Timeline of Spreadsheets

By NatChe
  • 400 BCE

    Where it began.

    It all started with a need for calculation. Before Arabic numerals, people used symbolic numerals.
  • Feb 13, 1400

    The first invention of Printing

    The invention of printers enabled the Arabic numerals and the concept of place value in arithmetic to Europe.

  • Dawn of Automated Calculation

    William Seward Burroughs files for his first patent on a calculating machine.

  • The Desktop Computer Era

    VisiCalc is released as the first spreadsheet program for a computer.
    Initially, spreadsheets were all about efficiency of computation.

  • Excel and Quattro Pro are introduced

    Spreadsheets become more user-friendly.
    People begin using them to manage work beyond computational efficiency.

  • Cloud capabilities dramatically improve

    ISPs grealty expand bandwidth capabilities, enabling cloud computing apps to offer business, speed and efficiency.

  • People worldwide using Mircosoft Office alone.

    60% of spreadsheets have no formulas, meaning spreadsheets are used to manage much more than just computational work.

  • Spreadsheets dominate the workplace

    Yet the biggest spreadsheet providers continue to add features focused on data analysis. So spreadsheets are still overwhelmingly used to manage work, and cloud based collaboration is firmly entrenched across enterprises.