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: $36.97 Customer Review: I ordered what I thought was the new A+ book. The book sent to me was NOT the book this seller listed in his ad. His ad clearly listed the book as being for exams 220-701. He sent be a book for the exams which were over 10 years ago. I feel this w...   CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, Fifth Edition by Shon Harris Amazon Price: $50.39 Customer Review: I cannot say enough good things about this book. I used this and Exam Cram as my sole sources to prepare for this exam and I passed on my first try. I don't have a very technical background so this book prepared me thoroughly for the exam and also h...   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...   Quicken 2010 The Official Guide (Quicken Press) by Maria Langer Amazon Price: $16.49 Customer Review: As a long time user of Quicken I thought I did not need to the buy the 2010 Quicken Official Guide book. My previous Quicken was the 2003 version and I really liked and used it daily but decided I needed to upgrade to the 2010 version. While I know...   CompTIA Network+ All-in-One Exam Guide, Fourth Edition by Michael Meyers Amazon Price: $37.79 Customer Review: Just finished up taking (and passing) the Network+ exam using this book as the sole reference material. I will say that the book was written pretty well and was easy to comprehend. I do know that if you are looking for a one stop reference guide to...   Newsfeed display by CaRP

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