= Historic Software = |!2 Milestones of PC Software Firsts | | 196? | The first electronic psychotherapist | | 1974 | The first first person shooter game | | 1979 | The first electronic spreadsheet | | 1979 | The first personal computer flight simulator | | 1980 | The first graphical adventure game | | 1983 | The first release of Word | | 1987 | The first release of PowerPoint | | 1990 | The first release of Photoshop | == The first electronic psychotherapist == '''Between 1964 and 1966:''' While at MIT, Joseph Weizenbaum wrote Eliza, one of the earliest programs that tried to interact with humans in plain English. Eliza's DOCTOR script simulated a virtual psychotherapist. Although Eliza had no actual intelligence, her simple responses were surprisingly convincing to some people.[1] Weizembaum's Eliza has been widely imitated and is the ancestor of modern chatbots. * Try a modern descendant of the Eliza program on the Danish [[RC759 Piccoline]]. == The first first-person shooter game ==

'''1974:''' Steve Colley develops [[Maze War]] for the [[Xerox Alto]] at NASA Ames Research Center. The game allowed the player to explore a graphical three dimensional maze and launch missiles on other players[2]

'''March 1, 1974:''' Jim Bowery releases [[Spasim]], a 3D space simulator with a first person perspective.

The question of whether MazeWars or Spasim was the first first person shooter is debated. * Try a decendant of the original [[Maze War]] in the [[Online Games]] gallery. * View a video demonstration of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNEJMLeT1wM Spasim] == The first electronic spreadsheet == [[figure-float-left:/artwork/visicalc-selfie.jpg Bob Frankston and Dan Bricklin pose with VisiCalc for the IBM PC]] '''1979, October:''' VisiCalc is released for the Apple computer, pioneering the user interface conventions that influenced all later spreadsheet programs. * Try [[VisiCalc]] on the [[Apple II]] computer == The first personal computer flight simulator == [[figure-float-right:/artwork/flight-simulator.png A screenshot of subLOGIC Flight Simulator]] '''Late 1979 / Early 1980:''' subLOGIC Flight Simulator is released for the Apple computer. This program was subsequently ported to all the major personal computers of the era. The [[IBM PC]] version of [[subLOGIC Flight Simulator]] was licensed to Microsoft as Microsoft Flight Simulator and was to become one of Microsoft's longest running franchise. * Try [[subLOGIC Flight Simulator]] on the [[Apple II]] computer. == The first release of graphical adventure game == '''1980:''' Roberta and Ken Williams release Mystery House, the first graphical adventure game. * Try [[Mystery House]] on the [[Apple II]] computer. == The first release of Word == '''1983, October:''' Microsoft releases the first version of [[Microsoft Word]] for Xenix and MS-DOS[3]. This was the first Microsoft product to make extensive use of a computer mouse. * Try a [[Microsoft Word]] demo diskette on the IBM PC. == The first release of PowerPoint == '''1987, April:''' A start up called Forethought releases a presentation program called [[PowerPoint]] for the [[Macintosh]]. The company was subsequently acquired by Microsoft. [[figure-screenshot:/artwork/powerpoint-columbus.png Columbus pitches a new trade route to Queen Isabella in this PowerPoint presentation included with PowerPoint 1.0]] * Try Forethought [[PowerPoint]] on the [[Apple Macintosh]]. == The first release of Photoshop == '''1990, February:''' Adobe releases the first version of [[Photoshop]] for the [[Macintosh]]. * Try an early version of [[Photoshop]] on the [[Apple Macintosh]]. == References == # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ELIZA # https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maze_War # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft_Word Microsoft Word subLOGIC Flight Simulator VisiCalc PowerPoint RC759 Piccoline Apple Macintosh Macintosh IBM PC Apple II Photoshop Online Games Xerox Alto Maze War Mystery House Empire Spasim