Adam Osborne: Computer Pioneer
Series: Stories of Technology
From: William S. Hammack
Length: 00:02:43
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- Adam Osborne: Computer Pioneer
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- William S. Hammack
Adam Osborne profoundly changed the way we use computers when he introduced the first portable computer. There was nothing like it before him, but then there was nothing before like Adam Osborne. After writing about the computer industry for several years, he noticed the same gripe from his readers. He put it this way: "How are you supposed to use this machine that comes in five boxes and is wired together like spaghetti?" Seeing an opportunity, he created the Osborne. The size of a sewing machine, it had a five inch screen, and a plastic case with an unpleasant pebbly texture. He pioneered bundling software with the computer.He was also the first entrepreneur to go through the boom and bust of the dot-com industry, so familiar to us today. So fast did his sales increase that the term "hypergrowth" was coined to describe it. Within a year and half from opening, his business had revenues of over 100 million dollars, making his firm the fastest growing company in history. But as fast as he rose, Osborne fell.
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Piece Description
Adam Osborne profoundly changed the way we use computers when he introduced the first portable computer. There was nothing like it before him, but then there was nothing before like Adam Osborne. After writing about the computer industry for several years, he noticed the same gripe from his readers. He put it this way: "How are you supposed to use this machine that comes in five boxes and is wired together like spaghetti?" Seeing an opportunity, he created the Osborne. The size of a sewing machine, it had a five inch screen, and a plastic case with an unpleasant pebbly texture. He pioneered bundling software with the computer.He was also the first entrepreneur to go through the boom and bust of the dot-com industry, so familiar to us today. So fast did his sales increase that the term "hypergrowth" was coined to describe it. Within a year and half from opening, his business had revenues of over 100 million dollars, making his firm the fastest growing company in history. But as fast as he rose, Osborne fell.
Broadcast History
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Transcript
This month the high tech world lost one of its most colorful figures. Adam Osborne profoundly changed the way we use computers when he introduced the first portable computer. There was nothing like it before him, but then there was nothing before like Adam Osborne.
Born in Thailand to British parents, he grew up in southern India, then trained as an engineer in England, but failed at a career in engineering. I called him "colorful", but many thought him "loud" and "arrogant." Osborne himself reported that on his first job he "quickly became the guy everyone wanted to watch slip on a banana skin." So, he left corporate life to start his own publishing firm specializing in computers.
After writing about the industry for several years, he noticed the same gripe from his readers. He put it this way: "How are you supposed to use this machine that comes in five boxes and is wired togethe...
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