Artifact Details

Title

Creation and destruction of VisiCalc, The

Catalog Number

102738286

Type

Document

Description

In preparation for a pioneer workshop meeting on PC software conducted by the Software History Center in 2004 in Natick, Massachusetts, the organizers sent Dan Fylstra, Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston questions regarding the history of VisiCalc. This was to assist them in preparing to participate in workshop sessions on the history of PC spreadsheets and for individual oral histories to be conducted with each of them by historians in attendance at the pioneer meeting. Dan Fylstra chose to write the following “white paper” giving his remembrance of the VisiCalc history. He covers how he got started with Dan Bricklin and how the product was marketed so successfully and then how differences of opinion between VisiCorp (Fylstra’s company) and Software Arts (Bricklin’s and Frankston’s company) eventually led to the downfall of VisiCalc.

Date

2004-05

Contributor

Fylstra, Dan, Author

Publisher

Computer History Museum

Extent

21 p.

Format

PDF

Category

Personal Narrative

Subject

Apple II; Bricklin, Dan; CP/M; Frankston, Bob; Fylstra, Dan; IBM PC; Jennings, Peter; Kapor, Mitch; Lotus 1-2-3; Personal software; Software Arts; VISICALC; VisiCorp; VisiOn

Credit

Courtesy of Dan Flystra

Lot Number

X8253.2017