Adam Osborne, Pioneer of the Portable PC, Dies at 64
Adam Osborne, a British technical writer who became one of Silicon Valley’s legends by introducing the first portable personal computer in 1981, died on March 18 in Kodiakanal, India.
I interviewed Osborne years ago, during the Paperback Software suit: he was insistent that while they did emulate the keystrokes and other user interface elements of Lotus 1-2-3, that was to help the user transition to their product, not to ape the then-market leader.
He was starting up his Indian ventures at that time, with some kind of artificial intelligence system to be called Socrates. He respected the Indian work ethic and high level of education, and had no great love for the US software industry at that time. Google doesn’t find any mention of it, sadly.
This article in the NYTimes doesn’t mention the fabulous CP/M operating system that these machines used: I have a clone/workalike from that period. Check out the prices on those things . . .