How many of you have used an electronic spreadsheet, like Microsoft Excel? Very good. Now, how many of you have run a business with a spreadsheet by hand, like my dad did for his small printing business in Philadelphia? A lot less.
Berapa banyak dari Anda yang menggunakan lembar kerja elektronik, seperti Microsoft Excel? Baik... Sekarang, berapa banyak dari Anda yang menjalankan bisnis dengan lembar kerja manual, seperti yang ayah saya lakukan pada bisnis percetakannya di Philadelphia? Jauh lebih sedikit.
Well, that's the way it was done for hundreds of years. In early 1978, I started working on an idea that eventually became VisiCalc. And the next year it shipped running on something new called an Apple II personal computer. You could tell that things had really changed when, six years later, the Wall Street Journal ran an editorial that assumed you knew what VisiCalc was and maybe even were using it.
Cara itu dilakukan selama ratusan tahun. Pada awal tahun 1978, saya mulai membuat ide yang akhirnya menjadi VisiCalc. Pada tahun berikutnya alat itu digunakan pada teknologi baru bernama Apple II. Anda bisa katakan jika banyak hal telah berubah enam tahun kemudian, Wall Street Journal memuat editorial yang mengasumsikan Anda tahu dan bahkan menggunakan VisiCalc.
Steve Jobs back in 1990 said that "spreadsheets propelled the industry forward." "VisiCalc propelled the success of Apple more than any other single event." On a more personal note, Steve said, "If VisiCalc had been written for some other computer, you'd be interviewing somebody else right now."
Steve Jobs pada tahun 1990 mengatakan bahwa "spreadsheet mendorong industri masa depan." "VisiCalc mendorong kesuksesan Apple lebih dari peristiwa tunggal lainnya. " Pada catatan yang lebih pribadi, Steve mengatakan, "Jika VisiCalc dipakai untuk beberapa komputer lainnya, Anda kini akan diwawancara oleh orang lain."
So, VisiCalc was instrumental in getting personal computers on business desks. How did it come about? What was it? What did I go through to make it be what it was? Well, I first learned to program back in 1966, when I was 15 -- just a couple months after this photo was taken. Few high schoolers had access to computers in those days. But through luck and an awful lot of perseverance, I was able to get computer time around the city.
Jadi, VisiCalc adalah alat penting dalam bisnis. Bagaimana itu terjadi? Apa itu? Apa yang sudah saya lalui untuk membuatnya? Pertama kali saya belajar pemrograman pada tahun 1966, berusia 15 tahun-- beberapa bulan setelah foto ini diambil. Beberapa anak SMA telah memiliki akses komputer saat itu. Melalui keberuntungan dan ketekunan, saya bisa memakai komputer di kota.
After sleeping in the mud at Woodstock, I went off to MIT to go to college, where to make money, I worked on the Multics Project. Multics was a trailblazing interactive time-sharing system. Have you heard of the Linux and Unix operating systems? They came from Multics. I worked on the Multics versions of what are known as interpreted computer languages, that are used by people in noncomputer fields to do their calculations while seated at a computer terminal.
Setelah tidur di lumpur di Woodstock, saya berkuliah di MIT, untuk mendapatkan uang, saya bekerja di Multics Project. Multics adalah sistem berbagi waktu interaktif yang inovatif. Pernahkah Anda mendengar sistem operasi Linux dan Unix? Itu produk Multics. Saya membuat versi Multics yang dikenal sebagai penerjemah bahasa komputer, digunakan oleh orang di bidang non komputer untuk melakukan perhitungan sambil duduk di terminal komputer.
After I graduated from MIT, I went to work for Digital Equipment Corporation. At DEC, I worked on software for the new area of computerized typesetting. I helped newspapers replace their reporters' typewriters with computer terminals. I'd write software and then I'd go out in the field to places like the Kansas City Star, where I would train users and get feedback. This was real-world experience that is quite different than what I saw in the lab at MIT.
