January 2, 1979: Entrepreneurs Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston incorporate their company Software Arts to publish a program called VisiCalc. The first spreadsheet software for the Apple II, VisiCalc ultimately becomes personal computing’s first “killer app.”
The software, which sells for $100, helps transform personal computers from “cool to have” toys into “must have” business accessories.
Apple II, VisiCalc and the dawn of home computing
For people who grew up with PCs and Macs in the workplace, it might seem unimaginable that there was a time when a real distinction existed between “work” and “home” computers, aside from the software the machines ran. In fact, in the early days of personal computers, many in business viewed them as hobbyist devices that didn’t compare favorably to the mainframe computers that companies routinely used.
On a technical level, home computers obviously couldn’t compete with mainframes. However, astute individuals saw that the dream of one computer for every person fulfilled a different purpose. For instance, personal computers cut down the weeks a worker might wait as their company’s computer department prepared a report.
VisiCalc was one of the first programs that “sold” personal computers like the Apple II as more than nerdy toys.
Spreadsheet app VisiCalc makes Apple II a serious tool
Screenshot: Steven Weyhrich/Apple2History
In the way we’re now accustomed, innovative spreadsheet program VisiCalc took as its metaphor the idea of a business planning blackboard that could be used for totting up and calculating finances. Creating formulas meant that changing the sum in one “cell” of the spreadsheet would change the numbers in another.
No program like VisiCalc existed before. That meant the Apple II version wasn’t a toned-down, inferior version of existing software, like the console ports of arcade games used to be.
VisiCalc for the Apple II sold a massive 700,000 copies in six years, and possibly as many as 1 million during its lifespan. While the program cost $100 (the equivalent of $435 today), many customers bought $2,000 Apple II computers specifically to be able to run VisiCalc.
Eventually, VisiCalc was ported to other computing platforms. And rival spreadsheet programs like Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Excel arose. Both of those programs improved on aspects of VisiCalc, either technically or in terms of the user interface.
However, Bricklin and Frankston’s program proved enormously significant. It remains a crucial part of Apple history.
What killer app ran on your first computer?
What killer app drove your (or your family’s) first computer purchase? Has one piece of software ever swayed you for or against a piece of hardware? Leave your comments below.
