= About VisiCalc =
VisiCalc, originally released for the Apple II in 1979, was ground-breaking application that brought the full potential of the personal computer to business users.
|!3 Early History of the Spreadsheet |
|! |! Software Arts [1] |! Competitors [2] |
| 1979, January | Software Arts, founded | |
| 1979, October | VisiCalc for Apple ][ | |
| 1981 | VisiCalc for IBM PC | |
| 1983, January | | Lotus 1-2-3 for IBM PC |
| 1985, September | | Microsoft Excel for Macintosh |
For a comprehensive and fascinating history of VisiCalc, I refer you to Dan Brinklin's incredible [http://www.danbricklin.com/history/sai.htm VisiCalc history] page.
== VisiCalc Demonstration Disk ==
This demonstration disk allows you to experiment with VisiCalc on the Apple //. It was retrieved from Brutal Deluxe Software[3].
{
"icons" : [
["VisiCalc Boot Disk", "boot-floppy", "/disks/apple2-visicalc.dsk"],
["Dan Brinklin's Web Page", "hyperlink", "http://www.bricklin.com/history/vcexecutable.htm"]
]
}
# Type "N" when it asks you whether you want to use 80 columns.
== Quick VisiCalc Tutorial ==
{
"icons" : [
["PC-DOS 2.00", "boot-hd", "/disks/ibmpc-dos-2.0.pimg"],
["VisiCalc Program Disk", "floppy", "/disks/ibmpc-visicalc.raw"],
["VisiCalc Home Page", "hyperlink", "http://www.bricklin.com/history/vcexecutable.htm"]
]
}
# Click the disk to boot PC-DOS 2.00
# Click the VisiCalc disk
# Type “A:” to tell DOS to access the floppy disk drive
# Type “RUN” to read the license agreement and start up VisiCalc
# Review the [[VisiCalc Reference Cards]] to get started
# Type “/SQY” to quit VisiCalc
=== See also: ===
* [[Historic Software]]
=== References ===
# http://www.danbricklin.com/history/saiearly.htm
# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_1-2-3
# http://www.brutaldeluxe.fr/projects/visicalc/index.html
VisiCalc Reference Cards
Historic Software