Adam Osborne, inventor of the portable PC, died a week ago in India, but the
news just now has reached the US. The following is what the NY Times writes
today:

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Adam Osborne, Pioneer of the Portable PC, Dies at 64

By JOHN MARKOFF

Adam Osborne, a British technical writer who became one of Silicon Valley's
legends by introducing the first portable personal computer in 1981, died on
March 18 in Kodiakanal, India. He was 64 and had a series of strokes in the
last decade, said his former wife Cynthia Geddes.

The Osborne 1 computer, which was introduced at the West Coast Computer Faire
in June 1981, was a 24-pound luggable machine that came with a large library
of essential software, including a word processor, spreadsheet, database and
programming languages. At the time, it was a startling innovation in an
industry that was dominated by a do-it-yourself hobbyist culture.

Dr. Osborne distinguished the Osborne Computer by noting that it was
"adequate," a break with the superlative-filled industry promotion of the era.

"I liken myself to Henry Ford and the auto industry," he said in a 1982
interview. "I give you 90 percent of what most people need."

The machine created a sensation in the rapidly growing PC marketplace, even
though it came with a cramped five-inch display screen. The common belief at
the time was that customers were paying for the software, which included
popular programs like WordStar, the SuperCalc spreadsheet and Bill Gates's
version of the Basic programming language and were getting the computer free.

The Osborne Computer Corporation in Hayward, Calif., became synonymous with
the Silicon Valley tradition of hypergrowth defined by companies like Apple
Computer and Atari. Orders for the Osborne 1 totaled 8,000 in 1981 and jumped
to 110,000 in 1982. At one point, the company said that it had a 25-month
backlog of orders.

In 1982, Dr. Osborne, who was an enthusiastic pitchman with a stylish British
accent, prematurely announced the second-generation Osborne, called the
Executive.

When the company encountered manufacturing difficulties, it found itself
drowning in inventory as customers deferred purchases of the original machine
in expectation of the new one.

The computer maker became an iconic symbol of Silicon Valley's boom-and-bust
economy on Sept. 13, 1983, when it declared bankruptcy and a local newspaper
photographer captured Dr. Osborne covering his face with his briefcase as he
headed for his car in the company parking lot.

Although the industry focused on the company's management and logistical
problems, at the time Osborne was feeling increasing competition from I.B.M.
as well as other makers of portable computers including Kaypro, Corona and
Compaq. Several industry experts have said the company's collapse had as much
to do with its failure to jump quickly to a 16-bit microprocessor and I.B.M.
compatibility.

Dr. Osborne was born in Thailand in 1939 to British parents. He grew up in
southern India, where his father, the writer Arthur Osborne, a devotee of Sri
Ramana Maharshi, helped popularize ideas from Eastern religion in the West.
Dr. Osborne moved to England as a teenager and received a degree in chemical
engineering from Birmingham University.

He later received a doctorate in chemical engineering at the University of
Delaware and took a job with Shell Oil in California. In the mid-1970's he
became a computer hobbyist and began self-publishing on computing.

In 1979, he sold his small publishing company to McGraw-Hill and used the
money along with venture capital to found Osborne Computer in 1980.

After Osborne Computer collapsed, he founded Paperback Software
International, with the idea of selling inexpensive software bound into
books. The company was an initial success, but it ultimately lost a legal
battle with Lotus Development in 1987 over a spreadsheet program that
infringed the operating commands of Lotus 1-2-3.

He returned to India in 1992 when his health began to fail to live with his
sister, Katya.

In addition to his sister and Ms. Geddes, his first wife, he is survived by
three children, Alexandra and Paul, both of Oakland, Calif., and Marc of
Washington. He was divorced from his second wife, Barbara Zelnick.

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I only met Adam Osborne one time, in March of 1976, at the MITS' World's
First Computer Fair, in Albuquerque. He was one of the judges in the
competition for the most innovative use of the then brand-new Altairs, a kind
of science-fair-like contest.

We won First Prize in that competition for our making the Altair talk,
although when Osborne finally got around to us, he said that he had heard it
making noise for quite some time in the room, but he didn't realize that
"talking" was what it was doing until he got right in front of it :-).

We should all just pick one of our favorite years and live in it forever.

Wirt Atmar

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