The Apple ][ version did support 80 columns, not only did VisiCalc sell Apple ][s, it sold Disk ][ controllers and 2 drives each, it also sold the 16k language card which would bring the Apple ][ up to 64k, it also sold third party 80 column cards like the one from Videx too.
In about 1982, my Mom was working in VisiCalc on an Apple ][ with a third-party 80-column video card and a whopping 48 kB of RAM. This was bookkeeping at my Dad's 15-person company. At the same time, I was in a Canadian military college using punch cards to write Fortran code that ran on a mainframe at a civilian university 100 km away. I didn't use a spreadsheet program until I was introduced to Lotus 123 nine years later. It still shocks me that my Mom was nine years ahead of me technologically.
In 1992 I started work at a private school, and they had several Apple II computers. My headmaster had one also, and I visited him to assist in getting something set up. He had VisiCalc, and I recall how it looked foreign at first but once the syntax was learned it seemed quite magical. My only other experience at the time was using a MacIntosh in 1988 to do word processing. How far we have come since then.
I hear accountants and other business guys stared at the screen while pulling out their checkbooks, hands shaking, ready to buy the software the very first time they saw it demonstrated.
Interesting video. I’m impressed at how many features this early spreadsheet had! As a kid I had Microsoft Multiplan for the C64 and used it to keep track of my comic book collection 😂
That brought back memories. I used Visicalc on an Apple IIe at work in the UK. It was the very early 1980's and the first spreadsheet I wrote was for calculating the thickness of pressure parts for industrial steam boilers.
I'll never forget the first time I used Microsoft Multiplan on 80 columns. It was an evolution in functionality. But no one could compete with the arrival of Lotus 1-2-3. Proving that every big thing is destined to become an also-ran.
VisiCalc was my first spreadsheet back in 1981 - I used it to prepare the budget at my university. I then moved onto Supercalc in my next job until I needed another row, so I moved on to Lotus 123, which I still use, though I also use Excel if I have to.
@@haroldfarthington7492 I really couldn’t say. My current version of 123 is from Smartsuite Millennium 9.8. Unfortunately it no longer loads some of my regularly used spreadsheets so I have to use my Excel 2002 SP3 to update them. Reluctantly.
I had VisiCalc on a TRS-80 back in the day. I also had a word processor called Electric Pencil, this required a control key so I had to add a key and make some hardware changes but when I finished it looked like it had always been a part of the computer.
I enjoyed this. I remember seeing a spreadsheet for the first time, sometime in the early '90s and had to buy one right away for my Amiga (which I used for business purposes. Still have the amiga, the boxed disc and my data on the Amiga's HD). I didn't realise the concept went back so far. Thanks for making this.
I ran it on an Olympia People, I think in CPM86. The biggest weaknesses were limited character numbers within cells, so that relatively simple conditional functions took 3 or 4 linked cells, and of course the "another cup of coffee" recalc times.
How cool. The first I remember using was a DOS version of Lotus 123 in the late 80's I think. I wonder if these guys licenced this idea to other software houses like Lotus or did they just sell the company....
I wrote a similar application for in-house use, about 18 months before VC came out. It was interpreted and written in BASIC - for the Commodore PET. When VC got released the PET was put aside, as machine language on a Apple ][ was so much faster. So thats what the accounts people used. Ho hum... FYI the company also had an HP minicomputer which offered pre-built accounts and had a similar output format. But if you wanted to change anything, you had to pay HP money. That machine also offered a high-level language (vaguely recall it was some version of BASIC) which used an intermediate "p-code". The input language was parsed into p-code adding variables etc as it went. The mini then executed the p-code.
Excellent video! It's too bad that PET requires a custom ROM for VisiCalc. Still, I'm sure Commodore sold a lot as this was an excellent program. Thanks for sharing
It would be need to see what's involved in converting a modern Excel spreadsheet to open on VisiCalc, Apple Works, etc., just to be able to perform current tasks on our beloved retro machines.
