Meet the inventor of the electronic spreadsheet | Dan Bricklin

Dan Bricklin changed the world forever when he codeveloped VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet and grandfather of programs you probably use every day like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. Join the software engineer and computing legend as he explores the tangled web of first jobs, daydreams and homework problems that led to his transformational invention.

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[JimGriffOne]

Spreadsheets are not just for business use, but also scientific, industrial, medical, mathematical, etc. They are the extension of the calculator that NEEDED to exist! This man thought it up and I sincerely thank him for his contribution to humanity.

[jimparrUtube]

My first encounter with VisiCalc was on a colleague's new Apple II home computer after a pleasant dinner.

I had been tearing my hair out for a couple of days trying to balance out the component values for a switch-mode power supply. After entering the basic formulae describing my problem, I found I was able to tweak anything and quickly see the COMPLETE result. I was blown away!

BTW that 30-40 minutes work produced an end result that performed just as required.
Thank you Dan - on behalf of all engineers around the planet.

[JoeKubinec]

I was a kid with a IIe back in the day. I couldn't afford VisiCalc so I wrote my own. It was in BASIC and not Assembly, but it worked pretty well. My dad used it for his business because he wasn't sure that he wanted to make the investment for an "expensive" computer that used "lots of power" (the IIe would draw 75W peak - but he had mainframe fog - LOL). I kept developing for Apple, and then they started charging for their software development kit - which I couldn't afford - so I left the Apple ecosystem and never looked back. What a great presenter and what a great story. A real person with vision.

[simranlyngdoh]

I can't imagine the world without Dan's wits, passion and hard work. Thank you for making our lives so much easier Dan. Great respect! 🙏🙌

[garywatson]

I was at the Apple Developer Conference about 10 years ago and I sat down to lunch and read the name tag of the guy across from me. Dan Bricklin. I said "THE Dan Bricklin??" I think he was pleased that I recognized the name. He modestly acknowledged his role in the history of computers, which is massive, it has to be said.

[lunchrevisited]

A true pioneer and computing legend. Thank you Dan! I learned Lotus 123 in business school and have since made my career about programming Excel. The spreadsheet truly is the killer app.

[robertmyers]

I find it interesting that throughout this talk he pushes the value of prototyping. After Visicalc his next major product was "Dan Bricklin's Demo", a program for creating interactive prototypes and demos. I used it a lot in the late '80s to prototype new products where I worked at the time.

[mcanode]

THANK YOU!
I started my accounting career with 13 column pads, slide rules and punch cards for computer work ( FORTRAN 2 and COBOL). I have used Visicalc, Lotus123, Quatro Pro, and Excel. Your vision has changed my life.

[peterbradshaw]

Coursera sent me here. I am doing their Excel Skills for Business course from Macquarie University.

[rjc]

So he was a dude that was annoyed with something, so came up with his own tool to so it. I can't begin to explain how many times I have seen people use Excel to do this exact thing. I know someone who basically Excel'd himself out of a job. The spreadsheet was so thorough it turned an entire career into a 30 minute daily proccess thanks to digital spreadsheets.

This man is a hero of modern times. He has inspired so many people who didn't realise they were even inspired. It's such a basic tool anyone can use, yet deeply powerful.

I'm going to go cry for a bit because this dude is such a legend.

[fernvalleyinn]

I met Dan back in 1980 when he gave a presentation at Chapman College in So. Cal. for the TRS80 users group. I was very impressed with the first "business" application for a personal computer other than a word processor. The TRS80 badly needed a powerful program like Visicalc and he delivered. I have used every spreadsheet program since. But I still have fond memories of the first for the PC.

[aljawad]

I actually had VisiCalc running on my Apple II. In fact I still have both the computer and the software package. Today I work on extremely huge environmental research spreadsheets using Excel to number crunch millions of cells. Thank you, Dan!

[johneyon]

over the years - i've marveled at Excel and the idea of the spreadsheet - amazed that something as narrowly focused as a accountant's spreadsheet - could turn into such an all powerful tool - - i never knew who came up with the idea - Dan Bricklin has every right to feel as proud of his little baby as any other inventor - considering how much and how many ways its descendants are being used - he has without doubt played in as big part in shaping today's modern world as Gates & Jobs etc

[johnfortich]

He should get a Nobel or something similar.

[yazarka]

Mr. Dan you are a great man. God bless you

[Innesb]

My first job title in IT, at the age of 20 (late 80s), was “Spreadsheet Programmer”! That job was using Supercalc 5 on PCs, but by then I was already a spreadsheet expert, having started with VisiCalc on a TRS-80 Model 2 at the age of 13, and moving on to Lotus 1-2-3 on an IBM XT during my later teens. Dan and Bob changed my life and I’m so grateful to them. I’m in my mid 50s now and still don’t take spreadsheets for granted. They’re still an wonderful tool.

[zidpiero]

I didn't know who was invented the spreadsheet! This man is a genius! Thanks a lot, Sir, you will be remembered forever!

[DerekSizeland]

My first job was in surgical research, we had vast amounts of research data to analyse. We bought Visicalc for our early Commodore PET, and that greatly speeded up our work.

[jaykay]

I was a Fortune 500 corporate accountant and one of the first gen of "spreadsheet jockeys" who used "Lotus 1-2-3", essentially the software that "absorbed or killed" VisiCalc, take your pick.
Lotus is also, of course, now long gone, killed off by Excel. It can't be expressed strongly enough how electronic spreadsheets revolutionized business productivity. I was able to shorten
our monthly accounting closing cycle from 4 days to 2 by directly downloading data from our mainframe into a "multi-dimensional" spreadsheet that I designed and customized. This allowed for
instantaneous updating and adjustments on the fly, whereas prior to that all input was done via "dumb terminals" directly into the mainframe on a "captive" financial program that was
not "customizable". Made my job a heck of a lot easier, although it was surprising, or maybe not, how many feathers I ruffled when I implemented it. People don't like change, especially when
you show them up. Looking back upon this time, it was remarkable how quickly VisiCalc "died" and was replaced. I started using Lotus in 1986, and by that time Visicalc was viewed as something from the "stone age", and I'm not really being hyperbolic. When I began using Lotus, it was a fairly polished product and I never appreciated the "growing pains" and ingenuity that it took to create an innovative, revolutionary tool like this. So, Mr. Bricklin, a very belated "thank you" for making my life so much easier!

[LeonidasGGG]

A great technology/history lesson from the actual person who actually did it... Thanks TED.