Bob Frankston's guest appearances

Bob Frankston

Floppy Days Vintage Computing Podcast

Community Broadband Bits

ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Outliers

TWiT Throwback (Audio)

TWiT Throwback (Video)

Naval Ravikant

Jason Moore

Michael Phillips

Jason Scott

David Young

Steve Robinson

Rahul Vohra

Scott Adams

Jyoti Bansal

Dave Johnson

Ben Smith

Ryan Hoover

Michael Katz

Peter Shankman

Nolan Bushnell

OwlTail

Floppy Days 126 - Interview with Bob Frankston, Co-developer of Visicalc Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays Sponsors:   8-Bit Classics    Arcade Shopper   Hello, everyone!  Welcome to episode 126 of the Floppy Days Podcast, with yours truly, Randy Kindig, as the host. Everyone, and I mean everyone, listening to this podcast has surely heard of the ground-breaking application (for its time) Visicalc.  Visicalc was the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers, originally released for the Apple II by VisiCorp on October 17, 1979.  It is considered the killer application for the Apple II, turning the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool, and then prompting IBM to introduce the IBM PC two years later.  More than 700,000 copies were sold in six years, and up to 1 million copies over its history.   Initially developed for the Apple II computer, VisiCalc was ported to numerous platforms, both 8-bit and some of the early 16-bit systems, such as the Commodore PET, Atari 8-bit, TRS-80 (TRSDOS), CP/M, MS-DOS, and even the HP Series 80. VisiCalc was later replaced in the market by Lotus 1-2-3 and eventually by Microsoft’s Excel, which is the dominant spreadsheet today.  Spreadsheets, along with word processors, and presentation tools are still today considered one of the key applications for computing. Bob Frankston, along with Dan Bricklin, are the co-inventors of VisiCalc.  This month, we have an interview with the aforementioned Bob Frankston.  Bob was kind enough to take time to talk with me about what it was like to create such a ground-breaking tool. Before doing that, I have a few new acquisitions to discuss and I’ll tell you about upcoming computer shows. New Acquisitions/What I’ve Been Up To   Retro Innovations    Lige and the YouTube show “The Commodore Room” - https://www.youtube.com/@thecommodoreroom4554    Console5 (cap kits)    Upcoming Shows   The 64 bits or less Retro Gaming Festival - June 3-4 - Benton County Fairgrounds in Corvallis, Oregon (sponsored by the Portland Retro Gaming Expo) - https://www.64bitsorless.com/    Boatfest Vintage Computer Exposition - June 23-25 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info    VCF Southwest - June 23-25 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX - http://vcfsw.org    Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 24-25 - “Interim” Computer Museum, Seattle, WA -  https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start    Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - July 1-2 - Nottingham, UK - https://www.amigashow.com/    KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18-23, 2023 (in-person) - July 29–30, 2023 (virtual) - Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri - https://www.kansasfest.org/    Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 28-30 2023 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/    ZZAP! Live 2023 - August 12 - The Holiday Inn, Kenilworth, CV8 1ED - https://fusionretroevents.co.uk/category/zzap-live/    Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - Aug. 17-20 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2023-se    Fujiama 2023 - Aug. 30 - Sep. 3 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2023/    VCF Midwest - September 9-10 - Waterford Banquets and Conference Center, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/    Tandy Assembly - Sep. 29-Oct. 1 - Courtyard by Marriott in Springfield, Ohio - http://www.tandyassembly.com/    AmiWest - October 14-15 - Sacramento, CA - https://retro.directory/browse/events/4/AmiWest.net    Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/    Chicago TI International World Faire - October 14, 2023 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/   World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/    http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html    Facebook show listings - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/    Interview   Bob’s Website - https://www.frankston.com/    New York Times article on Bricklin and Frankston joining Lotus (acquisition) -  https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/10/business/business-people-former-friendly-rivals-joining-forces-at-lotus.html    Bob interview on TwitTV - https://twit.tv/shows/triangulation/episodes/4   

Floppy Days 126 - Interview with Bob Frankston, Co-developer of Visicalc Patreon: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.patreon.com/FloppyDays</a> Sponsors: <ul> <li> <a href="https://www.8bitclassics.com/?ref=Floppydays" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">8-Bit Classics</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://www.arcadeshopper.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Arcade Shopper</a> </li> </ul> Hello, everyone!  Welcome to episode 126 of the Floppy Days Podcast, with yours truly, Randy Kindig, as the host. Everyone, and I mean everyone, listening to this podcast has surely heard of the ground-breaking application (for its time) Visicalc.  Visicalc was the first spreadsheet computer program for personal computers, originally released for the Apple II by VisiCorp on October 17, 1979.  It is considered the killer application for the Apple II, turning the microcomputer from a hobby for computer enthusiasts into a serious business tool, and then prompting IBM to introduce the IBM PC two years later.  More than 700,000 copies were sold in six years, and up to 1 million copies over its history.   Initially developed for the Apple II computer, VisiCalc was ported to numerous platforms, both 8-bit and some of the early 16-bit systems, such as the Commodore PET, Atari 8-bit, TRS-80 (TRSDOS), CP/M, MS-DOS, and even the HP Series 80. VisiCalc was later replaced in the market by Lotus 1-2-3 and eventually by Microsoft’s Excel, which is the dominant spreadsheet today.  Spreadsheets, along with word processors, and presentation tools are still today considered one of the key applications for computing. Bob Frankston, along with Dan Bricklin, are the co-inventors of VisiCalc.  This month, we have an interview with the aforementioned Bob Frankston.  Bob was kind enough to take time to talk with me about what it was like to create such a ground-breaking tool. Before doing that, I have a few new acquisitions to discuss and I’ll tell you about upcoming computer shows. New Acquisitions/What I’ve Been Up To <ul> <li> <a href="http://www.go4retro.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Retro Innovations</a> </li> <li> Lige and the YouTube show “The Commodore Room” - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@thecommodoreroom4554" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/@thecommodoreroom4554</a> </li> <li> <a href="https://console5.com/store/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Console5</a> (cap kits)  </li> </ul> Upcoming Shows <ul> <li> The 64 bits or less Retro Gaming Festival - June 3-4 - Benton County Fairgrounds in Corvallis, Oregon (sponsored by the Portland Retro Gaming Expo) - <a href="https://www.64bitsorless.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.64bitsorless.com/</a> </li> <li> Boatfest Vintage Computer Exposition - June 23-25 - Hurricane, WV - <a href="http://boatfest.info" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://boatfest.info</a> </li> <li> VCF Southwest - June 23-25 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX - <a href="http://vcfsw.org" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://vcfsw.org</a> </li> <li> Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 24-25 - “Interim” Computer Museum, Seattle, WA - <a href="https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start</a> </li> <li> Kickstart Amiga UK Expo - July 1-2 - Nottingham, UK - <a href="https://www.amigashow.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.amigashow.com/</a> </li> <li> KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18-23, 2023 (in-person) - July 29–30, 2023 (virtual) - Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri - <a href="https://www.kansasfest.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.kansasfest.org/</a> </li> <li> Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 28-30 2023 - Atlanta, GA - <a href="https://gameatl.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://gameatl.com/</a> </li> <li> ZZAP! Live 2023 - August 12 - The Holiday Inn, Kenilworth, CV8 1ED - <a href="https://fusionretroevents.co.uk/category/zzap-live/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://fusionretroevents.co.uk/category/zzap-live/</a> </li> <li> Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - Aug. 17-20 - Gdansk, Poland - <a href="https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2023-se" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2023-se</a> </li> <li> Fujiama 2023 - Aug. 30 - Sep. 3 - Lengenfeld, Germany - <a href="http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2023/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2023/</a> </li> <li> VCF Midwest - September 9-10 - Waterford Banquets and Conference Center, Elmhurst, IL - <a href="http://vcfmw.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://vcfmw.org/</a> </li> <li> Tandy Assembly - Sep. 29-Oct. 1 - Courtyard by Marriott in Springfield, Ohio - <a href="http://www.tandyassembly.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.tandyassembly.com/</a> </li> <li> AmiWest - October 14-15 - Sacramento, CA - <a href="https://retro.directory/browse/events/4/AmiWest.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://retro.directory/browse/events/4/AmiWest.net</a> </li> <li> Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - <a href="https://retrogamingexpo.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://retrogamingexpo.com/</a> </li> <li> Chicago TI International World Faire - October 14, 2023 - Evanston Public Library, Evanston, IL - <a href="http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://chicagotiug.sdf.org/faire/</a> </li> <li> World of Commodore - Dec. 2-3, 2023 - Admiral Inn Mississauga, Mississauga, ON - <a href="http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.worldofcommodore.ca/</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html</a> </li> <li> Facebook show listings - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/</a> </li> </ul> Interview <ul> <li> Bob’s Website - <a href="https://www.frankston.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.frankston.com/</a> </li> <li> New York Times article on Bricklin and Frankston joining Lotus (acquisition) - <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/10/business/business-people-former-friendly-rivals-joining-forces-at-lotus.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> https://www.nytimes.com/1985/04/10/business/business-people-former-friendly-rivals-joining-forces-at-lotus.html</a> </li> <li> Bob interview on TwitTV - <a href="https://twit.tv/shows/triangulation/episodes/4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://twit.tv/shows/triangulation/episodes/4</a> </li> </ul>