These computers still can do everything and more than they ever did when that's all that was available. Try to figure out how to not need Exel. I never use it, and I use a huge number of complicated spreadsheets.
My Atari version saved me thousands of $ off my mortgage!!! Due to memory limitations I could only do 10 years of calcs at a time on a 30 year loan but that was ok I just copied the numbers from the bottom and put them back in the top! Didn't buy an "IBM" PC until the internet got good.....
I remember my first spreadsheet program was by or called Leading Edge (I think). You had to enter info into three sheets. Text, Numbers and Formulas. Does anyone remember this version of a spread sheet? I think the software included a word processor as well.
Leading Edge Products was a PC peripherals company. They did have the Leading Edge Word Processor (LEWP). They had a great database application called Nutshell, which I used for many years.
The Apple ][ version did support 80 columns, not only did VisiCalc sell Apple ][s, it sold Disk ][ controllers and 2 drives each, it also sold the 16k language card which would bring the Apple ][ up to 64k, it also sold third party 80 column cards like the one from Videx too.
In about 1982, my Mom was working in VisiCalc on an Apple ][ with a third-party 80-column video card and a whopping 48 kB of RAM. This was bookkeeping at my Dad's 15-person company.
At the same time, I was in a Canadian military college using punch cards to write Fortran code that ran on a mainframe at a civilian university 100 km away. I didn't use a spreadsheet program until I was introduced to Lotus 123 nine years later. It still shocks me that my Mom was nine years ahead of me technologically.
The Apple II and Apple II Plus required an optional 80 column card to support 80 columns. Out of the box, it was only 40 columns.
For a first spreadsheet, this thing was genius.
I remember seeing one for the first time and imagining all the potential. It was one of the most inspiring things I've ever seen.
In 1992 I started work at a private school, and they had several Apple II computers. My headmaster had one also, and I visited him to assist in getting something set up. He had VisiCalc, and I recall how it looked foreign at first but once the syntax was learned it seemed quite magical. My only other experience at the time was using a MacIntosh in 1988 to do word processing. How far we have come since then.
When i was a kid, i had Visicalc. Had no idea what it do, and no-one could tell me. But i had it. 👌🤗
I hear accountants and other business guys stared at the screen while pulling out their checkbooks, hands shaking, ready to buy the software the very first time they saw it demonstrated.
Interesting video. I’m impressed at how many features this early spreadsheet had! As a kid I had Microsoft Multiplan for the C64 and used it to keep track of my comic book collection 😂
That's amazing!
That brought back memories. I used Visicalc on an Apple IIe at work in the UK. It was the very early 1980's and the first spreadsheet I wrote was for calculating the thickness of pressure parts for industrial steam boilers.
This covers pretty much 99% of all the use cases of a regular household and to be honest, also 90% for most companies nowadays.
I'll never forget the first time I used Microsoft Multiplan on 80 columns. It was an evolution in functionality.
But no one could compete with the arrival of Lotus 1-2-3. Proving that every big thing is destined to become an also-ran.
So cool seeing how spreadsheets began and to see how far they have come since then.
VisiCalc was my first spreadsheet back in 1981 - I used it to prepare the budget at my university. I then moved onto Supercalc in my next job until I needed another row, so I moved on to Lotus 123, which I still use, though I also use Excel if I have to.
@@AurelioZen67 lotis for dos?
Curious for your take then, which is better Lotus 2.4 or Lotus 3.4a?
@@haroldfarthington7492 I really couldn’t say. My current version of 123 is from Smartsuite Millennium 9.8. Unfortunately it no longer loads some of my regularly used spreadsheets so I have to use my Excel 2002 SP3 to update them. Reluctantly.
A really nice nostalgic presentation on a great piece of software from yesteryear. I hope you can do more presentations similar to this.
Used VisiCalc extensively until Lotus 123 came along.
