Killer apps for PCs from the 80s: VisiCalc and WordStar
As in the 80s, the ancestors of Microsoft Office and Google Docs ensured the popularity of PCs, led to massive cuts in the staff of accountants, and for many years won the hearts of some writers.
Photo by John Markos O'Neill (yes, this PC is from the 90s ) / CC BY-SA
The process of mass PC adaptation was quite long. In order for computers to move from universities to living rooms, it was not enough to reduce their size and reduce the price - the computer's functionality had to meet the needs of the audience. For example, the spread of Microsoft BASIC has made programming more accessible and has opened the door to educational PC applications. Then computers like the Commodore VIC-20 defied home consoles. But this market still remained niche.
')
For a technology to be truly personal, its benefits should become apparent to a wide range of people. The best way to do this is to optimize the existing analog process using new technological tools. In the 1970s, Daniel (Dan) Bricklin, a student at Harvard’s MBA program, saw a chance for such optimization.
Dan's acquaintance with computers began in the 60s, when he, while still a schoolboy, got a chance to work with mainframes and punched cards. After school, he went to study at MIT, where he participated in the creation of the MULTICS operating system, the predecessor of UNIX. After several years of work, Dan again decided to return to the educational process - and chose the Harvard MBA program.
Enrolling at Harvard in 1977, for the first time in a long time, Dan found himself in a completely "paper" environment. And it is not surprising, because the business world was still far from high technology. Large companies used mainframes for R & D computing, airlines launched systems for booking tickets, but there were no computers on the tables of ordinary employees. Logically, the vast majority of Dan’s classmates had no experience handling them.
A big part of the Harvard MBA program was casework. Students were asked to analyze specific business moves and calculate how profitable they were. This work was carried out from beginning to end on paper.
To solve this problem, Dan wanted to create a program for financial calculations, allowing to dynamically change the values ​​of variables. Thus, even if the initial data were erroneous, all the calculations could be performed anew in minutes. He contacted his MIT friend, programmer Bob Frankston, and the team began developing a new product.
Finding an interface suitable for this task took considerable time. The main source of inspiration was the giant accounting books that Dan saw in his house from childhood - his father owned a small business. But they had a big minus - namely, the lack of a way to access a particular cell.
Dan tried several solutions to the problem: from sequential cell numbering to personalized names, like with variables. One of the important innovations of VisiCalc has become already familiar to us the system of numbering tables, where the letters denote the column, and the numbers - the rows. Thus you can build a potentially infinite table, and not get lost in it.
In June 1979, a finished product called the VisiCalc (Visual Calculator) was presented to the public at the National Computer Conference in New York. Financiers and specialists in accounting immediately noticed the potential of the program, which the creators described as “a magic piece of paper on which you can perform calculations many times”.
For the accounting industry, the appearance of VisiCalc was the same turning point. “Paper” accounting systems often consisted of many interconnected notebooks. If there was a discrepancy in the audit process, the search for the error could take days, if not weeks.
Spreadsheets significantly reduced the time needed for the calculations and increased their accuracy. New reality demanded much smaller resources for accounting. As a result, according to the podcast of Planet Money, since 1980 the number of accountants in the United States alone has decreased by 400 thousand.
A word processor is one of the first programs that PC users master. But it was not always so. The predecessors of Microsoft Word had to fight for the right to be so widely used.
Writing is not always accompanied by large wages - therefore, at the beginning of the microcomputer era, many authors considered the computerization of the industry a luxury.
First, simply in order to imitate the capabilities of a typewriter, several devices are required — a system unit, a monitor, a keyboard, and a printer. This is a significant investment. Secondly, you can exchange digital files only with other computer owners. The result will still have to print to get edits. If it’s not broke, it’s not fix it — it's cheaper and safer not to change the workflow.
Photo of Klaas / Unsplash
This mentality was changed by the WordStar program, which formed a set of standard functions, now available in any word processor. WordStar is the first word processor with WYSIWYG functionality, created for microcomputers and “sharpened” for creating long texts.
WordStar was a system of "invisible" comments that are present when viewing a document, but disappear when it is printed. He allowed to make virtual bookmarks, which you can return to if you want, and used a convenient system of hot keys, somewhat reminiscent of work in Emacs. One of the innovations of WordStar, to which we managed to get used, is a flexible text selection system. Unlike other programs, the user could spontaneously select the text, and then decide what to do with it - copy, cut, or open the dictionary.
The program has become a hit among science fiction writers. Among her followers is Game of Thrones author George Martin, who still uses WordStar. When he appeared on the Conan O'Brien show in 2014, the writer explained that he didn’t see the point of “updating” because the program had all the necessary functionality. And it is unlikely in the past five years he has changed his mind on this matter.
What else can you read in our corporate blog:
Photo by John Markos O'Neill (yes, this PC is from the 90s ) / CC BY-SA
The process of mass PC adaptation was quite long. In order for computers to move from universities to living rooms, it was not enough to reduce their size and reduce the price - the computer's functionality had to meet the needs of the audience. For example, the spread of Microsoft BASIC has made programming more accessible and has opened the door to educational PC applications. Then computers like the Commodore VIC-20 defied home consoles. But this market still remained niche.
