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VisiCalc
VisiCalc ("visible calculator") is the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers, originally released for the Apple II by VisiCorp on October 17, 1979. It is considered the killer application for the Apple II, turning the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool, and then prompting IBM to introduce the IBM PC two years later. More than 700,000 copies were sold in six years, and up to 1 million copies over its history. Initially developed for the Apple II computer using a 6502 assembler running on the Multics time-sharing system, VisiCalc was ported to numerous platforms, both 8-bit and some of the early 16-bit systems. To do this, the company developed porting platforms that produced bug compatible versions. The company took the same approach when the IBM PC was launched, producing a product that was essentially identical to the original 8-bit Apple II version. Sales were initially brisk, with about 300,000 copies sold. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dan Bricklin
Daniel Singer Bricklin (born July 16, 1951) is an American businessman and engineer who is the co-creator, with Bob Frankston, of VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program. He also founded Software Garden, Inc., of which he is currently president, and Trellix, which he left in 2004.Daniel Bricklin Bio CS Dept. NSF-Supported Education Infrastructure Project. Accessed January 3, 2011. He currently serves as the chief technology officer of Alpha Software. His book, ''Bricklin on Technology'', was published by Wiley in May 2009. For his work with VisiCalc, Bricklin is often referred to as " [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lotus 1-2-3
Lotus 1-2-3 is a discontinued spreadsheet program from Lotus Software (later part of IBM). It was the first killer application of the IBM PC, was hugely popular in the 1980s, and significantly contributed to the success of IBM PC-compatibles in the business market. The first spreadsheet, VisiCalc, had helped launch the Apple II as one of the earliest personal computers in business use. With IBM's entry into the market, VisiCalc was slow to respond, and when they did, they launched what was essentially a straight port of their existing system despite the greatly expanded hardware capabilities. Lotus's solution was marketed as a three-in-one integrated solution: it handled spreadsheet calculations, database functionality, and graphical charts, hence the name "1-2-3", though how much database capability the product actually had was debatable, given the sparse memory left over after launching 1-2-3. It quickly overtook VisiCalc, as well as Multiplan and SuperCalc, the two Visi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spreadsheet
A spreadsheet is a computer application for computation, organization, analysis and storage of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets were developed as computerized analogs of paper accounting worksheets. The program operates on data entered in cells of a table. Each cell may contain either numeric or text data, or the results of formulas that automatically calculate and display a value based on the contents of other cells. The term ''spreadsheet'' may also refer to one such electronic document. Spreadsheet users can adjust any stored value and observe the effects on calculated values. This makes the spreadsheet useful for "what-if" analysis since many cases can be rapidly investigated without manual recalculation. Modern spreadsheet software can have multiple interacting sheets and can display data either as text and numerals or in graphical form. Besides performing basic arithmetic and mathematical functions, modern spreadsheets provide built-in functions for common financial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Killer Application
A killer application (often shortened to killer app) is any software that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as its host computer hardware, video game console, software platform, or operating system. Consumers would buy the host platform just to access that application, possibly substantially increasing sales of its host platform. Usage The earliest recorded use of the term "killer app" in print is in the May 24, 1988 issue of '' PC Week'': "Everybody has only one killer application. The secretary has a word processor. The manager has a spreadsheet." The definition of "killer app" came up during the deposition of Bill Gates in the '' United States v. Microsoft Corp.'' antitrust case. He had written an email in which he described Internet Explorer as a killer app. In the questioning, he said that the term meant "a popular application," and did not connote an application that would fuel sales of a larger product or one that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VisiCorp
VisiCorp, originally Personal Software, was an early personal computer software publisher. Its most famous products were Microchess, Visi On and VisiCalc. History Personal Software was founded in 1977 by Dan Fylstra. In 1978, it merged with Peter R. Jennings's Toronto-based software publisher Micro-Ware, with the two taking a 50% ownership each in the resulting company and Personal Software becoming the name of the combined company. It continued to publish the software from its original constituents, including Jennings' Microchess program for the MOS Technology KIM-1 computer, and later Commodore PET, Apple II, TRS-80, and Atari 8-bit computers. In 1979 it published the very successful VisiCalc developed by Software Arts, and in 1980 received outside investment from Arthur Rock and Venrock. That year management decided to focus on business applications, and shifted from mail order to regional software distributors and direct sales. Two thirds of revenue came from direc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lotus Development