I remember VisiCalc, I used it on an Apricot 286, it revolutionised our cost accounting at Sealy UK.
Still running the program on my Apple IIe and IIc. Have original manual and all related papers that came with it.
I had VisiCalc on a TRS-80 back in the day. I also had a word processor called Electric Pencil, this required a control key so I had to add a key and make some hardware changes but when I finished it looked like it had always been a part of the computer.
I enjoyed this. I remember seeing a spreadsheet for the first time, sometime in the early '90s and had to buy one right away for my Amiga (which I used for business purposes. Still have the amiga, the boxed disc and my data on the Amiga's HD). I didn't realise the concept went back so far. Thanks for making this.
Visicalc on the Apple originally only worked with the Videx 80 column card. Visicalc Advanced supports the standard Apple 80 column card.
Amazing video! I like all these commands and functions. Still using them after all this time.
I had VisiCalc for the Atari 8-bit. Solid software.
I ran it on an Olympia People, I think in CPM86. The biggest weaknesses were limited character numbers within cells, so that relatively simple conditional functions took 3 or 4 linked cells, and of course the "another cup of coffee" recalc times.
I still use Practicalc, on the C64. It is an improved clone of Visicalc. It actually will do 80 columns on the '64, albeit slowly.
How cool. The first I remember using was a DOS version of Lotus 123 in the late 80's I think. I wonder if these guys licenced this idea to other software houses like Lotus or did they just sell the company....
Oh, the memories of green-screen VisiCalc.
I wrote a similar application for in-house use, about 18 months before VC came out. It was interpreted and written in BASIC - for the Commodore PET. When VC got released the PET was put aside, as machine language on a Apple ][ was so much faster. So thats what the accounts people used. Ho hum...
FYI the company also had an HP minicomputer which offered pre-built accounts and had a similar output format. But if you wanted to change anything, you had to pay HP money. That machine also offered a high-level language (vaguely recall it was some version of BASIC) which used an intermediate "p-code". The input language was parsed into p-code adding variables etc as it went. The mini then executed the p-code.
P-code was generated by Pascal compilers. It was the first platform-independant low-level system; the precursor to Java
I remember it well! Changed my life!
Good info about an original program, thank you.
Commodore cursor keys were indeed a crime against humanity. 🤣
pure and utter magic!!!!
First encounter was on an Osborn and the Sanyo 555 :)
Trader was an early spread sheet, word processor & database
Excellent video! It's too bad that PET requires a custom ROM for VisiCalc. Still, I'm sure Commodore sold a lot as this was an excellent program. Thanks for sharing
It would be need to see what's involved in converting a modern Excel spreadsheet to open on VisiCalc, Apple Works, etc., just to be able to perform current tasks on our beloved retro machines.
These computers still can do everything and more than they ever did when that's all that was available. Try to figure out how to not need Exel. I never use it, and I use a huge number of complicated spreadsheets.
I still have my Atari version. Box, manuals and disks. Great program at the time. Good video. thank you
My Atari version saved me thousands of $ off my mortgage!!! Due to memory limitations I could only do 10 years of calcs at a time on a 30 year loan but that was ok I just copied the numbers from the bottom and put them back in the top! Didn't buy an "IBM" PC until the internet got good.....
Well done!
I had VisiCalc for in Atari 800.
Today i booted multiplan for c64.
I remember my first spreadsheet program was by or called Leading Edge (I think). You had to enter info into three sheets. Text, Numbers and Formulas. Does anyone remember this version of a spread sheet? I think the software included a word processor as well.
Leading Edge Products was a PC peripherals company. They did have the Leading Edge Word Processor (LEWP). They had a great database application called Nutshell, which I used for many years.
Your background music makes it impossible for me to listen to what you are saying. I wish there was a way to put it off.
Buy a better mic or get a MacBook or something. This sounds horrible.
Must be on your end. It sounds fine here