The Life and Times of Adam Osborne

Adam Osborne was born in Thailand in 1939, spent much of his childhood
in Tamil Nadu, moved to the UK at the age of 11, and went on to be known for
Osborne 1, a runaway success in the field of computing in the early ’80s. He
recently passed away, at the age of 64.

Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Birmingham
University, Osborne relocated to the United States and completed a PhD in
chemical engineering, going on to work with California-based Shell Oil. In the
early ’70s, he was given the job of writing instructions for Intel’s new
microprocessor.

Osborne continued freelance technical writing,and in 1972, formed Osborne and
Associates to write simple, easy-to-read manuals for computers. He also wrote a
book entitled The Value of Power, which was later titled An Introduction to
Microcomputers. Osborne created his own publishing company–Osborne Books–which
published over 40 books on computers. In 1979, Osborne sold his publishing
company to McGraw-Hill. Around this same time, Osborne began writing columns for
computer magazine Interface Age, and later, for Infoworld.

In March 1980, at the West Coast Computer Faire, Osborne approached Lee
Felsenstein, who had previously been designing circuit boards for processor
technology, about starting a hardware company that would not only produce an
affordable, portable computer but would offer bundled software with the machine.
Following Osborne’s specifications, Felsenstein designed a portable computer
that would fit under an airplane seat, weighed only 24 pounds, had a 52-column
display that would fit on a five-inch screen, contained a cushioning tube, and
had two disk drives. Osborne introduced his new computer, aptly named the
Osborne 1, at the West Coast Computer Faire in April 1981.

In the company’s first year, Osborne sold $5.8 million worth of the Osborne
1 computer. By the end of 1982, he had sold $68.8 million, or as many as 10,000
units a month. Unfortunately, this growth was followed by a plunge into
bankruptcy two years later.

Osborne published a memoir of his experience in 1984, entitled Hypergrowth.
He then jumped into a new venture he called Paperback Software–based on the
idea that software could be sold like mass-market paperbacks. That venture ran
aground after Paperback was sued by rival Lotus Development Corp in a
high-profile case that alleged Paperback’s spreadsheet program too closely
resembled Lotus’ own 1-2-3 program. Osborne and Paperback parted ways in 1990.
Osborne’s health began to decline in 1992, leading him to move to Kodaikanal
in India to live out the rest of his life with his sister, Katya. On March 18,
Adam Osborne passed away–after a decade-long battle with organic brain
syndrome.--DQ