Floppy Days 126 - Bob Frankston - VisiCalc

“When you see a door, you should get curious,” says Robert M. “Bob” Frankston, a computing pioneer who co-developed VisiCalc, a spreadsheet program with Dan Bricklin way back in 1979. We are discussing the engineering crisis and what should a young programmer do to stay relevant. “I hate the word coding; it’s like calling writing, typing.”As I sat with Bob for this episode of Outliers Podcast, we discussed everything from the future of computer programming to how algorithms and their masters such as Facebook, Google and Amazon are beginning to take control of our lives.“Algorithms are the new bureaucracy.”

“When you see a door, you should get curious,” says Robert M. “Bob” Frankston, a computing pioneer who co-developed VisiCalc, a spreadsheet program with Dan Bricklin way back in 1979. We are discussing the engineering crisis and what should a young programmer do to stay relevant. “I hate the word coding; it’s like calling writing, typing.” As I sat with Bob for this episode of Outliers Podcast, we discussed everything from the future of computer programming to how algorithms and their masters such as Facebook, Google and Amazon are beginning to take control of our lives. “Algorithms are the new bureaucracy.”

Ep 37:Computing pioneer Bob Frankston says algorithms are the new bureaucracy

Bob Frankston, co-developer of Visicalc Bob Frankston was co-developer of Visicalc, with Dan Bricklin, and co-founder of Software Arts, the company that first published Visicalc. Bob was also involved with the Atari 800 port of the program. If you're like to see our talking heads, a video version of this interview is available at the Internet Archive and YouTube, at the links below. This interview took place on August 22, 2016. "So we were really lucky there. But the important thing is to appreciate the luck factor ... A lot of people, especially in the .com boom days and everything, thought they were geniuses because the first thing they did worked. Well, no. They were lucky." Video of this interview at YouTube: https://youtu.be/X2ksQXoump4 Bob and Dan wrote about the history of Visicalc for Creative Computing magazine:  http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n11/122_Visicalc79.php  Bob's web site: http://bob.ma/public/?name=ImplementingVisiCalc  InfoWorld magazine article Inverse ATASCII podcast on VisiCalc:  https://inverseatascii.info/2015/01/13/s1e8-visicalc/ Wikipedia on VisiCalc: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VisiCalc Wikipedia on Bob Frankston: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Frankston

Bob Frankston, co-developer of Visicalc Bob Frankston was co-developer of Visicalc, with Dan Bricklin, and co-founder of Software Arts, the company that first published Visicalc. Bob was also involved with the Atari 800 port of the program. If you're like to see our talking heads, a video version of this interview is available at the Internet Archive and YouTube, at the links below. This interview took place on August 22, 2016. "So we were really lucky there. But the important thing is to appreciate the luck factor ... A lot of people, especially in the .com boom days and everything, thought they were geniuses because the first thing they did worked. Well, no. They were lucky." Video of this interview at YouTube: <a href="https://youtu.be/X2ksQXoump4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/X2ksQXoump4</a> Bob and Dan wrote about the history of Visicalc for Creative Computing magazine: <a href="http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n11/122_Visicalc79.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n11/122_Visicalc79.php</a> Bob's web site: <a href="http://bob.ma/public/?name=ImplementingVisiCalc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://bob.ma/public/?name=ImplementingVisiCalc</a> <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTAEAAAAMBAJ&amp;pg=PA47&amp;lpg=PA47&amp;dq=%22Bob+Frankston%22+atari&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=e_8mRQ4qMR&amp;sig=je9ovT3JB0A_1twoC5qug4MIEUk&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjIsuKSys7OAhVB3WMKHfCqB1U4ChDoAQhGMAk#v=onepage&amp;q=%22Bob%20Frankston%22%20atari&amp;f=false" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> InfoWorld magazine article</a> Inverse ATASCII podcast on VisiCalc: <a href="https://inverseatascii.info/2015/01/13/s1e8-visicalc/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> https://inverseatascii.info/2015/01/13/s1e8-visicalc/</a> Wikipedia on VisiCalc: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VisiCalc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VisiCalc</a> Wikipedia on Bob Frankston: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Frankston" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Frankston</a>

ANTIC Interview 226 - Bob Frankston, co-developer of Visicalc