The spreadsheet you are probably most familiar with is Microsoft Excel. But, Have you ever wondered why Excel looks and acts the way it does?? Why does Excel organize the data in a grid of cells? Why are the columns identified by letters and the rows by numbers?? The solution, like most things in IT, it is due to compatibility.
VisiCalc
The first “computer spreadsheet” how we recognize it was VisiCalc, by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston on 1979. Originally released for the Apple II personal computer, VisiCalc also came to DOS and the IBM personal computer in 1981. Can trace most design decisions from Excel to VisiCalc.
Before the computer spreadsheet, accountants tabulated numbers on paper work sheets. Each worksheet had dividers for columns and lines to set rows. VisiCalc also showed values in columns and rows, labeling each column with a letter of A in order to BK (63 columns) and each row with a number of 1 in order to 254 . VisiCalc identified an individual cell with a combination of column letter and row number, so that A1 was the cell of the first column and the first row, while D12 was the cell in the fourth column and the twelfth row.
With VisiCalc, entered a grid of numbers, such as travel expenses or an apartment budget, and carried out operations with them. You could add a range of numbers using the SUM function, or find the minimum value using the MIN function.
More or less the same way you would use spreadsheets today, with some small differences. As an example, VisiCalc used the ellipse notation of mathematics, which represents a range like A1...A10. Also unlike modern spreadsheets, VisiCalc used the @ symbol to indicate functions, What @SUM(A1...A10) to calculate a sum in a range.
VisiCalc became an application “essential”. Companies everywhere bought personal computers with VisiCalc. But popularity breeds competition. Lotus Corporation launched its Lotus 1-2-3 on 1983 and soon displaced VisiCalc as the market leader in computer spreadsheets.
One reason why Lotus 1-2-3 was able to outperform the competition because it did not require users to relearn the spreadsheet. How VisiCalc, Lotus 1-2-3 tagged columns with letters, rows with numbers and cells with the A1 syntax. Including Lotus functions 1-2-3 were the same as VisiCalc, including the @ to start a function reference.
Lotus 1-2-3 also simplified some things, making the spreadsheet easier to use. A notable example is how to specify a range. Instead of the ellipses of “three points” and VisiCalc, Lotus 1-2-3 used only two points. Because, to calculate a sum in cells A1 in order to A10 , you entered @SUM(A1..A10).
And lotus 1-2-3 added new features, such as the ability to graph data. And like the computer spreadsheet that was "All VisiCalc and more", Lotus 1-2-3 outperformed VisiCalc in the market.
Compatibility was key for Lotus 1-2-3 outperform VisiCalc, and that did not go unnoticed for other spreadsheets. Even TRIUS's shareware As-Easy-As spreadsheet provided tight compatibility with Lotus 1-2-3. Despite this, Lotus 1-2-3 remained dominant during the decade of 1980.
It wasn't until Microsoft developed applications for Apple's Macintosh GUI that the landscape of spreadsheets changed.. On 1985, Microsoft first released Office for the Macintosh, including a version of Excel. Later, Microsoft also launched its Office products on Windows. And as the only spreadsheet for Windows, Excel became the new standard.
Microsoft was careful to provide backward compatibility with Lotus 1-2-3. Excel used the same basic interface as Lotus 1-2-3, with “columns as letters” and “rows as numbers”, and the A1 cell reference model. Compatibility with Lotus 1-2-3 It was so important that Excel even implemented a leap year error “year 1900” de Lotus 1-2-3.
Despite its compatibility with Lotus 1-2-3, Excel simplified a few things. Range references made easier, using a colon instead of a colon. Some functions have been renamed to make them easier to remember, What AVERAGE instead of lotus 1-2-3 AVG to calculate the mean of a list of numbers. Cell calculations also changed, now starting each calculation with = instead of @ lotus notation 1-2-3 and VisiCalc.
Then, next time you're wondering why Excel does particular things, think of Excel as a product of spreadsheet history. Excel looks and acts the way it does because this is how Lotus 1-2-3 did things. And lotus 1-2-3 it looked and acted that way because that's how VisiCalc worked. Then, truly, Excel tracks your design and even your interface to VisiCalc from 1979.
