Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Adam Osborne, Dead at 64
Posted by Janak Parekh in "THOUGHT" @ 03:00 AM
Adam Osborne, perhaps the inventor of the portable computer, died yesterday at the age of 64. To some extent, we all owe our handheld devices to him, as they descended from the famous Osborne 1. The unit was about 30 pounds in weight, had a 3.5" by 2.6" B&W screen, and had a 4MHz CPU running CP/M (along with two 160K floppy drives and 64K of RAM). It was released in 1981, and cost $1,795 (including WordStar, SuperCalc and MS BASIC). The battery pack was an add-on option.
If that doesn't demonstrate how far portable technology has come (hint: look in your pocket now), nothing will. :)
It also bears mentioning that Adam Osborne is perhaps singlehandedly the reason companies are extremely secretive about their future plans (including Microsoft when it comes to their next Pocket PC operating system). The Osborne 1 was a massive hit in 1981 and 1982, but sales tanked in 1983 when Osborne boasted that the successor (codenamed the Vixen) would be hugely superior. The company never recovered from the inventory glut and went out of business in September, 1983.
Rest in peace, Adam. :cry:
If that doesn't demonstrate how far portable technology has come (hint: look in your pocket now), nothing will. :)
It also bears mentioning that Adam Osborne is perhaps singlehandedly the reason companies are extremely secretive about their future plans (including Microsoft when it comes to their next Pocket PC operating system). The Osborne 1 was a massive hit in 1981 and 1982, but sales tanked in 1983 when Osborne boasted that the successor (codenamed the Vixen) would be hugely superior. The company never recovered from the inventory glut and went out of business in September, 1983.
Rest in peace, Adam. :cry:
