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VisiCalc creator Dan Bricklin: From killer app to iPhone app
Mac Daily News ^ | 12/7/2009

Posted on 12/07/2009 11:03:42 PM PST by Swordmaker

"In the classroom at Harvard Business School where Dan Bricklin came up with the idea for an electronic spreadsheet, there now hangs a plaque that designates the resulting software program as the 'original killer app of the information age,'" Scott Kirsner reports for Boston.com.

"Bricklin and his colleague Bob Frankston formed a company in 1979, Software Arts, which would eventually sell the VisiCalc spreadsheet program for $99. It ran on a new 'personal computer' called the Apple II," Kirsner reports.

"Thirty years later, Bricklin is now selling a $1.99 app for the iPhone called Dan Bricklin's NoteTaker," Kirsner reports. "It debuted last Friday on Apple's iTunes Store, and is climbing up the list of most-popular productivity apps sold through the online store."

Direct link via YouTube here.

Kirsner reports, "Bricklin told me he has been interested in developing a mobile app for some time; his last big project was SocialCalc, a collaborative online spreadsheet that is being marketed by Palo Alto-baed SocialText and may soon be included on the One Laptop Per Child initiative's low-cost laptops. He considered developing for the Palm Pre and Google's Android operating system, but instead chose the iPhone since Apple's customers had already proven their willingness to pay for all kinds of software."

Full article here.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
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To: freedumb2003

kk


21 posted on 12/07/2009 11:37:37 PM PST by happinesswithoutpeace (worth)
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To: freedumb2003
Oh man, now I gotta go back look stuff up. Are you sure that was/is an AT?

No, it's not an AT. It's an XT, or more accurately -- an XT clone. The XT was just the original PC with a hard disc:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer_XT

The subsequent AT had a 286 processor. It was originally 6 MHZ, and later versions were 8 MHZ:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer/AT

IBM's successor (the PS/2) and the clones started diverging after this. However, the 80386 (386) processor used by all started at 12 MHZ and was as fast as 33 MHZ:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I386

22 posted on 12/07/2009 11:41:35 PM PST by justlurking (The only remedy for a bad guy with a gun is a good WOMAN (Sgt. Kimberly Munley) with a gun)
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To: freedumb2003

Hand raised. I thought I was supernatural, for just a bit.


23 posted on 12/07/2009 11:41:56 PM PST by SRJeff (Singing oldies, goldies - bee bop a lula baby what I say)
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To: freedumb2003
Everyone who USED Visicalc raise your hand.

Lotus123?

I used 1-2-3, Multiplan, Quattro Pro 5. I still fire them up once in a while and take them for a spin. They work great under XP, especially Quattro Pro.

There's a downloadable version of Visicalc at Dan Bricklin's website, its only 27k.

24 posted on 12/07/2009 11:42:39 PM PST by Spirochete (Texas is an anagram for Taxes)
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To: freedumb2003
DBase 2? :) Actually, ahead of its time...

As a matter of fact, yes. I wrote a driver for a friend to interface dBase 2 with a magnetic card stripe reader/writer.

25 posted on 12/07/2009 11:43:30 PM PST by justlurking (The only remedy for a bad guy with a gun is a good WOMAN (Sgt. Kimberly Munley) with a gun)
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To: SRJeff

>>Hand raised. I thought I was supernatural, for just a bit.<<

No doubt a flashback to coding Z80 assembler. Index Registers, Hot Damn!


26 posted on 12/07/2009 11:43:33 PM PST by freedumb2003 (Communism comes to America: 1/20/2009. Keep your powder dry, folks. Sic semper tyrannis)
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To: justlurking

Thanks for bringing me back from the precipice. And you do remind me that 25-33 was the 386 — we didn’t start kicking butt like 50-64 Mhz until the 486!

Of course, Vista has reduced performance of our multi Ghz, multi-CPU systems to about the same as our old 4 MhZ XTs.


