4 ms·

Sometimes I wonder if instead of struggling with office suites, I'd be better off running VisiCalc in an emulator. Low memory usage, high portability, and you k

by sehugg 1y ago

Sometimes I wonder if instead of struggling with office suites, I'd be better off running VisiCalc in an emulator. Low memory usage, high portability, and you know they're not going to change the UI on you.

JKCalhoun 1y ago
Or just an earlier version of Excel.
- sehugg 1y ago
  I guess whichever has the most parseable format and plays nice with virtual printer drivers. And when sharing a spreadsheet with someone, you can share the entire spreadsheet application software, no incompatibilities :)
rjsw 1y ago
Software optimized for early model Macintosh computers runs well on later ones. WriteNow on a Quadra 950 is very fast, I don't have a spreadsheet application from the same era.
krazykringle 1y ago
Consider ‘sc’ - dates from 1981, still actively maintained. https://github.com/n-t-roff/sc https://github.com/n-t-roff/sc (active fork) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sc_(spreadsheet_calculator) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sc_(spreadsheet_calculator) https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/resolute/en/man1/sc-im.1.html https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/resolute/en/man1/sc-im.... Installable on mac and unix as ‘sc-im’
II2II 1y ago
It depends upon your needs, but the over simplified answer is: probably not. I'm not talking about the over all design philosophy behind such old software. It may be better for getting things done in terms of the interface and, as you mentioned, there's high portability. By portability, I assume you mean you can run it on anything that has an emulator for it. The trouble is how tied to the hardware it was. For example: 80 column mode was limited to particular video cards, and support didn't include the 80 column support found on later Apple II's. Have extra memory (such as an emulated 128 kB Apple IIe, so again were talking about very common hardware)? Well, you're stuck to the 64 kB (or less) of an Apple II or II+. Given that you have to restart the program to reclaim unused memory, this may be a bigger deal than anticipated. Such old software is finicky. Even Lotus 1-2-3 on a PC emulator would have its quirks, albeit not to the same extreme.
ChristopherDrum 1y ago
Author here. I address data portability in a step-by-step process in the blog post. Long story short, it’s too much hassle while still being imperfect. If data sharing is important, it’s not a good choice. If you’re content to build a little spreadsheet that exists solely within the VisiCalc and VisiClone world, then it might suffice. I suspect the average user has higher baseline expectations than VisiCalc can deliver. You need to really try it out yourself (Dan Bricklin has the 80-column DOS version for free on his site) and see what it lacks firsthand.

by sehugg 1y ago

JKCalhoun 1y ago

Or just an earlier version of Excel.

sehugg 1y ago
I guess whichever has the most parseable format and plays nice with virtual printer drivers. And when sharing a spreadsheet with someone, you can share the entire spreadsheet application software, no incompatibilities :)

rjsw 1y ago

Software optimized for early model Macintosh computers runs well on later ones. WriteNow on a Quadra 950 is very fast, I don't have a spreadsheet application from the same era.

krazykringle 1y ago

Consider ‘sc’ - dates from 1981, still actively maintained. https://github.com/n-t-roff/sc https://github.com/n-t-roff/sc (active fork) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sc_(spreadsheet_calculator) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sc_(spreadsheet_calculator) https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/resolute/en/man1/sc-im.1.html https://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/resolute/en/man1/sc-im.... Installable on mac and unix as ‘sc-im’

II2II 1y ago

It depends upon your needs, but the over simplified answer is: probably not. I'm not talking about the over all design philosophy behind such old software. It may be better for getting things done in terms of the interface and, as you mentioned, there's high portability. By portability, I assume you mean you can run it on anything that has an emulator for it. The trouble is how tied to the hardware it was. For example: 80 column mode was limited to particular video cards, and support didn't include the 80 column support found on later Apple II's. Have extra memory (such as an emulated 128 kB Apple IIe, so again were talking about very common hardware)? Well, you're stuck to the 64 kB (or less) of an Apple II or II+. Given that you have to restart the program to reclaim unused memory, this may be a bigger deal than anticipated. Such old software is finicky. Even Lotus 1-2-3 on a PC emulator would have its quirks, albeit not to the same extreme.

ChristopherDrum 1y ago

Author here. I address data portability in a step-by-step process in the blog post. Long story short, it’s too much hassle while still being imperfect. If data sharing is important, it’s not a good choice. If you’re content to build a little spreadsheet that exists solely within the VisiCalc and VisiClone world, then it might suffice. I suspect the average user has higher baseline expectations than VisiCalc can deliver. You need to really try it out yourself (Dan Bricklin has the 80-column DOS version for free on his site) and see what it lacks firsthand.