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	== Publishing ==		== Publishing ==
	Osborne was a pioneer in the computer book field, founding a company in 1972 that specialized in easy-to-read computer manuals. By 1977, Osborne & Associates had 40 titles in its catalogue. In 1979, it was bought by [[McGraw-Hill]] and continued as an imprint of McGraw-Hill, "McGraw-Hill/Osborne".<ref name="~~nyt~~"/><ref name="~~independent~~" /> He also wrote several books.<ref name="independent" /> One of them, ''An Introduction To Microcomputers'', sold 300,000 copies.<ref name="Schofield" />		Osborne was a pioneer in the computer book field, founding a company in 1972 that specialized in easy-to-read computer manuals. By 1977, Osborne & Associates had 40 titles in its catalogue. In 1979, it was bought by [[McGraw-Hill]] and continued as an imprint of McGraw-Hill, "McGraw-Hill/Osborne".<ref name="independent" /><ref name="nyt"/> He also wrote several books.<ref name="independent" /> One of them, ''An Introduction To Microcomputers'', sold 300,000 copies.<ref name="Schofield" />

	== Computers ==		== Computers ==

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{{short description|American writer and software publisher}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Adam Osborne
| image = Adam Osborne.png
| image_size = 190px
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|3|6|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Bangkok]], Thailand
| death_date = {{death date and age|2003|3|18|1939|3|6}}
| death_place = [[Kodaikanal]], India
| residence =
| citizenship =
| nationality =
| ethnicity =
| field = Computer Engineering
| work_institution = [[Osborne Computer Corporation]]
| alma_mater = {{Plainlist|
* [[University of Birmingham]]
* [[University of Delaware]]
}}
| doctoral_advisor =
| doctoral_students =
| known_for = [[Osborne 1]]
}}

'''Adam Osborne''' (March 6, 1939 – March 18, 2003) was a British-American{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} author, book and [[computer software|software]] publisher, and computer designer who founded several companies in the United States and elsewhere. He introduced the [[Osborne 1]], the first commercially successful portable computer.

== Early life ==
Osborne was born to a British father and Polish mother in [[Bangkok]], Thailand on March 6, 1939.<ref name="Schofield">{{cite web |last1=Schofield |first1=Jack |author-link1=Jack Schofield (journalist) |title=Obituary: Adam Osborne |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/mar/27/guardianobituaries.jackschofield |website=The Guardian |access-date=March 28, 2019 |date=March 27, 2003}}</ref> His father, [[Arthur Osborne (writer)|Arthur Osborne]], was a teacher of eastern religion and philosophy<ref name="Schofield" /> and a lecturer in English at [[Chulalongkorn University]]. All members of the family were fluent in the [[Tamil language]]. He spent [[World War II]] in southern India, with his mother.<ref name="Schofield" /> He attended Presentation Convent School in Kodaikanal until Class 6.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}} In 1950, the Osborne family moved to England.<ref name="independent">{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/adam-osborne-36407.html |title=Adam Osborne: Pioneer of the portable computer |date=April 5, 2003 |work=The Independent |access-date=June 26, 2018 |language=en-GB }}</ref> From the age of 11, he was educated at a Catholic boarding school in Warwickshire but from 1954 to 1957 was a pupil at the grammar school Leamington College for Boys in Royal Leamington Spa, where he played chess. England.<ref name="Schofield" /> He graduated with a degree in [[chemical engineering]] from the [[University of Birmingham]] in 1961,<ref name="Schofield" /> and received his PhD from the [[University of Delaware]] in 1968.<ref name="Schofield" /> It was while living in the United States that he learned to write computer code.<ref name="Schofield" /> He obtained a position as a [[chemical engineer]] with [[Shell Oil]], in California, but was dismissed.<ref name="Schofield" />

