In the 1950s, heads-up displays (HUDs) were designed to help pilots see flight data without taking their eyes off the sky. Readings and rulers were overlaid on the windshield as a way to simultaneously check instruments and see where the plane was pointed.
In the red brick barracks of Aldrich Hall in the spring of 1978, Dan Bricklin daydreamed while watching a professor hand draw financial models "...imagine if I had a heads-up display, like in a fighter plane, where I could see the virtual image hanging in the air in front of me. I could just move my mouse/keyboard calculator around on the table, punch in a few numbers, circle them to get a sum, do some calculations, and answer '10% will be fine!'”
Eventually, the idea would come to life, green neon text and all. The HUD was the inspiration for the world’s first spreadsheet interface.
Scribbling on the chalkboard was error-prone, whether it was a simple formula or a complicated accounting framework. When there was a mistake, lines needed to be erased, rewritten, and computed again. Bricklin thought the formula could be represented visually, and digitally, as editable cells.
Bob Frankston joined early in VisiCalc’s journey as a co-founder. He would describe the product as a “magic sheet of paper that can perform calculations and recalculations [which] allows the user to just solve the problem using familiar tools and concepts.”
VisiCalc was distinct. Like that note outside the scale that makes jazz, jazz. No products like an electronic spreadsheet had existed. Personal computers were still new, and widespread adoption hadn’t happened. As well as executing on the software—implementing the 2+2=4—there was one more problem, it needed to make sense.
One problem with a technology this fresh is connecting the dots for potential customers of the past paper notation, to this new solution. How would VisiCalc drive this understanding in the product? Just like Frankston said, the product would “solve the problem using familiar tools and concepts”. The program would use calculators, which users were familiar with. Formulas, familiar notation, and grids with rows and columns like accounting paper would be the heart. No new variables or esoteric concepts were added, but a digital version of what people already knew.
VisiCalc sold like crazy. It became the killer app for the Apple II; creating a new use case and driving widespread adoption of the Apple product.
After leap-frogging VisiCalc, Lotus 1-2-3 quickly became the leading spreadsheet in 1983. Just like its older brother, it helped launch the next generation of personal computers and became a killer app for IBM.
Lotus was faster to use with macros and keyboard shortcuts, it allowed you to name cells and ranges. It also boasted a 16-bit processor which allowed an order of magnitude more spreadsheet cells and rows to be calculated at speed.
Lotus felt familiar to users of VisiCalc while solving new problems like speed, organizing (with naming), productivity (with shortcuts), and charting.
The “3” in 1-2-3 represents charts, one of the attachments Lotus added to the spreadsheet. Need to build a graph? Lotus says no problem. Just 5 years prior no spreadsheet had existed, then with Lotus, you could generate bar and line charts with the data you already put in.
While Lotus 1-2-3 was dominating on DOS, Apple was releasing new product. The Apple Lisa launched in 1983 with the first use of the mouse, then they launched the fabled Apple Macintosh in 1984. Microsoft capitalized on the mouse and GUI trend. They launched Excel in 1985 on the Mac.
Excel added more graphics, pivot tables, and the use of a mouse. The new GUI pattern used a cursor to click within cells instead of being constrained to a keyboard to navigate. This opened the product up to new people and new use cases. Not just nerds. Excel was the first spreadsheet to only ever have a point-and-click interface.
In 1987 Microsoft released Excel 2.0 for the first time on Windows, and the rest is in the past.
Starting with a “digital sheet of paper” the spreadsheet automated repetitive accounting tasks. Lotus first passed the leader by adding charts and a 16-bit drivetrain, then Excel with a new interface. Today we have live-update, collaborative spreadsheets with plugins, APIs, and AI. Google entered the game and solved a Microsoft Office user’s problem “it’s too expensive” with their favorite innovation: making it free.
These products solved emergent problems. By using familiar concepts, and iterating on the previous insight with ideas scattered across two American coasts, they activated an iconic category.