RIP Jerry Pournelle, the first author to write a novel on a computer
FIRST??!?
By now, you should know better than to EVER use that word in the presence
of those who were there during the history - it's comparable to saying
that Steve Jobs invented the first computer, or that billg invented the
first software.
NO.
He was an early adopter.
He was a major influence.
He was a friend. (and sometimes a pompous buffoon of a friend)
My booth staff at Comdex and West Coast Computer Faire were under strict
orders to get a beer into his hand as soon as they saw him. We got some
free ink, and not just for the cold beer. He and Roberta [Pournelle]
convinced "Bait" to specialize in computers in her booth-bimbo career,
surprised that she didn't end up CEO of HP or the like.
(In my company, similar to Autodesk, people chose their own job titles. I
was "Programmer". My assistant eventually changed from "Emperor of The
Galaxy" to "VP")
But, there were MANY obscure, mostly unpublished, manuscripts among the
VERY first uses of word processing. Well before Jerry got into computers.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred ci...@xenosoft.com
On Sun, 10 Sep 2017, Ed via cctalk wrote:
RIP Jerry Pournelle, the first author to write a novel on a computer
Early adopter
by Andrew Liptak
https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/9/16279582/jerry-pournelle-science-fiction-a
uthor-writing-computers-obituary
sad.... Ed#
--
Fred Cisin ci...@xenosoft.com
XenoSoft http://www.xenosoft.com
PO Box 1236 (510) 234-3397
Berkeley, CA 94701-1236
