Editing Lotus 1-2-3 (section)

=== VisiCalc ===
[[VisiCalc]] was launched in 1979 on the [[Apple II]] and immediately became a best-seller. Compared to earlier programs, VisiCalc allowed one to easily construct free-form calculation systems for practically any purpose, the limitations being primarily related to the memory and speed of the computer. The application was so compelling that there were numerous stories of people buying Apple II machines to run the program<ref>{{cite journal |author-last1=McMullen |author-first1=Barbara E. |author-last2=McMullen |author-first2=John F. |title=Apple Charts the Course for IBM |journal=[[PC Magazine]] |date=1984-02-21 |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=122–129 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UCIvSU6Y2GAC&pg=PA120 |access-date=2015-01-11}}</ref> (see article [[Killer application]]). VisiCalc's runaway success on the Apple led to direct [[bug compatible]] ports to other platforms, including the [[Atari 8-bit computers]], [[Commodore PET]] and many others. This included the [[IBM Personal Computer|IBM PC]] when it launched in 1981, where it quickly became another best-seller, with an estimated 300,000 sales in the first six months on the market.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Freiberger |first1=Paul |last2=Swaine |first2=Michael |title=Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer |date=2000 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |isbn=978-0-07-135892-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Fire_in_the_Valley.html?id=guwnAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}</ref>

There were well-known problems with VisiCalc, and several competitors appeared to address some of these issues. One early example was 1980's [[SuperCalc]], which solved the problem of [[circular reference]]s, while a slightly later example was [[Microsoft]] [[Multiplan]] from 1981, which offered larger sheets and other improvements. In spite of these, and others, VisiCalc continued to outsell them all.{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}