When should we celebrate Spreadsheet Day? A few dates have been nominated, so it’s time to pick a day, and Jimmy Peña suggested a poll. The nominated dates are:
Jan 26 – Ed, based on Lotus 1-2-3 release date
Feb 29 – Mike Alexander, “I vote to have Spreadsheet Day on Leap Year. In part, because it pays homage to the old Lotus leap year bug. But mainly because it only comes once every 4 years, and I’m fairly lazy.”
Apr 1 – Jon Peltier, “I want to overrule Debra and vote for April 1. The most fitting day of the year.”
Aug 1 – Debra, because it represents A1, the first cell on a worksheet, and avoids the April Fools stigma
Sep 5 – Chandoo, “It spells XL on phones when you type 95”
Oct 17 – Ken Puls, “The first copy of VisiCalc for the Apple ][ (Version 1.37) went out the door on October 17, 1979.” (http://www.benlo.com/visicalc/visicalc4.html)
What Date Will You Vote For?
Please vote for the Spreadsheet Day that you think is best, or suggest another date.
- [Update] The Spreadsheet Day Poll has closed. Thanks for voting!
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“The first copy of VisiCalc for the Apple ][ (Version 1.37) went out the door on October 17, 1979.” (http://www.benlo.com/visicalc/visicalc4.html)
Isn’t THAT the real first day? (How the heck did Lotus get credit?)
I vote for October 17, even if it was released for an Apple. (Actually, it’s kind of ironic that the program that changed the world went out on an Apple, isn’t it?)
Thank Ken, I forgot to include that one. In the comments on the original post, on the Contextures blog, I added a quote from Dan Bricklin, mentioning Oct 19th as the ship date. Looks like Oct. 17th is a better date.
I’ve added Oct. 17th to the poll.
I’m with you Debra, August 1st because of the A1 thing. Gives us some time to prepare.
Thanks JP!
What about 10th Feb – which is the 40th day of the year. =ROMAN(40)
surely Chandoo meant 9th of May?