alas... another of the early pc fathers passes.... yes I remember him.....

thanks for passing the word Wirt.

Thanks Ed Sharpe archivist for SMECC

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 http://www.smecc.org
to see other engineering fields, communications and computation stuff we
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Wirt Atmar" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2003 5:31 AM
Subject: [HP3000-L] OT: A death in the family


> Although you may never have heard of George Morrow, at one time he was as
> important to the personal computer industry as Bill Gates, if not more so,
at
> a time when the entire personal computer industry totalled only a few
hundred
> people. The S-100 bus that's mentioned in the article was the design
> originally pioneered by MITS in their Altair microcomputer in 1975 -- and
> almost immediately "adopted" by IMSAI. We, like a lot of other people,
built
> products that plugged into the S-100 bus, which virtually instantly became
a
> de facto standard, even though no one ever wrote the specifications (see:
> http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/davies/mvaicyb.html ).
>
> George Morrow helped write those specifications, which eventually became
an
> IEEE standard. But all of that effort came to nothing. At just about the
same
> time the IEEE specifications came into force, in the early 1980's, the IBM
> personal computer came along and completely stole the market away from the
> S-100-based systems. Nonetheless, for a few years it was a grand time, an
> almost dream-like time when anything was possible.
>
> George died on Wednesday. The NY Times reports the following:
>
> =======================================
>
> George Morrow, a Personal Computer Visionary, Dies at 69
> By JOHN MARKOFF
>
> George Morrow, a mathematician and programmer who was a member of a group
of
> unorthodox hobbyists who were instrumental in creating the personal
computer
> industry, died at his home in San Mateo, Calif., on Wednesday.
>
> He was 69 and had suffered from aplastic anemia for the last year, his
wife
> said.
>
> Mr. Morrow was born in Detroit. He dropped out of high school, but at the
age
> of 28 decided to return to school and received a bachelor's degree in
physics
> from Stanford University and a master's degree in mathematics from the
> University of Oklahoma. He entered a Ph.D. program in mathematics at the
> University of California at Berkeley, but was sidetracked by his passion
for
> computers.
>
> He started working as a programmer in the computer laboratory at Berkeley
in
> the early 1970's and began attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer
Club,
> an informal group of engineers, programmers, experimenters and
entrepreneurs
> that ultimately spun off dozens of companies that formed the core of the
> personal computer industry in the 1970's.
>
> Initially, most personal computers were sold as kits. Mr. Morrow formed
> Microstuf, a company in Berkeley, Calif., to sell expansion cards and
other
> computer add-on products to the first generation of personal computer
> enthusiasts. He would later change the name of the company, first to
Thinker
> Toys and later to Morrow Designs.
>
> A self-taught computer designer, Mr. Morrow was involved in the efforts to
> create and standardize the S100 bus, a hardware design that made it
possible
> for early PC makers to share expansion cards.
>
> Morrow Designs thrived when the personal computer became an important tool
> for small businesses. The first machines ran the Digital Research CP/M
> operating system. Later, Mr. Morrow introduced a portable computer
intended
> to compete head-to-head with the popular Osborne 1 computer. The Morrow
> machine matched the Osborne's $1,795 price but offered more bundled
software.
>
> Mr. Morrow was well known for his enthusiasm and his sense of humor within
> the computer industry. Lee Felsenstein, who was one of the original
members
> of the Homebrew club and the designer of the Osborne 1, recalled that Mr.
> Morrow was usually dressed in jeans and tennis shoes.
>
> When I.B.M. began to dominate the PC market, Mr. Morrow was forced to
shift
> to the industry standard. In 1985, his company introduced a popular
portable
> design known as the Pivot and sold the design to Zenith Data Systems. But
> with the industry becoming increasingly dominated by large electronics
> companies, Morrow Designs filed for bankruptcy in 1986.
>
> In recent years, Mr. Morrow spent his time maintaining a collection of
70,000
> 78-r.p.m. recordings, with much of the collection being dance and jazz
music
> of the 1920's and 1930's. He had developed an advanced electronic system
for
> digitizing and remastering the recordings and he was distributing them on
> compact disc on his own label, the Old Masters.
>
> He is survived by his wife, Michiko Jean, of San Mateo; two sons, John, of
> San Mateo, and William, of New York; and a daughter, Kelly, of San Jose,
> Calif.
>
> ========================================
>
> Wirt Atmar
>
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