== Publishing ==
Osborne was a pioneer in the computer book field, founding a company in 1972 that specialized in easy-to-read computer manuals. By 1977, Osborne & Associates had 40 titles in its catalogue. In 1979, it was bought by [[McGraw-Hill]] and continued as an imprint of McGraw-Hill, "McGraw-Hill/Osborne".<ref name="nyt"/><ref name="independent" /> He also wrote several books.<ref name="independent" /> One of them, ''An Introduction To Microcomputers'', sold 300,000 copies.<ref name="Schofield" />

== Computers ==

[[File:Osborne 1 open.jpg|thumb| An [[Osborne 1]] ]]

Osborne was known to frequent the [[Homebrew Computer Club]]'s meetings around 1975. He created the first commercially available [[portable computer]], the [[Osborne 1]], released in April 1981. It weighed 24.5 pounds (12 kg), cost US$1795—just over half the cost of a computer from other manufacturers with comparable features—and ran the popular [[CP/M]] 2.2 [[operating system]].<ref name="byte198209"/> It was designed to fit under an [[airline seat]].<ref name=atlantic>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/198207/fallows-computer/2 |title=Living With a Computer|first=James|last=Fallows |date=July 1982 |publisher=Atlantic Magazine |access-date=May 21, 2010}}</ref> At its peak, [[Osborne Computer Corporation]] shipped 10,000 units of "Osborne 1" per month.<ref name=Grzanka84>{{cite journal|first=Leonard G.|last=Grzanka |title=Requiem for a Pioneer |publisher=Portable Computer |date=January 1984}}</ref> Osborne was one of the first personal computing pioneers to understand fully that there was a wide market of buyers who were not computing hobbyists: the Osborne 1 included word processing and spreadsheet software.<ref name="byte198209"/> This was at a time when [[IBM]] would not bundle hardware and software with their PCs, selling separately the operating systems, monitors, and even cables for the monitor.

Adam Osborne's experience in the computer industry gave his new company credibility.<ref name="hogan19810413">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dj4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA1 | work=InfoWorld | title=Osborne Introduces Portable Computer | access-date=April 4, 2011 | author=Hogan, Thom | date=April 13, 1981 | publisher=IDG | pages=1}}</ref> Osborne Computer Corporation advertisements compared Adam Osborne's influence on the personal computer market to [[Henry Ford]]'s influence on transportation.<ref name="byte198209">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1982-09/1982_09_BYTE_07-09_Computers_and_the_Disabled#page/n31/mode/2up | title=The $1795 Business Computer that is changing the way people go to work. | work=BYTE | date=September 1982 | access-date=October 19, 2013 | author=Advertisement | pages=31}}</ref> It is said that in 1983, Osborne bragged about two advanced new computers his company was developing. These statements destroyed consumer demand for the Osborne 1, and the resulting inventory glut forced Osborne Computer to file for bankruptcy on September 13, 1983. This phenomenon, a pre-announcement of a new product causing a catastrophic collapse in demand for older ones, became known as the [[Osborne effect]], but according to some new sources, the real reasons for Osborne Computer's bankruptcy were management errors<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050618022709/https://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20050616.html I, Cringely . The Pulpit . The Osborne Effect | PBS]</ref> and insufficient cash flow.<ref>[http://technologizer.com/2011/04/01/osborne-computer/4/ Technologizer ]</ref>

===Hypergrowth===
After Osborne Computer's collapse, Adam Osborne wrote a best-selling memoir of his experience, ''Hypergrowth: The Rise and Fall of the Osborne Computer Corporation'', with [[John C. Dvorak]], which was published in 1984.<ref>Osborne, Adam (1984). ''Hypergrowth: The Rise and Fall of the Osborne Computer Corporation'', {{ISBN|978-0-918347-00-8}}.</ref>