Setelah saya lulus dari MIT, saya bekerja di Digital Equipment Corporation. Ketika di DEC, saya bekerja dengan perangkat lunak untuk area baru penyusunan huruf komputer. Saya membantu perusahaan jurnalistik menggantikan mesin ketik mereka dengan terminal komputer. Saya membuat perangkat lunak dan pergi ke lapangan, seperti Kansas City Star, untuk melatih pengguna dan mendapatkan masukan. Ini adalah pengalaman nyata, cukup berbeda dibandingkan apa yang saya lihat di lab MIT.
After that, I was project leader of the software for DEC's first word processor, again a new field. Like with typesetting, the important thing was crafting a user interface that was both natural and efficient for noncomputer people to use. After I was at DEC, I went to work for a small company that made microprocessor-based electronic cash registers for the fast-food industry. But I had always wanted to start a company with my friend Bob Frankston that I met on the Multics project at MIT.
Setelah itu, saya menjadi pimpinan proyek pada bidang baru lagi, yaitu perangkat lunak pengolah kata DEC. Seperti penyusunan huruf, dalam membuat antarmuka pengguna yang alami dan efisien untuk pengguna non komputer. Setelah DEC, saya bekerja di sebuah perusahaan kecil yang membuat mesin kas elektronik untuk industri makanan cepat saji. Saya selalu ingin memulai perusahaan dengan teman saya, Bob Frankston, yang dulu juga ada di proyek Multics MIT.
So I decided to go back to school to learn as much as I could about business. And in the fall of 1977, I entered the MBA program at Harvard Business School. I was one of the few percentage of students who had a background in computer programming. There's a picture of me from the yearbook sitting in the front row.
Jadi saya memutuskan berkuliah lagi untuk mempelajari bidang bisnis. Pada musim gugur tahun 1977, saya masuk program MBA di Harvard Business School. Saya adalah satu dari sedikit mahasiswa yang memiliki latar belakang dalam pemrograman komputer. Itu foto buku tahunan, saya duduk di barisan depan.
(Laughter)
(Tawa)
Now, at Harvard, we learned by the case method. We'd do about three cases a day. Cases consist of up to a few dozen pages describing particular business situations. They often have exhibits, and exhibits often have words and numbers laid out in ways that make sense for the particular situation. They're usually all somewhat different. Here's my homework. Again, numbers, words, laid out in ways that made sense. Lots of calculations -- we got really close to our calculators. In fact, here's my calculator. For Halloween, I went dressed up as a calculator.
Di Harvard, kami belajar dengan metode studi kasus. Kami mengerjakan sekitar 3 kasus sehari. Setiap kasus berisi lusinan halaman yang menggambarkan situasi bisnis. Mereka sering mengadakan pameran, dan sering berkaitan dengan kata dan angka ditata dengan secara masuk akal untuk situasi tertentu. Biasanya semuanya agak berbeda. Inilah tugas saya. Angka dan kata ditata dengan cara yang masuk akal. Banyak sekali perhitungan-- Kami harus dekat dengan kalkulator. Inilah kalkulator saya. Saat Halloween, saya berpakaian seperti kalkulator.
(Laughter)
(Tawa)
At the beginning of each class, the professor would call on somebody to present the case. What they would do is they would explain what was going on and then dictate information that the professor would transcribe onto the many motorized blackboards in the front of the class, and then we'd have a discussion. One of the really frustrating things is when you've done all your homework, you come in the next day only to find out that you made an error and all of the other numbers you did were wrong. And you couldn't participate as well. And we were marked by class participation.
Setiap awal kelas, profesor akan memanggil seseorang untuk menyajikan kasus. Mereka diminta menjelaskan kejadiannya dan kemudian mendikte informasi yang akan dituliskan oleh profesor ke banyak papan tulis di depan kelas, lalu kami mendiskusikannya. Hal yang membuat frustasi adalah setelah menyelesaikan tugas, keesokan hari Anda hadir untuk menemukan sebuah kesalahan dan ternyata semuanya salah. Jadi saya tidak bisa ikut diskusi. Kami dinilai berdasarkan keaktifan di kelas.
