Adam Osborne died recently, apparently. He was 64. Adam invented the first “luggable” computer. From the article:
In 1981, 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. Then his classic business misstep occurred. Osborne boasted in early 1983 of an improved second generation of his product — months before it was ready to ship. Sales of older models of his portable sewing-machine-sized computers plummeted. The inventory build-up that resulted led Osborne Computer to collapse in September 1983.
Kind of like the .com era only, he had a viable product and sales to match…
This computer holds a special esteem for me because of the many clones of this luggable that I’ve used. The original Osborne was a tank that could withstand almost anything. My first encounter with them was in the mid-80’s in the millitary. I found some that had been abandoned (for a militarized Kaypro4) and cannibalized for parts. I was able to make a whole unit of the parts and I wrote some little text games for it. Soon, I we were using it to generate simple reports. Good memories.