Dan Bricklin: The personal web site of the co-creator of VisiCalc

This is a personal web site that I maintain myself. It has historical information I've accumulated (including about VisiCalc), some of my thoughts and writings, material from others that I find of interest, and material specific to me for reporters and researchers. It has thousands of unique pictures of interest to people in the computer industry!

See the Disclaimer at the bottom of this page.

This section lists major additions and changes to this web site. Changes to the Personal Log are not usually listed since they are so frequent.

Dan's New Book:

Bricklin on Technology book cover linked to Amazon

Published

by Wiley and in bookstores now!

See the Book Web Site for details about the book and companion material or buy now.

The Developer's Challenge in 2011 added to the Writings section (11/23/10)

Is the Apple iPad really "magical"? added to the Writings section (10/11/10)

Early Thoughts About the iPad added to the Writings section (4/6/10)

Signals and the Ubiquity of New Carriers added to the Writings section (9/14/09)

New Modes of Interaction: Some Implications of Microsoft Natal and Google Wave added to the Writings section (7/7/09)

Added Dan and Bob's Videos About the VisiCalc Announcement in 1979 (6/4/09)

A New Feeling at a Concert added to the Writings section (5/6/09)

Turning My Blog Into A Book added to the book web site (4/13/09)

Web site section added for book (4/8/09)

Background material for a meeting titled "Designing IT in the Age of Obama " (4/2/09)

The Meaning of Transparency in Today's Data-Centric World was added to the Writings section (3/9/09)

Turning Inspiration Into Our Own was added to the Writings section (2/9/09)

Trust and cooperation cannot be surged: From US maritime strategy to the Little Prince and the fox was added to the Writings section (12/27/07)

Gestures, the iPhone, and Standards: A Developer's Questions added to the Writings section (10/24/07)

Thoughts on Patent Litigation in 2006 was added to the Writings section (10/11/06)

More...

The Sections

Dan's Personal Log	This blog covers my thoughts on making web sites, the computer industry, digital photography, PC history, conferences I attend, and people I know or run into. Posted more frequently than the rest of this web site.
Writings	Comments from me and others. Includes an article on "Why VisiCalc wasn't patented", popular pages like "What will people pay for?", "The Cornucopia of the Commons: How to get volunteer labor", "Copy Protection Robs The Future", and "Installing Verizon FIOS fiber-optic Internet service to my house".
Podcasts and Videos	Recordings of interviews, meetings, and other events. Includes Toby Redshaw of Motorola discussing their use of wikis and blogs, Vice Admiral John Morgan explaining the 1000-ship Navy, Vern Raburn giving a tour of the Eclipse Aviation factory, and much more.
History	Historical information, including photos and a working copy, about VisiCalc, companies I've worked for, and other old stuff.
Photo Albums	Pictures from computer industry events I've attended and trips I've taken.
Book Web Site	Information about Dan's book, Bricklin on Technology, including additional material for readers.
Resources	Links, book reviews, and more.
Background Info	My resume, photos of me, and other material for reporters.

About the author

Who is Dan Bricklin? I'm best known as the co-creator of VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet as we know them today, though I have made other contributions to the computer world, too. You can learn more about me by reading my biography (it's actually more of a PR backgrounder) in the Background Info section and also by looking at the History section of this web site (lots of pictures!).

I currently run a tiny company called Software Garden, Inc., through which I do consulting, speaking, and software development. It also sells "A Developer's Introduction to Copyright and Open Source", a training video. Software Garden is also known for products I produced in the past, including Dan Bricklin's® Demo Program and demo-it!. Demo and demo-it! used to be sold and supported by Programmers Paradise's Lifeboat division (www.pparadise.com). The most famous use of demo-it! that I did was a spoof of Java applets called "ChiaPaint" shown at Demo'96. A copy is in the Writings section.

Some other links

Bob Frankston's home page is www.frankston.com. Bob created VisiCalc with me and helps me with material on this web site. Bob, David Reed, and I contribute to a joint weblog called SATN.org.

I also created most of a web site about business writing for the intranet, www.gooddocuments.com. On this site I try to follow some of the principles presented there.

Some of my products were designed with the aid of Micah Zimring, a user interface designer. He also does calligraphy.

See the Resources section for more links.

This web site is maintained by Dan Bricklin. It is written using Trellix 2.0 and Trellix Web 2.7 (later sold as CuteSITE Builder). For information about how I use those products to create this web site, see "How this web site is made".

Disclaimer: This is a personal web site. Investors should not rely on any statements in this web site when making investment decisions. Also, I am not a lawyer - this is not legal advice.

"Dan Bricklin's" is a registered trademark of Daniel S. Bricklin. Other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.

Send comments to w e b master at bricklin dot co m.