Editor's Letter
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"The invention of the
electronic spreadsheet itself is an act of genius for which Dan deserves
enormous credit" --Mitch Kapor, Creator of Lotus 1-2-3
Dan Bricklin, the inventor of the personal
computer spreadsheet, zips open a knapsack filled with artifacts from Harvard
Business School. Out of it, Bricklin pulls sacred relics that mark the beginning
of the PC age. This is like seeing Picasso's paints, brushes and paintings,
which heralded a new era in modern art.
There is the actual Texas Instruments calculator that was Bricklin's constant
companion in his days at the B-School, the one that he used to do all those
tedious equations, checking, rechecking and rechecking them again. This is the
calculator that sent Bricklin, the father of the first smash hit business
software product, VisiCalc (Visible Calculator), daydreaming of a
fighter-pilot-like way to do calculations, visualize them and change them
on-the-fly.
BORN:
July 16, 1951
EDUCATION: B.S., Electrical Engineering/Computer Science, MIT;
M.B.A. Harvard Business School
ACCOMPLISHMENT
Inventor of VisiCalc, the first electronic
spreadsheet
Bricklin is the father of the modern PC business software marketplace. The old
master of the strange mix of art, science and commerce that is software
development. It is no mistake Bricklin's first company was called Software
Arts.
Besides creating the spreadsheet, Bricklin developed or played a role in the
development of the early Digital Equipment Corp. word processor; a PC demo
program that is still considered a breakthrough in corporate America for its
prototyping capabilities; a pen-based spreadsheet that was 10 years ahead of its
time; a snazzy, software print utility; and, most recently, a product, Trellix,
that makes it easier to create, post and edit Internet documents.
"They are works, like many paintings," said Bricklin, sitting in the conference
room at Trellix Corp., his latest venture, which is housed in an office park in
the shadow of Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. "They are pieces of art that
I have produced. I try this here. I try that there. I experiment with this. I
experiment with that. I know the advantages and flaws from each one. I try to
learn from each one."
In Bricklin's office at Trellix, there is a Harvey Edwards photograph print of a
ballet dancer's painful feet pushing upward. Under the print, which once hung in
Bricklin's office at Software Arts in Wellesley, Mass., are the words: "Dance Is
Hard Work."
Bricklin said he likes the print because it shows that it takes a "lot of work
to make something that looks real simple and smooth." Also in Bricklin's office,
a copy of the Henry Petroski paperback, "To Engineer Is Human--The Role Of
Failure In Successful Design," and several toys on the edge of his desk. Those
are for visitors to fidget with when discussing a software design or business
problem or to play with when they stop by to chat.
Mitch Kapor, the creator of Lotus
1-2-3 who was inducted into CRN's Industry Hall of Fame last year, has
suggested that Harvard Business School put up a plaque in the classroom in which
Bricklin came up with the idea for the PC spreadsheet.
"As it happened in response to what was going on in his class when he was a
student there, I thought it might inspire other students," said Kapor via
E-mail.
VisiCalc is the product that started the PC revolution, said Kapor, who was a
product manager for VisiCalc at Personal Software (later renamed VisiCorp), the
separate company set up to market the software creations from Bricklin's
Software Arts.
"The invention of the electronic spreadsheet itself is an act of genius for
which Dan deserves enormous credit," said Kapor. "He thought it up, and it
wasn't obvious [until after he did it]. With VisiCalc, there was now a real
reason for a businessperson to buy a personal computer. It was deeply
inspirational to software developers like me, and it legitimized the PC
industry."
Kapor said the design of 1-2-3 was "enormously influenced" by VisiCalc. "It set
the standard we wanted to improve on," said Kapor, who brought the spreadsheet
to another level by adding graphics and instant charting.
Ironically, even though it was Bricklin who invented the spreadsheet, it was
Kapor who made millions of dollars with Lotus 1-2-3 and was crowned the
spreadsheet king. Kapor ended up buying the assets of Software Arts in 1985
after a vicious legal dispute between Software Arts and VisiCorp led to the
demise of both companies.
Kapor's acquisition secured the legal rights to the spreadsheet. Since then,
Kapor has gone on to fund several Bricklin projects. "It was difficult to be in
competition with a friend," said Kapor. "Dan and I long ago made our peace with
each other, and I consider him to be one of the true superstars of the
industry."
The most prized possession in Bricklin's knapsack is, of course, one of the
early copies of VisiCalc for the Apple II--16 Kbytes of code that forever
changed the way people view personal computers. The product, introduced in
October 1979, is part electronic brain and tool, part painting and sculpture
and, in the end, a product for businesspeople.
Amazingly enough, that 16 Kbytes of code included operating system, screen
buffer and data. "And we still had room to do some calculations," joked
Bricklin. Except for the streaks of gray in his hair, the 47-year-old Bricklin
looks like he did when he appeared on the cover of Inc. magazine in January 1982
with VisiCalc co-developer Bob Frankston.
It is hard not to resort to hyperbole to capture what impact VisiCalc has had on
the computer business: The product single-handedly transformed the PC from a
hobbyist's plaything that was used for games into a red-hot business tool.
Venture capitalist Ben Rosen, who was instrumental in founding Lotus Development
Corp. and Compaq Computer Corp., called VisiCalc the "software tail which would
wag the hardware dog." He was right.
For those who opened computer stores, it was the product that made it all
possible. VisiCalc, which originally was priced at $99.95, gave ordinary people
a reason to spend $3,000 for a bulky plastic case with a microprocessor,
transistors and a floppy diskette. VisiCalc turned the PC into a phenomenon.
It became possible to make business decisions based on a wide range of what-if
scenarios that were quickly calculated.
When Ed Esber, who was vice president of marketing at Personal Software and
later went on to head up database maker Ashton-Tate Corp., first saw VisiCalc
demonstrated he knew "not only a company, but an industry could be created
around this product."
Bricklin, Esber said, may not have walked away from the PC game with the biggest
bank account or the fame of some of the other industry pioneers, but among his
peers he is widely recognized as one of the most influential players in the PC
revolution.
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