It’s finally here – the best day of the fall holiday season – Spreadsheet Day! You don’t need to buy any gifts, or cook a big meal, or find a trendy costume. Just open up your favourite spreadsheet, sit back, and enjoy the day!
Spreadsheet History
We celebrate Spreadsheet Day on October 17th, as a tribute to the original personal computer spreadsheet – VisiCalc. You’ll find the details on how this celebration got started, on my Spreadsheet Day blog’s About page.
And if you love spreadsheet history, you can read more about VisiCalc on Dan Bricklin’s site, where he and co-creator Bob Frankston share their memories, materials, and photos.
There’s even a VisiCalc executable that you can download, with the IBM PC version, from 1981. That would be a great activity for Spreadsheet Day!
User: Gortu, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Early Excel for Windows
And speaking of spreadsheet history, last week I saw this tweet, with Excel 2.0 for Windows, featured on the cover of the December 22, 1987 PC Magazine.
Was the Data Form really bright yellow back then?
#Retrocomputing #Spreadsheets
The famous “PC Magazine” cover (1987) about Microsoft Excel (2.0 for Windows)
[From https://t.co/mI3OM6Xws6] pic.twitter.com/VB9y05hiar— Marty Mallavibarrena (@Mallavibarrena) October 8, 2022
Early Excel for Macintosh
I first used Excel on a Mac, and still have a copy of Excel 3.0, that runs on our old Mac PowerBook. In the photo below, you can see the old PowerBook, with its black and white display showing some of the files on the machine.
The oldest Excel file that’s on there is from April 20, 1987, so I must have been using Excel 1.0 when working on those.
Because everything was in black and white, I couldn’t make rainbow-coloured charts, like the one on the old PC magazine cover.
We could still make ugly charts though, even without garish colours.
For example, here’s a 3-D line chart that I make in Excel 3.0. Beautiful! 
How Will You Celebrate Spreadsheet Day
What will you do to celebrate this year’s Spreadsheet Day?
- Build more spreadsheets?
- Dig out an old computer with ancient spreadsheet software on it?
- Wear clothes that have a grid pattern?
- Drink from a spreadsheet-themed mug, like the ones we saw recently?
- Something else?
Inspiration From Last Year
If you’re looking for more Spreadsheet Day celebration ideas, here are some contributions from last year.
First, here’s something you don’t see at the office every day. Last year, in the Microsoft Tech Community Excel Blog, Robert Gascon shared his Excel Chess Games Viewer.
Meanwhile, at Tiller Money (Twitter), they had a Spreadsheet Day cake!
It looks delicious, and that sugar/chocolate combination might help you tackle a few finicky formulas.
And later, Brian Bilston (Twitter) shared his poem, Love Excels, in a spreadsheet!
Also, his latest book was just released – Days Like These: 366 Poems. Do you think his October 17th entry is about spreadsheets?
Tag Your Tweets
Have fun with spreadsheets today, and if you post something to celebrate Spreadsheet Day on Twitter today, you can use this hashtag:
- #spreadsheetday
That way, I can find your contribution, when I’m doing the Spreadsheet Day roundup later.
Thanks! And Happy Spreadsheet Day 2022!
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Happy Spreadsheet Day 2022
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