Lotus Software (called Lotus Development Corporation before its acquisition by IBM) was an American software company based in Massachusetts; it was sold to India's HCL Technologies in 2018. Lotus is most commonly known for the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet application, the first feature-heavy, user-friendly, reliable, and WYSIWYG-enabled product to become widely available in the early days of the IBM PC, when there was no graphical user interface. Much later, in conjunction with Ray Ozzie's Iris Associates, Lotus also released a groupware and email system, Lotus Notes. IBM purchased the company in 1995 for US$3.5 billion, primarily to acquire Lotus Notes and to establish a presence in the increasingly important client–server computing segment, which was rapidly making host-based products such as IBM's OfficeVision obsolete. On December 6, 2018, IBM announced the sale of Lotus Software/Domino to HCL for $1.8 billion. History Lotus was founded in 1982 by partners Mitch Kapo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Software Arts
Software Arts was a software company founded by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston in 1979 to develop VisiCalc, which was published by a separate company, Personal Software Inc., later named VisiCorp. Software Arts also developed TK!Solver, a numeric equation solving system originally developed by Milos Konopasek Milos Konopasek (died in Boston, Massachusetts, 9 January 2002) was a Czechoslovakia-born mechanical engineering, mechanical engineer best known as the creator of TK!Solver, an iterative, Constraint satisfaction, constraint-based Declarative prog ..., and ''Spotlight'', "a desktop organizer for the I.B.M. Personal Computer." By early 1984 ''InfoWorld'' estimated that Software Arts was the world's 13th-largest microcomputer-software company, with $12 million in 1983 sales. It was bought by Lotus in 1985. References External linksSoftware Arts and VisiCalc by Dan Bricklin Defunct computer companies based in Massachusetts Software companies established in 1979 So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apple II
Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed by Steve Wozniak and was first sold on June 10, 1977. Its success led to it being followed by the Apple II Plus, Apple IIe, Apple IIc, and Apple IIc Plus, with the 1983 IIe being the most popular. The name is trademarked with square brackets as Apple ][, then, beginning with the IIe, as Apple //. The Apple II was a major advancement over its predecessor, the Apple I, in terms of ease of use, features, and expandability. It became one of several recognizable and successful computers throughout the 1980s, although this was mainly limited to the US. It was aggressively marketed through volume discounts and manufacturing arrangements to educational institutions, which made it the first computer in widespread use in American secondary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CP/M
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/Intel 8085, 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Digital Research, Inc. CP/M is a disk operating system and its purpose is to organize files on a magnetic storage medium, and to load and run programs stored on a disk. Initially confined to single-tasking on 8-bit processors and no more than 64 kilobytes of memory, later versions of CP/M added multi-user variations and were migrated to 16-bit processors. CP/M's core components are the ''Basic Input/Output System'' (BIOS), the ''Basic Disk Operating System'' (BDOS), and the ''Console Command Processor'' (CCP). The BIOS consists of drivers that deal with devices and system hardware. The BDOS implements the file system and provides system services to applications. The CCP is the command-line interpreter and provides some built-in commands. CP ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sony SMC-70
Announced on May 17, 1982, the SMC-70 is a microcomputer that was produced by Sony and released in September 1982. The system was initially released for general office use in the United States, with the SMC-70G and SMC-70GP (released in 1983) designed for professional video generation, for example in character generation applications and digital video effect generation. Specifications The SMC-70 was the second Sony device that used Sony's recently invented 3.5" micro floppy disk drive (first introduced in 1980) that was modified to become the industry standard. Like many home and office computers of the era, it had its own specially developed version of BASIC called Sony BASIC, designed to take advantage of a color Sony Trinitron display. With optional expansion ROMs the system could display kanji characters. The system was expandable, allowing users to install a disk controller with one or two internal 3.5" disk drives (the base system did not include a floppy disk contro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atari 8-bit
The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 6502 CPU and three custom coprocessors which provide support for sprites, smooth multidirectional scrolling, four channels of audio, and other features. The graphics and sound are more advanced than most of its contemporaries, and video games are a key part of the software library. The 1980 first-person space combat simulator ''Star Raiders'' is considered the platform's killer app. The Atari 800 was positioned as a high-end model and the 400 as more affordable. The 400 has a pressure-sensitive, spillproof membrane keyboard and initially shipped with a non-upgradable of RAM. The 800 has a conventional keyboard, a second cartridge slot, and allows easy RAM upgrades to 48K. Both use identical 6502 CPUs at ( for PAL versions) and coprocessor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
