which includes pictures of my notes in my notebook from those days and ibm pc announcement 1981 which consists of a transcript of a videotape taken of the. Dan bricklin is currently president of software garden, inc. Dan bricklin born 1951 codeveloped visicalc with bob frankston in the late 1970s while he was a student at the harvard business school. Join the software engineer and computing legend as he explores the tangled web of first jobs, daydreams and homework problems that led to his. Visicalc is the first spreadsheet software program. Dan bricklin interesting stories about famous people. Bricklin also cofounded slate corporation, a developer of application software for pen computers, as well as software arts, the developer of visicalc.
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