')
For a technology to be truly personal, its benefits should become apparent to a wide range of people. The best way to do this is to optimize the existing analog process using new technological tools. In the 1970s, Daniel (Dan) Bricklin, a student at Harvard’s MBA program, saw a chance for such optimization.
Birth of VisiCalc
Dan's acquaintance with computers began in the 60s, when he, while still a schoolboy, got a chance to work with mainframes and punched cards. After school, he went to study at MIT, where he participated in the creation of the MULTICS operating system, the predecessor of UNIX. After several years of work, Dan again decided to return to the educational process - and chose the Harvard MBA program.
Enrolling at Harvard in 1977, for the first time in a long time, Dan found himself in a completely "paper" environment. And it is not surprising, because the business world was still far from high technology. Large companies used mainframes for R & D computing, airlines launched systems for booking tickets, but there were no computers on the tables of ordinary employees. Logically, the vast majority of Dan’s classmates had no experience handling them.
A big part of the Harvard MBA program was casework. Students were asked to analyze specific business moves and calculate how profitable they were. This work was carried out from beginning to end on paper.
It was enough to make only one error in the calculations so that all subsequent calculations turned out to be wrong. Because of this, students often “dropped out” of the educational process in the middle of the lesson.
To solve this problem, Dan wanted to create a program for financial calculations, allowing to dynamically change the values ​​of variables. Thus, even if the initial data were erroneous, all the calculations could be performed anew in minutes. He contacted his MIT friend, programmer Bob Frankston, and the team began developing a new product.
Finding an interface suitable for this task took considerable time. The main source of inspiration was the giant accounting books that Dan saw in his house from childhood - his father owned a small business. But they had a big minus - namely, the lack of a way to access a particular cell.
Dan tried several solutions to the problem: from sequential cell numbering to personalized names, like with variables. One of the important innovations of VisiCalc has become already familiar to us the system of numbering tables, where the letters denote the column, and the numbers - the rows. Thus you can build a potentially infinite table, and not get lost in it.
In June 1979, a finished product called the VisiCalc (Visual Calculator) was presented to the public at the National Computer Conference in New York. Financiers and specialists in accounting immediately noticed the potential of the program, which the creators described as “a magic piece of paper on which you can perform calculations many times”.
During the first year of its existence, VisiCalc was supplied only in the version for Apple II. What led to the explosion of sales of this relatively young platform.
According to Steve Wozniak, 90% of Apple II customers were small businesses, “convinced” about the benefits of computers thanks to VisiCalc. In a 1996 interview, Steve Jobs acknowledged that the creation of VisiCalc was one of the most important events in the history of IT, and an important engine for Apple's sales growth.
For the accounting industry, the appearance of VisiCalc was the same turning point. “Paper” accounting systems often consisted of many interconnected notebooks. If there was a discrepancy in the audit process, the search for the error could take days, if not weeks.
Spreadsheets significantly reduced the time needed for the calculations and increased their accuracy. New reality demanded much smaller resources for accounting. As a result, according to the podcast of Planet Money, since 1980 the number of accountants in the United States alone has decreased by 400 thousand.
Wordstar
A word processor is one of the first programs that PC users master. But it was not always so. The predecessors of Microsoft Word had to fight for the right to be so widely used.
Writing is not always accompanied by large wages - therefore, at the beginning of the microcomputer era, many authors considered the computerization of the industry a luxury.
First, simply in order to imitate the capabilities of a typewriter, several devices are required — a system unit, a monitor, a keyboard, and a printer. This is a significant investment. Secondly, you can exchange digital files only with other computer owners. The result will still have to print to get edits. If it’s not broke, it’s not fix it — it's cheaper and safer not to change the workflow.
Photo of Klaas / Unsplash
This mentality was changed by the WordStar program, which formed a set of standard functions, now available in any word processor. WordStar is the first word processor with WYSIWYG functionality, created for microcomputers and “sharpened” for creating long texts.
Instead of emulating typewriter principles like other word processors did, WordStar was repelled by the flexibility inherent in digital products — not by the paradigms familiar to the user. This allowed the creators of software to develop and implement features for "advanced users".
WordStar was a system of "invisible" comments that are present when viewing a document, but disappear when it is printed. He allowed to make virtual bookmarks, which you can return to if you want, and used a convenient system of hot keys, somewhat reminiscent of work in Emacs. One of the innovations of WordStar, to which we managed to get used, is a flexible text selection system. Unlike other programs, the user could spontaneously select the text, and then decide what to do with it - copy, cut, or open the dictionary.
The program has become a hit among science fiction writers. Among her followers is Game of Thrones author George Martin, who still uses WordStar. When he appeared on the Conan O'Brien show in 2014, the writer explained that he didn’t see the point of “updating” because the program had all the necessary functionality. And it is unlikely in the past five years he has changed his mind on this matter.
What else can you read in our corporate blog:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/460493/
All Articles