Overview
Part 2 covered how the Apple II and VisiCalc helped turn personal computers into business tools.
But the main spreadsheet software changed over time.
VisiCalc gave way to Lotus 1-2-3. Lotus 1-2-3 gave way to Excel. Local PC spreadsheets expanded into cloud-based collaboration.
Spreadsheet software kept changing how companies handled numbers.
This part looks at how spreadsheets grew from personal calculation tools into team and AI work bases.
Lotus 1-2-3 and the IBM PC Era
After VisiCalc's success, Lotus 1-2-3 became the leading spreadsheet software.
Lotus 1-2-3 was closely tied to the rise of the IBM PC. It combined spreadsheet, charting, and simple database functions, and it became widely used in business.
At this stage, spreadsheet software was no longer only a calculator.
- Sales forecasting
- Financial analysis
- Inventory management
- Budgeting
- Management reporting
Many business workflows began to live inside spreadsheet software.
The Market Moved From VisiCalc to Lotus
In 1985, major Software Arts assets moved to Lotus Development.
The spreadsheet market moved from the product that created the category to the product that dominated the IBM PC era.
That transition says something about software history.
Creating a market does not guarantee keeping that market. Hardware platforms, distribution power, business users, and competing features can all change who leads.
The history of spreadsheets is also the history of platforms and markets.
Excel Started on the Mac and Became a Windows Standard
Today, Excel is strongly associated with Windows and Microsoft Office.
But the first version of Microsoft Excel was released for the Macintosh in 1985. The Windows version came later.
For more detail in Japanese, see The First Excel Was a Mac App? The Unexpected Relationship Between Microsoft and Mac.
The key point here is that Excel fit well with graphical user interfaces and later became a standard business tool through Windows and Office.
Excel became more than spreadsheet software. It became a general-purpose business tool.
Sales tracking, inventory lists, attendance summaries, expense handling, quotes, budgets, and lightweight databases often start in Excel.
That flexibility is powerful, but it also creates risk. Without rules, files become personal and hard to maintain. Without clear sharing and permissions, people lose track of the latest version. Complex files can turn into business systems that nobody can safely modify.
Google Sheets and Cloud Collaboration
Spreadsheet software later moved into the cloud.
Google Sheets is one of the clearest examples.
While Excel developed as software used on personal computers, Google Sheets runs in the browser and supports shared editing.
This changed spreadsheet work again.
- Share the same sheet instead of emailing files
- Look at the same cloud data instead of searching for the newest file
- Edit with multiple people at the same time
- Connect forms, Apps Script, Looker Studio, and AppSheet
The spreadsheet moved from an individual work file toward a shared place for business data.
Spreadsheets in the AI Era
AI is now entering spreadsheet work.
- Suggest formulas
- Summarize data
- Create charts
- Find outliers
- Answer questions in natural language
- Generate scripts and automation
Spreadsheet software is no longer only a place to type numbers into cells.
It is becoming a place to organize data, analyze it, automate work, and connect business operations with AI.
Spreadsheets began by digitizing paper tables.
From Apple II and VisiCalc to IBM PCs and Lotus 1-2-3, Excel, Google Sheets, and AI, the spreadsheet kept expanding.
Summary
The history of spreadsheet software is the history of how companies handle numbers.
VisiCalc gave the Apple II a business use case. Lotus 1-2-3 supported business spreadsheets in the IBM PC era.
Excel became a standard business tool through Windows and Office. Google Sheets moved spreadsheets into cloud collaboration.
The spreadsheet changed more than calculation speed.
It made it easier to test scenarios, share data, collaborate, automate work, and connect business data with AI.
Spreadsheet software turned paper-and-calculator work into a digital tool for decision-making.