1965
When I returned home from an LDS Mission to Denmark and went back to Idaho
State University in the fall of '65, I was studying Geology, Physics, Calculus
and Chemistry. Due to my interest in the sciences, I was, of course, quite
interested in the new "science" of computers and its' language...programming.
My first exposure to Computer Science was in learning Fortan II, a scientific
programming language that meshed with my science background. I was told by
my counselor that it would "come in handy"...so I took the class.
At that point in history (1966?), computers were just beginning to be
used. The computer at Idaho State University was a batch-oriented IBM mainframe.
Homework assignments would have to be key-punched (typed into a special keyboard
which would then "punch" a paper IBM card). Each step in a programming
sequence would have its' own card. For example, if you were entering a
50-step program, it took 50 cards, plus an initiation and termination
sequence, which might balloon the "batch" to 60+ cards.
Once the "deck" (or batch) was prepared, we would don the robes of the
acolyte and proceed to the Temple of Knowledge, there to place our unworthy
offering upon the Altar of IBM. Actually, it wasn't QUITE that
dramatic...but nearly! Actually, we presented our deck to the operator on
duty, through a small window. We never got to see THE COMPUTER itself!
After a period of time, we'd return to THE WINDOW to retrieve our assignment
deck, along with reams of computer printed error messages!!
Computers, it seems, are very literal critters! If you don't talk to
them with precision and correctness, they will vomit out your precious cards.
As I could never seem to catch the gist of Fortran, I experienced a LOT of
stress and dejection with assignments. It would be nearly 22 years before
I actually GOT IT.
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1968-1971 US Army (service in Vietnam '68-'69)
I returned home to ISU as a Vietnam Vet to find the campus didn't hold vets in
high appreciation. As a result, I pretty much kept a low profile and studied hard,
graduating in May 1974 with a BS Pharm degree, then passed the National Pharmacy
Board Exam to become a Registered Pharmacist.
After graduation, while working at OSCO Drug in Pocatello, I was approached
by a physician who was opening his own clinic and who wanted a pharmacy in the
building. Having no money of my own, nor means to borrow enough, he would
own the pharmacy and I would manage it. One thing I really wanted in the
pharmacy, though, was a computer and he was also high on the idea!! Remember, I
was FAR from being a programmer, yet, somehow I was going to write a complete
pharmacy program by myself!! Madness!! Even so, I be.came excited about
computers
This was probably in 1975 and there were NO viable personal computers
yet (check out the movie "Pirates of Silicon Valley" or read "Fire in the
Valley" for perspective). Some boxes were available from
IMSAI and the
MITS Altair 8800, but they were "dumb" boxes...no I/O
(Input/Output) devices...keyboard, monitor, storage device (disk drive, hard
drive, tape drive..although tape recorders were used as storage). None of
the things we consider a "computer" were readily available. What
was needed were "interfaces"...plug-in boards with electronic circuits
dedicated to providing an electronic control link between say a keyboard and the
CPU (Control Processor Unit). [Have you ever wondered why computer nerds
(geeks) go so nuts about acronyms?? Me too!]
Those early computers were mostly curiosities and hobby machines. Geek
and Nerds (therefore I!) loved them! What's not to love with these machines??
They had dozens of switches, dozens of lights and just cried out for tender
loving care!! They were better than a warm puppy! No house-training
necessary. If you didn't click on the MITS Altair like, you really missed
something!
The only problem with my Master Plan was that I was no electronic or computer
whiz and that's what it was going to take to make an IMSAI into a usable business
system. Needless to say, that project never got off the ground! It
would take me another three years before an Apple ][ would come into my life and
provide the impetus for my brief computer career.
1979
While working and living in Las Vegas, NV, I became aware of a local Apple
Users Group, which met at Century 23 Computersat
4566 Spring Mountain Road. C23C was owned by Nick and Penny Reese,
true pioneers in the microcomputer business around Las Vegas. Club
members, were typically young or my age (mid-30's), enthusiastic, knowledgeable
and computer-crazy!! One AUG member, Sandy, had helped write the
assembler for Steve Wozniak. He was working in the gaming industry,
converting slot machines to computer control. There were several other
"gurus" in the club, some of whom worked at Area 51, catching a plane at the
Hughes Aircraft terminal at McCarren Airport each morning and flying right over
my home in Spring Valley. These guys worked with computers and were doing
some amazing stuff. Several of them were Electrical Engineers, so they
really dug this electronics stuff!
