View source for Dan Fylstra

{{Short description|American software specialist}}
'''Dan Fylstra''' is an American pioneer of the [[Computer software#Industry and organizations|software products]] industry.

A graduate of the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]],{{r|fylstra197803}} in 1975 he was a founding associate editor of ''[[Byte (magazine)|Byte]]'' magazine. In 1978 he co-founded [[Personal Software]],<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925281-3,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103112155/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925281-3,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 3, 2012 |title=Sagas of Five Who Made It |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=February 15, 1982}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921076-2,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060928211008/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921076-2,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 28, 2006 |title=Software for the Masses |author1=Pierce, Kenneth M. |author1-link=Kenneth M. Pierce |author2=Moritz, Michael |author2-link=Michael Moritz |magazine=Time |date=October 5, 1981}}</ref> and that year reviewed the [[Commodore PET 2001]] and [[TRS-80 Model I]] for ''Byte'' while studying for an [[MBA]] at the [[Harvard Business School]], having ordered each almost immediately after release.<ref name="fylstra197803">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1978-03/1978_03_BYTE_03-03_Computer_Music_Systems#page/n115/mode/2up | title=User's Report: The PET 2001 | work=[[Byte (magazine)|Byte]] | date=March 1978 | accessdate=October 17, 2013 | author=Fylstra, Dan | page=114}}</ref><ref name="fylstra197804">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1978-04/1978_04_BYTE_03-04_Optimization#page/n49/mode/2up | title=The Radio Shack TRS-80: An Owner's Report | work=Byte | date=April 1978 | accessdate=October 17, 2013 | author=Fylstra, Dan | pages=49}}</ref> Personal Software became the distributor of a new program called [[VisiCalc]], the first-ever computer [[spreadsheet]]. In his marketing efforts Fylstra ran teaser ads in ''Byte'' that asked, considering electronic spreadsheets were an entirely new product category, "How did you ever do without it?"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Software/Visicalc.html |title=VisiCalc of Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston |publisher=History Computer |date=July 15, 2021 |access-date=October 22, 2021}}</ref>

The VisiCalc-Apple connection suggested the hypothesis of the "[[killer app]]"—or the "software tail that wags the hardware dog."<ref>{{cite book |author=Ceruzzi, Paul |author-link=Paul E. Ceruzzi |title=A History of Modern Computing |publisher=MIT Press |date=1998 |page=267}}</ref>  Once VisiCalc caught on, people came into computer stores asking for VisiCalc and then also the computer (the Apple II) they would need to run the program.  VisiCalc sales exceeded 700,000 units by 1983.<ref>{{cite book |author=Campbell-Kelly, Martin |author-link=Martin Campbell-Kelly |title=From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry |publisher=MIT Press |date=2003 |page=215}}</ref>

Fylstra's software products company, later called [[VisiCorp]], was the #1 personal-computer software publisher in 1981 with $20 million in revenues as well as in 1982 with $35 million (exceeding [[Microsoft]] which became the largest such firm in 1983).<ref>{{cite book |author=Campbell-Kelly, Martin |title=From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog: A History of the Software Industry |publisher=MIT Press |date=2003 |page=211}}</ref>

Fylstra is the former president of [[Sierra Sciences]], and is currently president of software vendor [[Frontline Systems Inc.|Frontline Systems]].  He joined the [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian Party]] in 1998.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060629153247/http://www.theadvocates.org/celebrities/dan-fylstra.html Dan Fylstra – Libertarian] from Advocates for Self-Government website</ref>

==References==
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==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061017083411/http://www.frontsys.com/pandora.htm Opening Pandora's Box: An Open Letter about the Politicization of the PC Industry] by Dan Fylstra.
* [http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/personal-computers/17/305/1232 Photo of Dan Fylstra with VisiOn and VisiCalc] – [[Computer History Museum]]
* {{C-SPAN|84823}}

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[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)|Year of birth missing]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Members of the Libertarian Party (United States)]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard Business School alumni]]