Adam Osborne

A technical writer and publisher, Osborne branched into hardware: in 1981, his company Osborne Computer Corp. introduced the first portable personal computer, the Osborne 1. Hardly a laptop, the machine weighed more than 20 pounds. But besides being portable (later dubbed "luggable"), Osborne also pioneered the concept of "bundling" popular software with the machine, including a word processor, spreadsheet and data base. "I liken myself to Henry Ford and the auto industry," he said at the time. "I give you 90 percent of what most people need." He sold 8,000 machines in 1981 -- and 110,000 in 1982; the term "hypergrowth" was coined to describe the company's rise. But the company crashed and burned in spectacular Silicon Valley fashion when Osborne prematurely announced he would soon introduce an even better model, and sales of the Osborne 1 came to a screeching halt. "His enthusiasm for the next big thing meant Adam couldn't keep a secret," said company co-founder Lee Felsenstein. The follow-on Osborne Executive came out far too late to save the company. For the last decade, Osborne suffered from an organic brain dysfunction that caused a series of strokes. He moved to India to live with his sister. He died March 18 in Kodaikanal, India. He was 64. From This is True for 23 March 2003 Suggestions for further reading: CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Seventh Edition (Exams 220-70... by Michael Meyers Amazon Price: $37.79 Customer Review: Very thorough. It's a pretty large book and there's a lot of information to cover, but it's a great learning tool. I highly recommend this book if you want your A+ certification.   CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, Fifth Edition by Shon Harris Amazon Price: $50.39 Customer Review: Excellent book containing a wealth of information - breath and depth - on matters relating to Information Security. Its also easy to read!   Quicken 2010 The Official Guide (Quicken Press) by Maria Langer Amazon Price: $16.49 Customer Review: Maria, I did not buy your book and opted instead for your competition in that you did not offer a look inside. In an information-centric world, when this option is so easy and frankly expected, it looks like you believe the product will not stand up...   CompTIA Network+ All-in-One Exam Guide, Fourth Edition by Michael Meyers Amazon Price: $37.79 Customer Review: I recently purchased this book as a reveiw before I take my Exam in the coming months. I have been studying about routers, switches, routing protocols and switching protocols for about a year now. This book covers much of what I already learned from ...   QuickBooks 2010 The Official Guide (Quicken Press) by Leslie Capachietti Amazon Price: $19.79 Customer Review: So, I bought this book at the same time I bought QB 2010 for Mac. I wasn't really thinking that it would be for the PC version of QB 2010 when I bought it. That said, the books step by step and section by section guide to setting up and using QB 2010...   Newsfeed display by CaRP

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