It is often considered the application that turned the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool. A software interface consisting of an interactive grid made up of cells in which data or formulas are entered for analysis or presentation. 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. It was not only the first spreadsheet program but is also generally regarded as the first killer app. The first decade visicalc workshop conducted by software history centeroral history project abstract. Visicalc was one of the key products that helped bring the microcomputer from the hobbyists desk into the office. Cosi nel 1979 nasce visicalc, il cui nome deriva dalla fusione di due parole.
The idea was that the number in one cell may come from a formula. Dan bricklin and bob frankston of software arts start by. Visicalc definition of visicalc by the free dictionary. Visicalc was a software emulation of the physical, paper spreadsheet that had been used by accountants for ages. Visicalc synonyms, visicalc pronunciation, visicalc translation, english dictionary definition of visicalc. Download the zip file by clicking here, reading the license agreement, and if you agree, clicking on the i agree, start the download link at the bottom of the page. The main disadvantage of visi on was its extremely high system requirements by 1982 standards.
Visicalc escuelapedia recursos educativosescuelapedia. Of course, the cells contained values only the innovation was in making cells able to contain automated computations. 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. Ed esber introduced the concept of a family of products that could be sold together, but from a technical perspective none of their products were similar in anything but name. This is the visicalc project of zach lawless and scott corbitt. Visicalc sold over 700,000 copies in six years, and as many as 1 million copies over its history. It is often considered the application that turned the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool, and is considered the apple iis killer app. It needed 512 kilobytes of ram and a hard disk at a time when pcs shipped with 64k128k and ibm did. The three principals in the development and publishing of visicalc, the first electronic spreadsheet, came together for the first time in 20 years for this workshop. History of computers and computing, birth of the modern computer, software history, visicalc of dan bricklin and bob frankston. There is finally an alternative to the long hours many of us spend working with numbers.
Information from its creators, dan bricklin and bob. Most software is more or less an adaptation of a non software system word processor. Programs were thought to be mere mathematical algorithms, and mathematical algorithms, as laws of nature, were not patentable. 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. Its popularity helped to drive early personal computer sales. The executable is available for download in a zip file. With a name that sounds like its the favorite spreadsheet of the visigoths, visicalc became the killer app of the apple ii, at least for the business market, a feat later replicated by lotus 123 for the ibm pc. 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. If you execute it in windows by doubleclicking on the file in windows explorer, it should run in an msdos window by itself, like this. Visicalc went on sale in november of 1979 and became immediately a big hit. The publishers of visicalc, personal software their name at the time later renamed visicorp, retained a patent attorney who met with executives from software arts and personal software. The free program visicalc was the first spreadsheet for pcs, and paved the way for the pc to become a working station rather than just entertainment.
Visicalc was the first spreadsheet computer program, originally released for the apple ii. Those of you who use columnar pads, calculator, and pencil to generate forecasts, plans, budgets, and the like are going to get excited about visicalc. The first spreadsheet program was visicalc, written for the apple ii computer in 1979. This, and other decisions around that time, changed the likelihood of receiving patents on software inventions, and. Before the release of this groundbreaking software, microcomputers were thought of as toys. Visicalc is one of the most important programs ever created for microcomputers. Two years after visicalc was introduced, in 1981, the u. It was the top selling program for four years, selling more than 200,000 copies in its first two years alone. Visicalc for atari 400 800 xl xe by visicorp, software arts, inc.
Com file is a standard dos executable and can be run, checked for viruses, etc. Visicalc was the first spreadsheet program for personal computers. In the spring of 1981, personal software was cashflush from the everincreasing sales of visicalc, and the corporate directors sat down and planned out their future directions. Visicalc venne diffuso su piattaforma apple e su tutti i microcalcolatori dellepoca sino all ibm, e su molte calcolatrici programmabili come le celebri hp. It was extremely successful, and pivotal as it was significantly responsible for moving personal computing out of the realm of hobbyists and in to the realm of serious business tools.