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A computer wizard from an early age, Goldman created "Multifinder", a program for the Macintosh that allowed the machine to run more than one program at a time, which helped make the personal computer a true multitasking device. In 1995, Goldman helped bring the Internet to a wider audience -- those who didn't have or want computers -- by co-founding WebTV, which was sold to Microsoft for half a billion dollars. In 2002 he founded Mailblocks to help keep e-mail inboxes spam free. Quite an impressive list of accomplishments, considering he was only 39 when he died December 26 from unknown causes. From This is True for 28 December 2003 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Owen LinzmayerOwen W. Linzmayer List Price: $22.95 Amazon Price: $15.61 Editorial Review: Apple Confidential examines the tumultuous history of America?s best-known Silicon Valley start-up ? from its legendary founding almost 30 years ago, through a series of disastrous executive decisions, to its return to profitability, and including Apple?s recent move into the music business. Linzmayer digs into forgotten archives and interviews the key players to give readers the real story of Apple Computer, Inc. This updated and expanded edition includes tons of new photos, timelines, and charts, as well as coverage of new lawsuit battles, updates on former Apple executives, and new chapters on Steve Wozniak and Pixar.Owen Linzmayer's Apple Confidential is subtitled The Real Story of Apple Computer, Inc., and while nobody will ever know the complete, "real" story about Apple, Linzmayer's is probably as close as they come. Having covered Apple news since 1980, he offers extensive insider details about Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, John Sculley, Gilbert Amelio, Bill Gates, and other major players whose lives were (and are) intertwined with Apple's history. And along the way, we also learn about lesser-known figures whose stories have remained hidden in the Apple myth: Ronald Gerald Wayne, for example, who was actually a partner with Wozniak and Jobs in the original incarnation of the company, but who sold his share when he realized he would be financially vulnerable if it should fail. Linzmayer's tale does have a few drawbacks. Because he mixes a chronological narrative with chapters that focus on key points in the Apple story, he sometimes repeats himself. Case in point: the chapter "Big Bad Blunders" makes a great record of Apple's failures, but the story of the exploding Powerbook 5300s is duplicated at later points. Nonetheless, Apple Confidential is rife with gems that will appeal to Apple fanatics and followers of the computer industry. Especially enjoyable are the revelation of "Easter eggs" that are hidden in several versions of the Mac operating system; the many screen shots, timelines, and telling quotes from Jobs, Gates, Wozniak and others that populate the margins and concluding sections of each chapter; the "Code Names Uncovered" section that makes public the monikers of several secret Apple projects; and Bill Gates's 1985 letter to John Sculley and Jean Louis Gassee pleading for Apple to license Mac technology and develop a "standard personal computer." --Patrick O'Kelley  By: Andy Hertzfeld List Price: $24.95 Amazon Price: $16.47 Editorial Review: There was a time, not too long ago, when the typewriter and notebook ruled , and the computer as an everyday tool was simply a vision. Revolution in the Valley traces this vision back to its earliest roots: the hallways and backrooms of Apple, where the groundbreaking Macintosh computer was born. The book traces the development of the Macintosh, from its inception as an underground skunkworks project in 1979 to its triumphant introduction in 1984 and beyond. The stories in Revolution in the Valley come on extremely good authority. That's because author Andy Hertzfeld was a core member of the team that built the Macintosh system software, and a key creator of the Mac's radically new user interface software. One of the chosen few who worked with the mercurial Steve Jobs, you might call him the ultimate insider. When Revolution in the Valley begins, Hertzfeld is working on Apple's first attempt at a low-cost, consumer-oriented computer: the Apple II. He sees that Steve Jobs is luring some of the company's most brilliant innovators to work on a tiny research effort the Macintosh. Hertzfeld manages to make his way onto the Macintosh research team, and the rest is history. Through lavish illustrations, period photos (many never before published), and Hertzfeld's vivid first-hand accounts, Revolution in the Valley reveals what it was like to be there at the birth of the personal computer revolution. The story comes to life through the book's portrait of the talented and often eccentric characters who made up the Macintosh team. Now, over 20 years later, millions of people are benefiting from the technical achievements of this determined and brilliant group of people.  By: Jeffrey S. YoungWilliam L. Simon List Price: $24.95 Amazon Price: $16.47 Editorial Review: iCon takes a look at the most astounding figure in a business era noted for its mavericks, oddballs, and iconoclasts. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Jeffrey Young and William Simon provide new perspectives on the legendary creation of Apple, detail Jobs?s meteoric rise, and the devastating plunge that left him not only out of Apple, but out of the computer-making business entirely. This unflinching and completely unauthorized portrait reveals both sides of Jobs?s role in the remarkable rise of the Pixar animation studio, also re-creates the acrimony between Jobs and Disney?s Michael Eisner, and examines Jobs?s dramatic his rise from the ashes with his recapture of Apple. The authors examine the takeover and Jobs?s reinvention of the company with the popular iMac and his transformation of the industry with the revolutionary iPod. iCon is must reading for anyone who wants to understand how the modern digital age has been formed, shaped, and refined by the most influential figure of the age?a master of three industries: movies, music, and computers.  By: Leander Kahney List Price: $24.95 Amazon Price: $16.47 Editorial Review: Wired news editor Leander Kahney follows up his bestselling The Cult of Mac with The Cult of iPod, a comprehensive look at how Apple's hit iPod is changing music, culture, and listening behavior. The Cult of iPod includes the exclusive back story of the iPod's development; looks at the many ways iPod's users pay homage to their devices; and investigates the quirkier aspects of iPod culture, such as iPod-jacking (strangers plugging into each other's iPods to discover new music), as well as the growing legions of MP3Js (regular folks who use their iPods to become DJs). Four-color throughout.  By: Jon Watson List Price: $25.13 Amazon Price: $25.13 Editorial Review: Unix, DOS, Lisa, Macintosh, Windows, Linux |
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