Browsing by Subject "Digital Equipment Corporation"
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Item Oral history interview with Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston(Charles Babbage Institute, 2004-05-07) Bricklin, Dan; Frankston, BobDan Bricklin and Bob Frankston discuss the creation of VisiCalc, the pioneering spreadsheet application. Bricklin and Frankston begin by discussing their educational backgrounds and experiences in computing, especially with MIT’s Multics system. Bricklin then worked for DEC on typesetting and word-processing computers and, after a short time with a small start-up company, went to Harvard Business School. After MIT Frankston worked for White Weld and Interactive Data. The interview examines many of the technical, design, and programming choices in creating VisiCalc as well as interactions with Dan Fylstra and several business advisors. Bricklin comments on entries from his dated notebooks about these interactions. The interview reviews the incorporation of Software Arts in 1979, then describes early marketing of VisiCalc and the value of product evangelizing. There is discussion of rising competition from Mitch Kapor’s 1-2-3 and the steps taken by Fylstra’s software publishing company Personal Software (later VisiCorp). Part II of the interview begins with Bricklin and Frankston’s use of a Prime minicomputer to compile VisiCalc’s code for the Apple II computer. There is discussion of connections to Apple Computer and DEC, as well as publicity at the West Coast Computer Faire. The two evaluate the Fylstra essay, reviewing the naming of VisiCalc and discussing the division of labor between software developers and Fylstra as a software publisher. They describe the porting of code for versions of VisiCalc for other computers. Talks concerning a possible merger between Personal Software and Software Arts broke down, and instead there was a lawsuit between the companies. Software Arts developed a new product called TK!Solver and became a Macintosh developer. They evaluate the early spreadsheet products, including Kapor’s 1-2-3, Context MBA, Multiplan, and Excel as well as VisiCalc for the IBM PC. There is discussion of the Xerox PARC Alto and Macintosh. The interview was conducted in two parts, first with Martin Campbell-Kelly and the second with Paul Ceruzzi. There are references to an essay prepared by Dan Fylstra, circulated privately at the 2004 meeting and subsequently posted on the web (see “The Creation and Destruction of VisiCalc” in footnote).Item Oral history interview with Jack Bonnell Dennis(Charles Babbage Institute, 1989-10-31) Dennis, Jack B. (Jack Bonnell); O'Neill, Judy E.Dennis describes his educational background and work in time-sharing computer systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The interview focuses on time-sharing. Dennis discusses the TX0 computer at MIT, the work of John McCarthy on time-sharing, and the influence of the Information Processing Techniques Office of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (later the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) on the development of time-sharing. Dennis also recalls the competition between various firms, including Digital Equipment Corporation, General Electric, Burroughs, and International Business Machines, to manufacture time-sharing systems. He describes the development of MULTICS at General Electric.