Software Arts VisiCalc (1979-1985)

VisiCalc

🥇First Commercially-Released Computer Spreadsheet Program 

VisiCalc, released in October 1979, was the "killer app" that single-handedly transformed the personal computer from a hobbyist's toy into an essential business tool. Conceived by Dan Bricklin while watching a Harvard Business School professor laboriously erase and recalculate a financial table on a blackboard, and programmed by Bob Frankston, VisiCalc introduced the world to the electronic spreadsheet. By allowing users to change a single number and watch every related cell update instantly, it provided a "magic sheet of paper" for financial modeling that previously required incredibly expensive corporate computer systems. Its initial exclusivity to the Apple II was so powerful that many business owners famously bought the $2,000 hardware just to run this $100 software, fueling Apple's early industry dominance and establishing the grid-based interface that still governs global finance.

Acquired from: eBay.com