So, sitting there with 87 other people in the class, I got to daydream a lot. Most programmers in those days worked on mainframes, building things like inventory systems, payroll systems and bill-paying systems. But I had worked on interactive word processing and on-demand personal computation. Instead of thinking about paper printouts and punch cards, I imagined a magic blackboard that if you erased one number and wrote a new thing in, all of the other numbers would automatically change, like word processing with numbers. I imagined that my calculator had mouse hardware on the bottom of it and a head-up display, like in a fighter plane. And I could type some numbers in, and circle it, and press the sum button. And right in the middle of a negotiation I'd be able to get the answer. Now I just had to take my fantasy and turn it into reality.
Saya banyak melamun di kelas walau ada 87 orang lainnya. Saat itu, kebanyakan pemrogram bekerja pada kerangka utama, membangun sistem persediaan, penggajian, dan pembayaran tagihan. Tetapi, saya telah mengerjakan pengolah kata interaktif dan komputasi pribadi permintaan. Daripada memikirkan cetakan kertas dan kartu berlubang, saya membayangkan papan tulis ajaib jika Anda menghapus satu angka dan menulis hal baru, angka lainnya otomatis terubah, seperti pengolah kata dengan angka. Saya membayangkan kalkulator saya memiliki mouse dan ada layar, seperti di pesawat tempur. Saya dapat mengetik angka, melingkarinya, dan menekan tombol jumlah. Dan seketika mendapat jawabannya. Saya telah mengubah khayalan itu menjadi nyata.
My father taught me about prototyping. He showed me mock-ups that he'd make to figure out the placement on the page for the things for brochures that he was printing. And he'd use it to get feedback from customers and OKs before he sent the job off to the presses. The act of making a simple, working version of what you're trying to build forces you to uncover key problems. And it lets you find solutions to those problems much less expensively.
Ayah mengajari saya cara membuat prototipe. Dia menunjukkan replika yang harus ditentukan penempatannya pada brosur yang dia cetak. Ia menggunakannya untuk mendapatkan umpan balik dari pelanggan dan persetujuan sebelum mengirimnya ke media. Tindakan versi sederhana dan berhasil melakukan percobaan mendorong Anda untuk mengungkap masalah utama dan menemukan solusi yang lebih efektif.
So I decided to build a prototype. I went to a video terminal connected to Harvard's time-sharing system and got to work. One of the first problems that I ran into was: How do you represent values in formulas? Let me show you what I mean. I thought that you would point somewhere, type in some words, then type in some somewhere else, put in some numbers and some more numbers, point where you want the answer. And then point to the first, press minus, point to the second, and get the result. The problem was: What should I put in the formula? It had to be something the computer knew what to put in. And if you looked at the formula, you needed to know where on the screen it referred to. The first thing I thought was the programmer way of doing it. The first time you pointed to somewhere, the computer would ask you to type in a unique name. It became pretty clear pretty fast that that was going to be too tedious. The computer had to automatically make up the name and put it inside. So I thought, why not make it be the order in which you create them? I tried that. Value 1, value 2. Pretty quickly I saw that if you had more than a few values you'd never remember on the screen where things were.
