Ask HN: What was it like for programmers when spreadsheets became ubiquitous?
yodaiken Saturday, March 14, 2026There have been a lot of attempts to move more of programming to end-users instead of professional developer over the years. Spreadsheets are interesting because they were a massively successful version of this and because of course we are living through the latest wave (AI/vibe coding).
For those of you around when spreadsheets were taking off, what was it like? Was there fear that they would eradicate the need for professionally built software? Were there people who brushed them off as just toys?
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