What Is the Name of the First Spreadsheet Program?

Released to the public for use with the Apple II computer system in 1979 by Personal Software (which was later named VisiCorp), a program named VisiCalc is credited with being the first computer-based spreadsheet software made available.

Development of the first program, called Visicalc, is originally credited to Bob Frankston and Dan Bricklin, who conceived the idea for the program during a lecture by a professor at Harvard Business School.

The professor was trying to create a spreadsheet on the board for his students, and each time an error occurred or the professor discovered he had to change one parameter of his display, he had to erase and recalculate each subsequent parameter in order to create a correct ending formulation.

Bricklin realized that if there were a computer program designed to automatically reformulate these parameters, a spreadsheet could be generated much more quickly.

VisiCalc Gets the Ball Rolling

The release of the spreadsheet software program to the public is largely responsible for the Apple computer system moving from only being used on the home computer to also being used in a more widespread manner by businesses in the American marketplace.

First Spreadsheet Program Spurs More

The release of the first spreadsheet program sparked an extremely fast uprising of subsequent spreadsheet programs. After the first program, VisiCalc was released, as early as 1980, another program called SuperCalc was introduced by Computer Associates.

Within the next five years, major improvements were made on spreadsheet software. Products ranging from from MultiPlan, which was released by Microsoft in 1982, to Lotus in 1983, which was developed by AppleWorks, were all precursors to the spreadsheet programs and functionality that we enjoy today.

These early efforts all culminated and resulted in the most popularly used spreadsheet program to date, Microsoft Excel, which released its first version of the program for Macintosh in 1985 and Microsoft 2.0 in 1987.

Improvements After the First Spreadsheet Program

Over the course of the 20 years after the first spreadsheet program was introduced, unforeseeable advancements were made in the technology industry, resulting in both the hardware and software programming becoming more and more advanced in order to keep up with the demands of the public.

Spreadsheet programs went very quickly from being simpler forms, resembling computer based calculators, to specifically graphed and columned informational documents utilizing pull-down menus and point-and-click capabilities. These features allow users to do anything and everything, from adding the same information into multiple columns across the document in a much shorter time to creating complex mathematical formulas. 

First Spreadsheet Program vs. Programs Today

With the numerous advancements made in technology, from computers with touch-screens capable of responding to user fingertips to Microsoft’s Word program being able to recognize speech and take dictation, the spreadsheet program’s technological base is still expanding in both ability and software manufacturing.

Excel is still largely the most popular program used, though Quicken QuickBooks has become a serious competitor in the realm of spreadsheet programming.