Jadi saya membuat prototipe. Saya menuju terminal video yang terhubung ke sistem pembagian waktu Harvard dan mulai mengerjakannya. Masalah pertama yang saya temui adalah: Bagaimana menyajikan nilai dalam rumus? Saya akan menjelaskannya. Misalnya Anda menunjuk titik tertentu, mengetik kata-kata di tempat lainnya, memasukkan angka dan angka lagi, dan menempatkan jawaban Anda. Kembali ke pertama, tekan minus, arahkan pada yang kedua, dan jawabannya keluar. Masalahnya : Rumus apa yg harus digunakan? Rumus yang dapat dimengerti oleh komputer. Jika Anda melihat rumusnya, Anda tahu rumus tersebut merujuk ke mana. Pertama, saya memikirkannya secara programmer. Pertama kali menunjuk ke suatu tempat, komputer akan meminta sebuah nama unik. Semakin jelas kalau itu rumit. Komputer secara otomatis menamakan dan memasukannya ke dalam. Jadi saya berpikir, kenapa tidak membuatnya sesuai urutan? Saya mencobanya, nilai 1, nilai 2. Saya melihat jika Anda memiliki banyak nilai Anda tidak akan ingat di mana nilai itu.
Then I said, why not instead of allowing you to put values anywhere, I'll restrict you to a grid? Then when you pointed to a cell, the computer could put the row and column in as a name. And, if I did it like a map and put ABC across the top and numbers along the side, if you saw B7 in a formula, you'd know exactly where it was on the screen. And if you had to type the formula in yourself, you'd know what to do. Restricting you to a grid helped solve my problem. It also opened up new capabilities, like the ability to have ranges of cells. But it wasn't too restrictive -- you could still put any value, any formula, in any cell. And that's the way we do it to this day, almost 40 years later.
Kemudian saya berkata, mengapa saya tidak membiarkan Anda menaruhnya di mana pun, dan saya hanya memberi pembatasnya? Kemudian saat Anda menuju sebuah sel, komputer bisa memasukkan baris dan kolom pada sebuah nama. Jika saya membuatnya seperti peta dan meletakkan ABC di atas dan angka di sisi, jika Anda melihat B7 dalam rumus, Anda akan tahu persis posisinya. Jika Anda mengetik sendiri rumusnya, Anda tahu apa gunanya. Membatasi Anda dengan kotak dapat menyelesaikan masalah saya. Ini juga membuka kemampuan baru, seperti mempunyai rentang sel. Tetapi itu tidak membatasi-- Anda masih bisa memasukkan nilai dan rumus apa pun, di sel mana pun. Cara itu masih dipakai sampai saat ini, sudah hampir 40 tahun.
My friend Bob and I decided that we were going to build this product together. I did more work figuring out exactly how the program was supposed to behave. I wrote a reference card to act as documentation. It also helped me ensure that the user interface I was defining could be explained concisely and clearly to regular people. Bob worked in the attic of the apartment he rented in Arlington, Massachusetts. This is the inside of the attic. Bob bought time on the MIT Multics System to write computer code on a terminal like this. And then he would download test versions to a borrowed Apple II over a phone line using an acoustic coupler, and then we would test.
Bob dan saya sepakat untuk membuat produk ini bersama. Saya tahu gambaran cara program ini seharusnya berjalan. Saya tulis kartu referensi sebagai dokumentasi. Itu membantu saya memastikan tampilannya dapat dijelaskan secara mudah ke orang awam. Bob bekerja di loteng apartemen sewaan, di Arlington, Massachusetts. Ini adalah bagian dalam loteng. Bob menghabiskan waktu di MIT MulticSystem untuk menulis kode komputer di terminal seperti ini. Lalu dia akan unduh versi uji ke Apple II yang dipinjam melalui saluran telepon menggunakan pengait akustik, lalu kami mengujinya.
For one of these tests I prepared for this case about the Pepsi Challenge. Print wasn't working yet, so I had to copy everything down. Save wasn't working, so every time it crashed, I had to type in all of the formulas again, over and over again. The next day in class, I raised my hand; I got called on, and I presented the case. I did five-year projections. I did all sorts of different scenarios. I aced the case. VisiCalc was already useful.
Untuk salah satu tes ini, kami memakai kasus Pepsi Challenge. <i>Print</i> belum berfungsi, jadi saya menyalin semuanya. <i>Save</i> tidak berfungsi, jadi setiap ada kemacetan, saya harus mengetik rumusnya berulang kali. Keesokannya di kelas, saya angkat tangan, maju, dan presentasi. Saya melakukan proyeksi lima tahun dan mencoba semua skenario berbeda. Saya atasi kasusnya. VisiCalc sudah berfungsi.