I began attending AUG meetings and trying to understand what in the world
they were talking about...files, bytes, storage, K, output, RAM , ROM, etc.
It was REALLY hard for me to grasp the concept of FILES. They'd be talking
about "writing the file to disk" or something like that and I'd try to imagine
just what the heck they were talking about! Even when they told me it was
like recording a song onto a tape recorder, it didn't sink in. At some
point, though, I had my "AH HAH!!" moment and it became much easier to
understand.
One good friend in the club was also my neighbor, Danny. He had an
Apple ][ and knew how to program. I had an idea of how to make a little
money with a program, so we agreed to work together on a project. As with
all good projects, it began with a problem:
Problem: the doctors and dentists in Vegas were a mobile bunch, moving
around frequently. This presented a problem for pharmacists, who had to
chase them down with questions, verification, etc. Spending a lot of time
on the phone, getting new phone numbers and addresses was a pain in the
you-how-what!! My brilliant idea was to offer pharmacists a subscription
service of Rolodex cards, with updated cards each month. The Rolodex
solution still seems to be a feasible plan. We proceeded to design a
random-access indexed file system, with a user-friendly front end (front end is
what the user sees). It enabled the operator (me) to retrieve and update
any doctor/dentist file, then print out Rolodex cards of all records changed in
a month. How could it fail??
Getting the cart completely before the horse, I acquired an Apple II computer
with THREE floppy disks and 64K of RAM, with a 5" Sony color TV for
video....major horsepower!! I think it cost me $1800. With all the
power drain from those three drives, it ran so hot that I had to keep the lid
off and have a fan blowing straight onto the CPU. If I didn't do that, it
would slow down to a CRAAAWWWLLL. Somehow I worked a deal on a
fire-damaged DECwriter LA120. It was a monster work-horse, printing 120
lines-per-minute!! That was a blistering pace for the time and it was
designed to do it day-and-night FOREVER! Bulletproof and they're still in
use today!
Once we had the program working and a product (service) to sell, I went "on
the road" to sell it. I think our price was $25 each month. Looking
back, I can say that this would never make anyone rich...in fact, it may have
been a "break-even" proposition at best, considering printing, mailing, getting
updated info each month, etc. One of the first people I wanted to speak to
was the Pharmacy Director for Smith's Food and Drug. I made an appointment
to meet with him on a visit to Vegas and got my ducks in a row.
On the appointed day, I met him in one of their pharmacies and went over my
approach. It was probably something like, "How much time does each Smith's
Pharmacy spend on the phone, getting updated doctor information each week?"
He looked at me much like one gazes upon snail slime...disdain and distaste!
Apparently, that information was NOT on the tip of his tongue, or the front of
his mind, or even in his consciousness! He didn't know and, apparently,
didn't care how much time ($$$) was being wasted by his pharmacists! I,
grasping at straws, opined that even if it was only ONE hour a week for each
pharmacy, a number that I KNEW was ridiculously low, that would come to almost
$50 per month per pharmacy. I think there were nine Smith's in the Vegas
area at the time. By using our service, Smith's would save $225 a month!!
He may have said something like, "I spend more than that on coffee each month,
why the H*** would I even THINK about $225, much less WORRY about it?"
Considerably deflated, I thanked him for his time, said my good-byes and
departed to lick my wounds. Interestingly, within five years I would
be working for his company.
This episode would prove to be a pre-taste of other conversations with
Pharmacy Managers and Owners. We had violated one of the major tenets of
marketing/product development and had failed to perform market analysis.
In 1980, upon returning to Idaho State University to earn an MBA, one of first
classes was Marketing 101, where I learned more on that topic.
Danny and I continued trying to make money with our computers, earning mostly
experience, but learning much more about how to make computers WORK!!
A real turning point occurred in 1979, when the first Comdex was held in 'Vegas.
Software Arts revealed a revolutionary new product, a spreadsheet (what!?)
program named VisiCalc! Wow!! At last we had a true business
application program. Prior to this, we only had simple games, such as
"Space Invaders", or "Pong!" and simple, code-driven text-editing programs
(40x24 characters, all UPPER CASE!).
Nick Reese, the owner of Century 23 Computers
snagged a couple of free copies of VisiCalc and had them sitting on a shelf at
his store. When I expressed interest, he gave me a copy! What a
great guy! When I got it home, I didn't quite know what to do with it, so
it sat around for a few weeks. At the time, I was doing the finances for
our church, balancing the checkbook, writing checks, etc. One day, while
balancing the checkbook, a light suddenly came on in my head! "Hmmm, I
wonder if that VisiCalc thing would make this easier??" Immediately, I
read the manual and started entering my first spreadsheet! Within an hour
or so, I had the rudiments of spreadsheet programming and had set it up to not
only balance the CB, but break out sub-totals by categories. It was SO
COOL! The POTENTIAL of the computer had just become REALITY for me!
