WhereIsAtlas · Tech

VisiCalc

The first spreadsheet — the "killer app" that made personal computers matter, gone by the mid-1980s

Defunct — VisiCalc, created by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston's Software Arts and released in 1979 for the Apple II, was the first spreadsheet program and is widely called the personal computer's first "killer app." It faded as Lotus 1-2-3 took over the market in the mid-1980s and is now obsolete.

VisiCalc was developed by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston under their company Software Arts and released in 1979 for the Apple II. It was the first spreadsheet program, and it created entirely new software category. By letting users build and recalculate tables on a screen, VisiCalc made the personal computer genuinely useful for business.

VisiCalc's success was a big reason businesses began buying Apple IIs, and it is widely cited as the personal computer's first "killer app." The program drove sales of the machines it ran on, a pattern that would become central to the PC industry.

Software Arts struggled to keep pace as competitors emerged, and Lotus 1-2-3 captured the business spreadsheet market in the 1980s. VisiCalc was discontinued, and today it survives as a historical landmark rather than a working product.

Quick facts

Launched

1979, for the Apple II

Creators

Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston

Company

Software Arts

Significance

First spreadsheet, first "killer app"

Displaced by

Lotus 1-2-3

Now

Historical landmark, discontinued

Sources

1. VisiCalc - Wikipedia — Wikipedia (2026-09-05)
2. Why a simple spreadsheet spread like wildfire — The Guardian (2026-09-05)

Related: wordstar · compaq · realplayer · winamp