Nowadays we take spreadsheets for granted. Their power is simply at our fingertips. But it wasn't always this way. How did we come to have these useful tools so readily available? There is surprisingly little formal information about how they came to be, but luckily, there are others who share our passion and have done something about it.
Ariel Fischman has been using spreadsheets for over 30 years. His love and appreciation for this time-saving and useful tool have made him the Guinness World Record holder for the largest collection of spreadsheet software. And it all began with a spark of curiosity on how spreadsheets came to be the powerful tools they are today.
As Ariel began his search for the history of spreadsheets, he quickly discovered that very little formal documentation existed and decided to find out what he could. His research turned up some interesting information about the evolution of spreadsheets, including the fact that a man named Richard Mattessich visualized the spreadsheet in 1961, long before computers were able to complete the task and certainly before Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston created and released VisiCalc in 1979.
Read an interview with Ariel that tells more about how his collection came to be here. We think you'll love it.