--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, anon_couscous_ff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_reply@> wrote: > > > But also designed 123 for the NEW IBM PC. And it became > > > the killer app for the PC, Lotus "made" the PC (to a > > > degree) the way Visicalc had "made" Apple. Right time, > > > right place. > > > > But wrong facts, AFAIK. :-) VisiCalc had been available for > > IBM PCs since 1981. > > That could be. But I remember 123 as being THE ss app for PCs. Maybe > visicacl was ported as 8-bit and 123 was 16-bit? Or something that > made 123 JUST PLAIN better for the PC. > > >Lotus wasn't really widely available > > until 1983. But it was better, and won. > > > > > However, I agree with your examples as a broad analogy. But > > > other factors were also in play. > > > > Like the fact that Mitch Kapor actually tried to *sell* > > his first versions of Lotus to VisiCorp and they turned > > him down. > > Are you sure? And not confusing that take with the fact that he did > sell a graphics add-on for visicalc to Visicalc. And used that money > as start-up capital for 123. 6-months prior to its release, 123 had > the BUZZ. The WSJ ran a front-page article on it. It had a bigback log > demand long before it was released -- due to its superiority. It would > have been silly to have tried to then sell it to VC given its market > positioning. >
OK. you are correct. Kapor did try to sell intial 123 to visicalc. I did not know that. "VisiCalc became an almost instant success and provided many business people with an incentive to purchase a personal computer or an H-P 85 or 87 calculator from Hewlett-Packard (cf., Jim Ho, 1999). About 1 million copies of the spreadsheet program were sold during VisiCalc's product lifetime. Dan Bricklin has his version of the history of Software Arts and VisiCalc on the web at www.bricklin.com/history/sai.htm. Bricklin includes early ads and reviews and pictures of the VisiCalc packaging and screenshots. What came after VisiCalc? The market for electronic spreadsheet software was growing rapidly in the early 1980s and VisiCalc stakeholders were slow to respond to the introduction of the IBM PC that used an Intel computer chip. Beginning in September 1983, legal conflicts between VisiCorp and Software Arts distracted the VisiCalc developers, Bricklin and Frankston. During this period, Mitch Kapor developed Lotus and his spreadsheet program quickly became the new industry spreadsheet standard. What is Lotus 1-2-3? Lotus 1-2-3 made it easier to use spreadsheets and it added integrated charting, plotting and database capabilities. Lotus 1-2-3 established spreadsheet software as a major data presentation package as well as a complex calculation tool. Lotus was also the first spreadsheet vendor to introduce naming cells, cell ranges and spreadsheet macros. Kapor was the VisiCalc product manager at Personal Software for about six months in 1980; he also designed and programmed Visiplot/Visitrend which he sold to Personal Software (VisiCorp)for $1 million. Part of that money along with funds from venture capitalist Ben Rosen were used to start Lotus Development Corporation in 1982. Kapor cofounded Lotus Development Corporation with Jonathan Sachs. Before he cofounded Lotus, Kapor disclosed and offered Personal Software (VisiCorp) his initial Lotus program. Supposedly VisiCorp executives declined the offer because Lotus 1-2-3's functionality was "too limited". Lotus 1-2-3 is still one of the all-time best selling application software packages in the world (see email from Mitch Kapor, 04/15/1999)." http://www.dssresources.com/history/sshistory.html To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
