Word: hobbyist
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...when the personal-computer industry was just getting started, a host of small software companies grew up. Many firms were started by one or two people with one computer, a good idea and some knowledge of computer programming. But as the market has expanded beyond the electronics hobbyist to the businessman, homeowner and student, software companies have discovered that they cannot survive on technology alone. They must develop skills in marketing, distribution and advertising. Says Edward Currie, president of Lifeboat Associates, a leading software publisher: "The software industry is turning into a cosmetics industry. In cosmetics, you worry about...
...microprocessor, a single chip could be programmed to do any number of tasks, from running a watch to steering a spacecraft. It could also serve as the soul of a new machine: the personal computer. By 1975 the first of the new breed of computers had appeared, a hobbyist machine called the Altair 8800 (cost: $395 in kit form, $621 assembled). The Altair soon vanished from the marketplace. But already there were other young and imaginative tinkerers out in Silicon Valley getting ready to produce personal computers, including one bearing an odd symbol: an apple with a bite taken...
...remains a major shareholder, he has dropped out of company affairs and returned to Berkeley to finish his studies. Markkula plans to retire within two years to spend more time with his family. Jobs, who had the vision to build one of America's foremost companies from a hobbyist's toy, must show that he has the foresight and ability to guide a major corporation...