Daniel Bricklin: Not just a Software Developer
By Alan Versteeg
Daniel Bricklin is most likely not a well-known name among many contemporary computer scientists. However, the impact that he had in the field of computers can be felt worldwide in personal, educational, and business settings. Daniel Bricklin is most famous for his invention of the first electronic spreadsheet program called Visicalc, which helped him earn the title of “The Father of the Spreadsheet.” Bricklin created the program with his business partner Bob Frankston in the 1970s. Together, they started a company in 1978 called Software Arts, Inc. and began selling Visicalc for $100 a copy. The success of the program became tremendous. It was at this same time that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were marketing and selling the Apple computer. Bricklin’s company began producing a version for the Apple II, and this also proved successful so the company produced a version for IBM as well. The design and usefulness of Visicalc was so great that the program became known as the “killer application.”
Visicalc was extremely popular in the early 1980s. However, Bricklin did not believe in patenting software since he did not think that software should be proprietary. A company called Lotus took the ideas from Visicalc and began producing a similar program called Lotus 1-2-3. This proved to be very detrimental to Bricklin and his company. In 1985 he was forced to sell his company due to decreased market share for Visicalc. The success and production of another spreadsheet program called Microsoft Excel also can be traced back to the achievements of Bricklin with Visicalc. Bricklin continues to be a visionary in the field of computer science. Today Bricklin is the president of another company that he started called Software Garden. He is making ideas come to life by producing his own different software tools and by also providing consulting services.
The vision that Bricklin had in the 1970s of creating a piece of software that become tremendously useful has created a rippling effect in not only the computer science world, but also in the personal and business aspects of cultures world-wide. The electronic spreadsheet that he created is used by businesses to help organize and maintain critical data about the company. Microsoft Excel has become so popular that many people, even those not in a business, know how to use it. Educational institutions from middle schools through high schools and into colleges use it as a significant teaching tool in technology for later practical use in the real world. The effects of Visicalc that Bricklin created are far reaching as the concepts of the product have been used in a wide range of settings. It is visions like his that help shape the usefulness of computers in ways people never imagined. Also, by holding onto his values of what he believed software should be and not patenting Visicalc, Bricklin lost out on monetary wealth, but he gained in the feelings he received of making a difference in the software community. Without the affordable use of electronic spreadsheet programs today, the storing, manipulating, and presentation of information in human readable ways may still not be practical.