The man who made PCs useful
By Margie Wylie

Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM

Dan Bricklin isn't rich. He isn't particularly famous, either. Even in Silicon Valley, he's not in much danger of being recognized. Yet he's the man who almost single-handedly convinced companies that personal computers were more than toys.

With Bob Frankston, Bricklin created the first electronic spreadsheet for the Apple II, called VisiCalc. A spreadsheet may not sound like such a big deal to today's users, but companies used to invest hours doing projections with manually calculated spreadsheets. Changing a single number in a spreadsheet meant recalculating, by hand, every single cell in the sheet. When VisiCalc shipped in 1978, number crunchers were in heaven. Change any cell and the entire sheet was recalculated instantly. VisiCalc inspired mass purchases of the Apple II, kick-starting the personal computer revolution.

Of course, VisiCalc and the Apple II both disappeared, but Bricklin's

legacy lives on. Because he was never able to patent the code or even the concept behind his electronic spreadsheet, VisiCalc became the basis for Lotus 1-2-3 and the inspiration for Microsoft Excel. Most of us can't imagine doing our jobs without a computer, much less the spreadsheet he created. By all rights, Bricklin should be rich beyond his wildest dreams, but the United States didn't allow software patents until it was too late for him. Still, that hasn't stopped him.

The buoyant entrepreneur went on to create Dan Bricklin's Demo, a program that let software makers mock up their products before they ship. He was a founder of Slate, an early attempt at creating pen-based computers. And he's started up and sold several companies and products along the way. Talking to Bricklin, it seems he wouldn't want it any other way. The Harvard MBA splits his time between programming and business, going from one-man software projects to big start-ups and back again.

Now he's back with Trellix, a sort of Web word processor that creates hyperlinked documents without making users waste hours on HTML. Like VisiCalc, it's essentially a business tool and a time-saver.

Bricklin says he likes to keep moving and stay challenged. He loves his life in a quiet East Coast town and wouldn't live the high-flying existence of a Silicon Valley software executive if given the chance. But is he angling for the next VisiCalc? We chatted briefly with Bricklin in our San Francisco offices during a Trellix publicity tour.

If someone were to come up to you and say, "Do you know who you are?" as people sometimes do to famous folks, what would you think they were referring to?
Bricklin: Most people remember me as the person who cocreated the first spreadsheet, VisiCalc. There are others who know me for the Demo program that was used for prototyping software. Some know me for my work in pen computing when I was at Slate. Now, they'll know me for Trellix.

NEXT: On VisiCalc, patents, and pioneering