27 posted on 12/07/2009 11:46:55 PM PST by freedumb2003 (Communism comes to America: 1/20/2009. Keep your powder dry, folks. Sic semper tyrannis)
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To: freedumb2003

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiV-jsdGNd0


28 posted on 12/07/2009 11:47:28 PM PST by happinesswithoutpeace (Ghaybat al-Sughra)
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To: Spirochete

Wow — the memories are killing me (in a good way).

>>There’s a downloadable version of Visicalc at Dan Bricklin’s website, its only 27k.<<

Lordy — I am going to download it after I get some sleep. I remember having discussions on Bitnet Relay and I wouldn’t sleep for days. But I had dark hair and no paunch back then... LOL

‘Night.


29 posted on 12/07/2009 11:49:35 PM PST by freedumb2003 (Communism comes to America: 1/20/2009. Keep your powder dry, folks. Sic semper tyrannis)
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To: freedumb2003

Watch vid or dd


30 posted on 12/07/2009 11:50:30 PM PST by happinesswithoutpeace (Ghaybat al-Sughra)
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To: freedumb2003
And you do remind me that 25-33 was the 386 — we didn’t start kicking butt like 50-64 Mhz until the 486!

The 486 started at 20 MHz:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_i486

The chip's front-side bus was eventually as fast as 50 MHz (albeit with thermal problems, initially). But, I think it was the first consumer microprocessor chip that used a clock multiplier in the CPU -- first with 2X (33 MHz FSB and 66 MHz CPU) and eventually 3X (33 MHz FSB and 100 MHz CPU)

31 posted on 12/07/2009 11:55:05 PM PST by justlurking (The only remedy for a bad guy with a gun is a good WOMAN (Sgt. Kimberly Munley) with a gun)
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To: the invisib1e hand

PCjr.

I also started with Dr. Paul’s Aldus PageMaker, way, way back in the day.

Changed my life.

Ed


32 posted on 12/07/2009 11:57:36 PM PST by Sir_Ed
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To: freedumb2003
Of course, Vista has reduced performance of our multi Ghz, multi-CPU systems to about the same as our old 4 MhZ XTs.

I still maintain that Vista sold more Macs than those silly Apple ads with the hipster and the suit.

33 posted on 12/07/2009 11:58:50 PM PST by SRJeff (Singing oldies, goldies - bee bop a lula baby what I say)
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To: SRJeff

Lol


34 posted on 12/08/2009 12:03:51 AM PST by happinesswithoutpeace (Ghaybat al-Sughra)
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To: Sir_Ed
Aldus PageMaker

Booyah! Akin to "retro" videogames (market demographic, I would just guess, is paying attention to this FR thread), retro "software" could be a terrific marketplace. Under current conditions, anything in texted script would be almost bulletproof.

35 posted on 12/08/2009 12:09:34 AM PST by SRJeff (Singing oldies, goldies - bee bop a lula baby what I say)
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Comment #36 Removed by Moderator

To: happinesswithoutpeace

?


37 posted on 12/08/2009 12:20:11 AM PST by SRJeff (Singing oldies, goldies - bee bop a lula baby what I say)
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To: SRJeff

Unfortunately I can’t use PageMaker anymore...I’m on Leopard, which doesn’t allow me to run Mac OS software 9x and below...darnit!

I use InDesign now, but I really loved PM, quite user friendly and I got to where I could run it in my sleep...hotkeys, utilities and all.

See ya’,

Ed


38 posted on 12/08/2009 12:34:37 AM PST by Sir_Ed
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To: Sir_Ed

Wait until intellectual properties expire - any batch of eager retro script-kids could set up an OS that can run at text-level. K.I.S.S.

Much of the old stuff was so well-designed and user-subservient we need to issue retroactive prizes.


39 posted on 12/08/2009 12:39:33 AM PST by SRJeff (Singing oldies, goldies - bee bop a lula baby what I say)
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To: SRJeff

Hey


40 posted on 12/08/2009 12:44:14 AM PST by happinesswithoutpeace (Ghaybat al-Sughra)
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