Spreadsheet People

Dan Bricklin

http://www.trs-80.org/visicalc/

“Dan Bricklin came up with the idea for an “electronic spreadsheet” while still a graduate student at Harvard Business School. He and Bob Frankston founded Software Arts, Inc. in 1979 to explore the idea and VisiCalc was the result. First demonstrated at the National Computer Conference in June 1979, the Apple II version of VisiCalc was shipped on October 17, 1979.”
Top

Bob Frankston

http://www.trs-80.org/visicalc/

“Dan Bricklin came up with the idea for an “electronic spreadsheet” while still a graduate student at Harvard Business School. He and Bob Frankston founded Software Arts, Inc. in 1979 to explore the idea and VisiCalc was the result. First demonstrated at the National Computer Conference in June 1979, the Apple II version of VisiCalc was shipped on October 17, 1979.”
Top

Mitch Kapor

History of Lotus 1-2-3

“Mitch Kapor founded Lotus with Jonathan Sachs in 1982.  Kapor had come from VisiCalc, a competitor, and Sachs had come from a company that created spreadsheet software for the Data General minicomputer. ”
Top

Charles Simonyi

Wikipedia Article: Charles Simonyi

“In 1981, at Metcalfe’s suggestion, he applied directly to Bill Gates for a job at Microsoft. At the firm, Simonyi oversaw the development of what became its most profitable products, Word and Excel, as well as Excel’s predecessor Multiplan. ”
Top

Doug Klunder

Key Events in Microsoft History (Word document)

Microsoft Multiplan released 1984

Richard Brodie’s Website: Microsoft: The Early Days

“But Charles’s mission was to compete against the surprisingly successful VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program. He was to develop Microsoft’s spreadsheet, a project code-named “EP” (for “Electronic Paper”) and later marketed as Microsoft Multiplan. That task he entrusted to Doug Klunder, programmer extraordinaire, who would go on to lead the development of the unmatched Excel after Multiplan’s lukewarm market reception in the face of Lotus 1-2-3.”

Top

Dan Fylstra

Godfathers of the Spreadsheet
Top

Ray Ozzie

One of the technology industry’s true visionaries. He worked on the first spreadsheet, VisiCalc, and developed the Lotus Symphony office suite. And that was only the prelude: He launched Iris Associates, which developed the software that would become Lotus Notes, and later Groove Networks, which developed the collaboration software Groove Virtual Office (now called Microsoft Office Groove).
Top

Andrew Wulf

http://thecodist.com/article/my_macintosh_experiences_of_25_years_ago
Trapeze spreadsheet 1987
“In May 1987 I was asked to appear on a nationally syndicated computer show (Computer Chronicles) and got to demo Trapeze alongside Excel with its product manager from Microsoft. I was able to scoop them a bit by getting an unreleased (at the time) color monitor and Mac from Apple, and coding up Trapeze to support color (8!). You can watch the show (and see me in my finest white pimp suit).”
http://www.archive.org/details/Business1987_3

I wondered what happened to Trapeze, and found a blog post by Andrew Wulf, who reports that Apple’s Numbers program is similar to the old Trapeze program. Since I haven’t used either program, I’ll take his word for it!

Top

Ken Dakin

programmer — Mainframe spreadsheet
http://www.editgrid.com/user/ken/HISTORY_OF_SPREADSHEETS
Works Record System (3-D spreadsheet used at ICI) 1974-2001