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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] |
Visi On
Visi On (also known as VisiOn) is an operating environment for IBM PCs and compatibles running DOS, developed by VisiCorp and released in December 1983. Visi On was the first piece of software with a graphical user interface (GUI) for the IBM PC platform. It was also one of the first GUIs available on any personal computer. Visi On was never popular, as it had steep minimum system requirements for its day, but it was influential in the development of later GUIs like Microsoft Windows. VisiCorp had programs for sale that were compatible with VisiOn, including a spreadsheet program called "VisiOn Calc". (Not to be confused with VisiCalc). One of Visi On's features was an hourglass cursor that indicated when the system was loading data from a disk. At the time, most software would display words on the screen like "busy" or "please wait" instead. History Background In the spring of 1981, Personal Software was cash-flush from the ever-increasing sales of VisiCalc, and the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Microchess
''Microchess'', sometimes written as ''MicroChess'', is a chess program developed for the MOS Technology KIM-1 microcomputer by Peter R. Jennings in 1976, and published by his company Micro-Ware. The game plays chess against the human player at a beginner level, with the player entering moves via a keyboard and the computer responding, both in a custom chess notation. The game was ported to many other microcomputers such as the TRS-80, Apple II, Commodore PET, and Atari 8-bit computers by Micro-Ware and its successor company Personal Software (later VisiCorp) between 1976 and 1980, with later versions featuring graphics and more levels of play. A dedicated hardware version of the game called ''ChessMate'' was produced by Commodore International in 1978, and the game's engine was licensed to Novag for its dedicated ''Chess Champion Mk II'' chess computer in 1979. The game was created by Jennings over the course of around six months in 1976. He developed it with the aim of ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ed Esber
Edward M. Esber, Jr. (born 1952) is semi-retired in Park City, Utah. He supports state economic development, law enforcement initiatives, and the Silicon Slopes entrepreneurial community. Summary As a PC industry veteran, he pioneered the marketing and distribution of personal computer productivity software. Afterwards, he did seminal work on the integration of computers and multimedia; the integration of computers, toys and learning; the integration of computers, communication and telephony; the mobilization of email and internet access and personal computer mobility. As an active board member and/or executive, he was involved in one of the first computer games company, the first hardcard, one of the first disk drive companies, the first one pound MS-DOS computer, the first Tablet PC, the first DVR and the first MP3 player. Esber is also recognized for his role in transitioning software from a technical novelty to a commercial industry, promoting user-friendly applications that ... [...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] |
Dan Fylstra
Dan Fylstra is an American pioneer of the software products industry. A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1975 he was a founding associate editor of ''Byte'' magazine. In 1978 he co-founded Personal Software, and that year reviewed the Commodore PET 2001 and TRS-80 Model I for ''Byte'' while studying for an MBA at the Harvard Business School, having ordered each almost immediately after release. Personal Software became the distributor of a new program called VisiCalc, the first-ever computer spreadsheet. In his marketing efforts Fylstra ran teaser ads in ''Byte'' that asked, considering electronic spreadsheets were an entirely new product category, "How did you ever do without it?" The VisiCalc-Apple connection suggested the hypothesis of the "killer app"—or the "software tail that wags the hardware dog." Once VisiCalc caught on, people came into computer stores asking for VisiCalc and then also the computer (the Apple II) they would need to run the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graphical User Interface
A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such as secondary notation. In many applications, GUIs are used instead of text-based user interface, text-based UIs, which are based on typed command labels or text navigation. GUIs were introduced in reaction to the perceived steep learning curve of command-line interfaces (CLIs), which require commands to be typed on a computer keyboard. The actions in a GUI are usually performed through direct manipulation interface, direct manipulation of the graphical elements. Beyond computers, GUIs are used in many handheld mobile devices such as MP3 players, portable media players, gaming devices, smartphones and smaller household, office and Distributed control system, industrial controls. The term ''GUI'' tends not to be applied to other lower-displa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venrock
Venrock (portmanteau of Venture and Rockefeller) is an American venture capital firm formed in 1969 to build upon the successful investing activities of the Rockefeller family that began in the late 1930s. It has offices in Palo Alto, California, New York City, and Boston, Massachusetts. History Venture capitalist Laurance S. Rockefeller (1910–2004) was the fourth of the six children of John D. Rockefeller Jr. In January 1946 he formed Rockefeller Brothers, Inc., one of the first postwar venture-capital operations, starting with a capitalization of $1.5 million. There were eight partners in all, the five brothers and their sister, Abby, and two non-family members, Harper Woodward and MIT scientist Ted Walkowicz. In 1969, the firm became known as Venrock. Laurance S. Rockefeller became an investor in enterprises based on science and technology. His investment interests included the fields of aviation, aerospace, electronics, high temperature physics, composite materials, optics ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mail Order
Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing an order by telephone call * Placing an order with a travelling agent * Filling in an order form on a website or mobile app — if the product information is also mainly obtained online rather than via a paper catalogue or via television, this mail-order model is called online shopping or e-commerce Then, the products are delivered to the customer. The products are usually delivered directly to an address supplied by the customer, such as a home address, but occasionally the orders are delivered to a nearby retail location for the customer to pick up. Some merchants also allow the goods to be shipped directly to a third party consumer, which is an effective way to send a gift to an out-of-town recipient. Some merchants deliver the goods directly to the customer thro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IBM Personal Computer
The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible ''de facto'' standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team of engineers and designers at International Business Machines (IBM), directed by William C. Lowe and Philip Don Estridge in Boca Raton, Florida. Powered by an x86-architecture Intel 8088 processor, the machine was based on open architecture and third-party peripherals. Over time, expansion cards and software technology increased to support it. The PC had a substantial influence on the personal computer market; the specifications of the IBM PC became one of the most popular computer design standards in the world. The only significant competition it faced from a non-compatible platform throughout the 1980s was from Apple's Macintosh product line, as well as consumer-grade platforms created by companies like Commodore and Atari. Mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
City
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agreed definition of the lower boundary for their size. In a narrower sense, a city can be defined as a permanent and Urban density, densely populated place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks. Cities generally have extensive systems for housing, transportation, sanitation, Public utilities, utilities, land use, Manufacturing, production of goods, and communication. Their density facilitates interaction between people, government organisations, government organizations, and businesses, sometimes benefiting different parties in the process, such as improving the efficiency of goods and service distribution. Historically, city dwellers have been a small proportion of humanity overall, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Following the company's 1986 initial public offering (IPO), Gates became a billionaire in 1987—then the youngest ever, at age 31. ''Forbes'' magazine The World's Billionaires, ranked him as the world's wealthiest person for 18 out of 24 years between 1995 and 2017, including 13 years consecutively from 1995 to 2007. He became the first centibillionaire in 1999, when his net worth briefly surpassed $100 billion. According to ''Forbes'', as of May 2025, his net worth stood at US$115.1 billion, making him the thirteenth-richest individual in the world. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, Gates was privately educated at Lakeside School (Seattle), Lakeside School, where he befriended Allen and developed his computing interests ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
