A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge (1984)
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A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge (1984)
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Re: A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge (1984)
#2This is a good read, and far from a one-sided paean of praise for the spreadsheet. Lots of discussion of pitfalls.
This is a fun quote:
Already, the spreadsheet has redefined the nature of some jobs; to be an accountant in the age of spreadsheet program is — well, almost sexy.
Re: A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge (1984)
#3This is a good read, and far from a one-sided paean of praise for the spreadsheet. Lots of discussion of pitfalls. This is a fun quote: Already, the spreadsheet has redefined the nature of some jobs; to be an accountant in the age of spreadsheet program is — well, almost sexy.
As an accountant, sexy is not how I feel. I think the right word is sexworker... I kid.
Re: A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge (1984)
#4Great quote about how spreadsheets where empowering:
The company’s chief financial officer wanted certain information, and his top “experts” had difficulty providing it. So one weekend he brought an Apple computer and a copy of VisiCalc home with him. Monday morning, he called his people in and showed them how he had gotten the information he had been clamoring for. “With one swipe of the diskette, he cut them off at the knees.” Stein said. “He out-teched them. His experts! He’d cut the chain. The following week, they all came down to learn VisiCalc – fast.”
That's the kind of disruptive technonology that'll get you sales. Making things done, and having Cx0s demanding your product.
Re: A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge (1984)
#5I think, spreadsheet is at least to calculation what word processors are to writing.
Re: A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge (1984)
#6Everytime I read these accounts of breakthroughs I'm baffled by how everything looks different on hindsight:
Bricklin’s teachers at Harvard thought he was wasting his time: why would a manager want to do a spreadsheet on one of those “toy” computers?
or the one about the origins of the telephone:
The invention is practically worthless. Don't through your money away!
Re: A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge (1984)
#7It is incredible how much software is written solely to "do better than a spreadsheet." And how much fails at it.
Great article.
Re: A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge (1984)
#8I think, spreadsheet is at least to calculation what word processors are to writing.
Not just calculation, but abstract data comprehension. It's a fair bit more flexible than the word processor in this analogy.
Re: A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge (1984)
#9Everytime I read these accounts of breakthroughs I'm baffled by how everything looks different on hindsight: Bricklin’s teachers at Harvard thought he was wasting his time: why would a manager want to do a spreadsheet on one of those “toy” computers? or the one about the origins of the telephone: The invention is practically worthless. Don't through your money away!
After the spreadsheets were going full steam you often heard or read how people scoffed at why anyone would want to play games on a business machine. Most people played on their Atari or Commodore consoles not on an expensive "IBM Compatible PC".