Dr. Adam Osborne's Technological contributions:

• Osborne 1

• Osborne Executive

• Osborne Vixen

• Osborne Computer Corporation

• Miscellaneous

• Extract from Osborne's publication "Growing Up"

Osborne 1

The Osborne 1 was the first portable computer. It was developed by Lee Felsenstein under the directions of Adam Osborne and introduced at the West Coast Computer Faire in April 1981. It was the first computer that included software; the bundled WordStar, SuperCalc, dBase II, CBASIC and MBASIC had a retail value of more than $ 2000. It weighed 23.5 pounds (12 kg) and cost $ 1795 in the year 1981. The operating system was CP/M 2.2 and memory 64 K of RAM.

The hardware features included dual 5.25 inch disk drives, 4 MHz. Zilog Z80 CPU, fold down keyboard, 5 inch, 52 x 24 character monitor and cushioning tube. As the screen was small, a full page of text was kept in memory and the user scrolled across the display using arrow keys. The Osborne 1 could fit under an airplane seat and could survive being dropped as it was carried around.

Osborne Executive

This computer was released in May 1983. It cost $2495 in May 1983 and had a 7 inch screen.

Osborne Vixen

The Osborne Vixen was released in 1985. It was a compact portable computer and ran on the operating system CP/M. It was expected to be compatible with the Osborne 1 and the Osborne Executive, and also with MS-DOS, allowing it to run software designed for IBM and Compaq computers.

Osborne Computer Corporation

The Osborne Computer Corporation was founded by Adam Osborne in the year 1980. The product was portable computers. In April 1981, the first portable computer, Osborne 1 was introduced. Sales in the first year was $ 5.8 million worth of the Osborne 1 computer and by the end of 1982, it was $ 68.8 million. Peak sales per month for Osborne 1 was 10, 000 units. Despite early success, Osborne struggled under heavy competition from Kaypro Computer, Apple Computer, IBM, Compaq and others. In 1983, Osborne bragged about two advanced new computers his company was working on, which destroyed consumer demand for the Osborne 1, resulting in inventory glut. Osborne released the Osborne Executive in May 1983. Osborne Computer Corporation was forced to file for bankruptcy in September 13, 1983 due to inventory glut. In the mid 1980’s, Osborne re-emerged from bankruptcy and released the Osborne Vixen in 1985.

Miscellaneous

In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Osborne gave a yearly award called the White Elephant Award. The first person award was given to Gary Kildall for a standard operating system, CP/M. The second award went to Mike Markkula for marketing the Apple. The 1980 award was given to Bob Frankston and Daniel Bricklin for a software application, VisiCalc.

Extract from Osborne's publication "Growing Up"

For any industry, its infancy is always the most exciting time. Just as the child experiences its world so much more vividly than any adult, so in a new industry every experience becomes much larger than life. Perhaps it is because, in both cases, the environment is so small that the small becomes significant, in particular, when populated by characters whose very lack of inhibitions lead to this corporate playground.

For the key formative years of the microcomputer industry I was an amused and often bewildered observer of the emerging microcomputer industry: Watching from my vantage point as I wrote my column, "From the Fountainhead." It was a superb listening post. From this vantage point I heard from Mr. DeMears, who relentlessly pursued a certain microcomputer kit manufacturer for well over a year, during which time the manufacturer confessed that they simply did not have the thousand dollars that would have put their adversary at ease. And yet, this same company was bidding for a leading role in the emerging industry. It was also from my listening post that I suddenly heard about a new 6502 based microcomputer, receiving nothing but praise, which was called the Apple I.

Few of the original pioneers are still around today, and most of those who are survived by getting acquired.

It was inevitable.

Corporate America can not afford to participate in every wild eyed scheme or emerging fad on the off chance that the fad is, in fact, a new industry in the making. They have to leave infant industries to the misfits and the adventurers. If the infant industry is, in fact, destined to grow, market forces will make this apparent soon enough. As occurred in the microcomputer industry, the validity of the product overwhelmed the incompetence of the participants, and the industry grew. Once it became clear that the microcomputer industry was going to be big, very big, the giants moved in. No longer are MITS and Imsai doing battle, or even Apple competing with Commodore. Next year it will be IBM versus AT&T. It is a giant industry, and the giants have taken over.

One may mourn the passing of the early stages of the microcomputer industry, but for American industry at large, the model is amazingly effective. No other economy gives inventiveness and stupidity so much free reign. No other economy, therefore, breeds so much unlikely success. And always waiting in the wings are the traditional segments of the economy waiting to identify the winners and pick up their success when they can no longer carry on. Perhaps this amazingly efficient system developed by chance, but America should be proud of it because it has done so much for our economy.

References:

1.    Adam Osborne

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Osborne 

2.    Osborne Computer Corporation

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_Computer_Corporation 

3.    Adam Osborne Recording

http://www.bricklin.com/adamosborne.htm 

4.    The Life and Times of Adam Osborne

http://www.dqindia.com/content/industrymarket/datatalk/103040505.asp 

5.    Tech pioneer Adam Osborne dies at age 64

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/5477482.htm 

6.    Adam Osborne, portable computer pioneer, dead at 64

http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/03/24/HNosbourne_1.html?hardware 

7.    Adam Osborne: PC Inventor

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~tlosborne/Osborne/Osbornehistory/Adamosborne/adamosborne.htm 

8.    Growing up. (Philosophy – how it ought to be) Adam Osborne.

http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n11/190_Growing_up.php 

9.    A computer in every hand

http://www.salon.com/people/rewind/1999/07/17/osborne/print.html 

10.  Inventor of first portable computer dies

http://cooltech.iafrica.com/technews/223075.htm 

11.  IMSAI Pre-History: The Hypercube and Other Tales

http://www.imsai.net/history/imsai_history/imsai_pre_history.htm