Spreadsheet Wars: How Excel Beat VisiCalc & Lotus 1-2-3!

Visicalc was one of the first spreadsheet software programs ever released, released in 1979, it was an immediate success and quickly became the go-to tool for businesses and individuals looking to organize and analyze data. 3 years after the launch of Visicalc in 1982 a new spreadsheet entered the market, it was called Lotus 1-2-3, it was one of the most groundbreaking programs of the 80s, it was one of the first WYSIWYG spreadsheets which stands for what you see is what you get, from its release it immediately began to outsell the Visicalc spreadsheet and become the dominant spreadsheet of the 80s. But its dominance wouldn’t last for long as it became victim to the changing tides of the computer industry which led to the rise of Microsoft Excel, Excel became the most dominant spreadsheet from the 90s onwards. This story includes a bitter legal battle, a former employer who becomes his past employer's downfall, and a seismic market shift caused by the popularity of the GUI. This is the story of the spreadsheet wars.