The professor said, "How did you do it?" Well, I didn't want to tell him about our secret program.
Profesor bertanya, "Bagaimana Anda melakukannya?" Saya tidak ingin memberitahukan program rahasia kami.
(Laughter)
(Tawa)
So I said, "I took this and added this and multiplied by this and subtracted that."
Jadi saya jawab, "Saya ambil ini, tambahkan ini, kalikan, dan kurangi itu." Dia bertanya, "Mengapa tidak memakai rasio?"
He said, "Well, why didn't you use a ratio?"
I said, "Hah! A ratio -- that wouldn't have been as exact!" What I didn't say was, "Divide isn't working yet."
Saya katakan, "Hah! Rasio tak akan berhasil!" Saya tidak mengatakan, "Rumus pembagian belum berfungsi!"
(Laughter)
(Tawa)
Eventually, though, we did finish enough of VisiCalc to be able to show it to the public. My dad printed up a sample reference card that we could use as marketing material.
Akhirnya, kami menyelesaikan VisiCalc dan dapat ditunjukkan ke publik. Ayah mencetak contoh kartu referensi yang bisa kami pakai untuk pemasaran.
In June of 1979, our publisher announced VisiCalc to the world, in a small booth at the giant National Computer Conference in New York City. The New York Times had a humorous article about the conference. "The machines perform what seem religious rites ... Even as the believers gather, the painters in the Coliseum sign room are adding to the pantheon, carefully lettering 'VISICALC' in giant black on yellow. All hail VISICALC!" (Gasp) New York Times: "All hail VISICALC."
Pada Juni 1979, penerbit kami mengumumkan VisiCalc kepada dunia, di sebuah bilik kecil National Computer Conference raksasa di Kota New York. The New York Times menulis artikel lucu tentang konferensi itu. "Mesin-mesin melakukan apa yang tampaknya gaib..." Saat orang percaya berkumpul, pelukis di ruang Coliseum menambahkan ke pantheon, dengan menuliskan 'VISICALC' berwarna hitam besar di atas kuning. Semua puja VISICALC!" New York Times: "Semuanya Puja VISICALC".
(Laughter)
(Tawa)
That was the last mention of the electronic spreadsheet in the popular business press for about two years. Most people didn't get it yet. But some did.
Itulah hal terakhir yang disebut tentang lembar kerja elektronik dalam pers bisnis populer selama dua tahun. Kebanyakan orang belum mengerti. Tetapi, beberapa mengerti.
In October of 1979, we shipped VisiCalc. It came in packaging that looked like this. And it looked like this running on the Apple II. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Pada Oktober 1979, kami mulai mengirim VisiCalc dalam kemasan seperi itu. Dapat dijalankan di Apple II. Sisanya adalah sejarah.
Now, there's an awful lot more to this story, but that'll have to wait for another day. One thing, though, Harvard remembers. Here's that classroom. They put up a plaque to commemorate what happened there.
Kini, ada banyak hal lain dari cerita ini, tapi harus menunggu waktu lain. Ada satu hal yang diingat Harvard. Ini kelasnya. Mereka memasang plakat untuk memperingati apa yang terjadi di sana.
(Applause)
(Tepuk tangan) Tapi...
But it also serves as a reminder that you, too, should take your unique backgrounds, skills and needs and build prototypes to discover and work out the key problems, and through that, change the world.
ini juga sebagai pengingat bahwa Anda juga harus menggunakan latar belakang unik, kemampuan, dan kebutuhan Anda dan membangun prototipe untuk menemukan dan memecahkan masalah utama, dan melalui itu, mengubah dunia.
Thank you.
Terima kasih.
(Applause)
(Tepuk Tangan)