In its 1980 review, "BYTE" wrote "The most exciting and influential piece of software that has been written for any microcomputer application is VisiCalc". It concluded, "VisiCalc is the first program available on a microcomputer that has been responsible for sales of entire systems". "Creative Computing"s review the same year similarly concluded, "for almost anyone in business, education, or any science-related field it is ... reason enough to purchase a small computer system in the first place". "Compute!" reported, "Every Visicalc user knows of someone who purchased an Apple just to be able to use Visicalc". "Antic" wrote in 1984, "VisiCalc isn't as easy to use as prepackaged home accounting programs, because you're required to design both the layout and the formulas used by the program. Because it is not pre-packaged, however, it's infinitely more powerful and flexible than such programs. You can use VisiCalc to balance your checkbook, keep track of credit card purchases, calculate your net worth, do your taxes—the possibilities are practically limitless." "The Addison-Wesley Book of Atari Software 1984" gave the application an overall A+ rating, praising its documentation and calling it "indispensable ... a straight 'A' classic".