== Software ==

In 1984, Osborne founded [[Paperback Software International Ltd.]], a company that specialized in inexpensive computer software. Its advertisements featured Osborne himself, arguing that if telephone companies applied the same logic to their pricing as software companies, a telephone would cost $600. One of its products was VP-Planner, an inexpensive clone of [[Lotus 1-2-3]], which led to [[lawsuit|legal action]]. In 1987, [[Lotus Software|Lotus]] sued Paperback Software. As a result of the lawsuit, consumer confidence waned for Paperback Software, and its revenues dropped 80% by 1989, preventing the firm from getting venture capital for expansion. In February 1990, the case went to court and on June 28, the court ruled that Paperback Software's product, by copying Lotus 1-2-3's [[look and feel]] menu interface, violated Lotus's [[copyright]].<ref>Lotus Dev. Corp. v. Paperback Software Int'l, 740 F. Supp. 37 (D. Mass. 1990)</ref> Osborne stepped down from Paperback Software the same year.<ref name="independent" /> Paperback's database application, [[VP-Info]] continued to sell well for many more years, and acquired a second life as [[VP-Info#Marketing|Sharkbase]].<ref>[http://www.intelligentwebware.com/sharkhlp.html Sharkbase/VP-Info User's Manual] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224084311/http://www.intelligentwebware.com/sharkhlp.html |date=December 24, 2013 }}</ref>

His final venture, in 1992, was to found the company Noetics Software, to work on [[artificial intelligence]].<ref name="Schofield" />

==Personal life and death==

Osborne was a member of [[Mensa International|Mensa]].<ref name="Schofield" /> He married – and divorced – twice, firstly in the mid 1960s, to Cynthia Geddes, an American,<ref name="Schofield" /> and later to Barbara Burdick (Zelnick). Osborne had three children.<ref name="nyt">John Markoff/New York Times. "Adam Osborne 64 Dies Was Pioneer of Portable PC New York Times Website [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/26/business/adam-osborne-64-dies-was-pioneer-of-portable-pc.html]</ref> Both former wives and all his children survived him.<ref name="Schofield" />

In 1992, Osborne returned to [[India]] in declining health, suffering from a brain disorder that triggered frequent minor strokes. He died in his sleep on March 18, 2003, in [[Kodaikanal]], India, aged 64.<ref name="Schofield" /><ref name="Adam Osborne, pioneer of PCs for people: dead at 64">{{cite web|title=Adam Osborne, pioneer of PCs for people: dead at 64. His sister Katya Douglas (nee Osborne) continues to live in Kodaikanal. |date=March 2003 |publisher=Natural Science |author=Edward Teague |url=http://naturalscience.com/ns/news/news44.html |access-date=December 20, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326232813/http://www.naturalscience.com/ns/news/news44.html |archive-date=March 26, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Markoff|first1=John|title=Adam Osborne, 64, Dies; Was Pioneer of Portable PC|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/26/business/adam-osborne-64-dies-was-pioneer-of-portable-pc.html|access-date=September 11, 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=March 26, 2003}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090326232813/http://www.naturalscience.com/ns/news/news44.html Adam Osborne, pioneer of PCs for people: dead at 64]
* [https://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/03/25/portable_computer_pioneer_adam_osborne/ The Register – Portable computer pioneer Adam Osborne dies]
* [https://archive.org/details/Computer1984_5 The Computer Chronicles (broadcast in 1984) – Adam Osborne is interviewed by Stewart Cheifet and Gary Kildall]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Adam}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:Computer hardware engineers]]
[[Category:American technology writers]]
[[Category:Indian people of Polish descent]]
[[Category:Thai people of Polish descent|Adam Osborne]]
[[Category:English emigrants to India]]
[[Category:English emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Birmingham]]
[[Category:American Hindus]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:University of Delaware alumni]]
[[Category:Mensans]]
[[Category:American emigrants to India]]
[[Category:Thai people of English descent|Adam Osborne]]
[[Category:Thai emigrants to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:British technology writers]]

Adam Osborne - Revision history

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49.37.183.189 at 03:14, 9 August 2021

>Cewbot: Maintaining sort keys in Thai-people categories: Adding page title as sort keys.