I could envision hundreds of uses and a major tool for SELLING computers to
non-nerds!
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In September, 1980, I moved my family back to Pocatello to enter the MBA
program at Idaho State Univ. Looking for part-time work while attending
school, I went to work for Yost Office Systems, who was a newly-authorized Apple
dealer. They were interested in me because of my experience with the Apple
computer. Their primary focus was on "office automation", as
exemplified by copiers, word-processors, fax machines, overhead projectors, etc.
Now that they had a computer division, they didn't seem to know quite what to do with
it. Armed with an Apple II, loaded with VisiCalc and WordPro, I set
about to "computerize" local businesses in my "spare" time.
Within a few months, I knew where every single computer (regardless of brand)
was located in the Pocatello area! There were probably less than 40 in the
whole town and fewer than 5 businesses using computers. Most business
owners couldn't envision how a computer would help them, but a few were ready to
make the leap of faith! My basic approach was, "If I could show you a way
to automate your daily books, would you be interested?" If they said
"Yes", I'd invite them to bring their books to my office, where I would quickly
develop a simple spreadsheet to show them the concept. If they expressed
further interest, I'd provide them a quote for the system PLUS programming
charges to set it up. This proved to be a good way to move a lot of
computers!
While working as much as I could, I was also learning about a hitherto
unknown "science"....Business!! A discipline that I'd considered pretty
"soft" turned out to be very demanding and intense! It was a great
eye-opener for me to come up against Micro- and Macro-Economics, Accounting,
Marketing, Statistics, Management & Organization, and other subjects equally
daunting. But, the knowledge was immediately applicable to my job!
Armed with this Business learning, I was a more effective salesman AND more
effective problem-solver...can you say "Computer Consultant"?
Eventually, I was asked to teach a couple of night courses in BASIC programming and
Introduction to Computers for the College of Business. I enjoyed it very
much, but my programming students thought I was crazy! All they had to do
for the semester was write a simple phone list program. This entailed
writing code to collect the information, write it to storage and retrieve it.
Simple input, storage, index and retrieval situation....ya know!? Computer
Programming!! Wow, you'd have thought I
asked them to do something HARD! Oh well, there were some who learned and
some who didn't.
After 2-1/2 years of school and work, I decided to focus on a computer
career. While selling for Yost, I was frequently asked to "write me a
program to ...". Not having much (any) spare time, I wasn't able to do
very much custom development. In about 1983, I left Yost's employment to
manage a new ComputerLand store. It was a 9-5 job and I had no homework,
so I began doing Software Development for selected customers in BASIC.
One day, a Mr. Frank Witt came into the store, looking for an inventory
management system for Bannock Memorial Hospital. After visiting with him
to determine the nature of the problem and what he felt would be needed to solve
it, I recommended an off-the-shelf Card File program. A few days later, he
came back and told me it wouldn't work. Confident that I could make it
work, I decided to spend some
time in his office, learning more about what he did and what he wanted.
This was to be a critical point in my consulting career. On-site
evaluation was to become a key part of every consulting job I would take.
After spending most of one day in Frank's office, talking to his secretary,
his biomed techs, and him, I realized that only a custom program would satisfy
their needs. AND I realized that a BASIC program would take years to
develop. I needed a shortcut and FAST! I spoke with some other
programmers to get their input and decided that a Database Management Program
was what I needed. Luckily there was a new program out, called dBASE
II. It looked like a godsend and it was! Throwing myself into the project, I began
by learning how the thing worked, what it could do, and coding the basics
outlines of the of the
program. When I got the screens developed to what I thought they wanted, I
would demonstrate it...they would make suggestions, I'd rework the screens and
so on. Within a couple of months, I had enough of it running for them to
begin using it on a daily basis, at least the data capture portion. For the next two years I spent nearly every
waking moment developing, modifying, testing, modifying and modifying the program. Eventually,
I formed a company called DATASTAT and soldl the program, called "Hospital Maintenance"
to 18 small hospitals scattered around the country. It came on the market in about 1985
and was the only micro-computer-based program of its' kind for several years.
Early in development, I switched the program from Apple DOS, which was very
proprietary and only ran on Apples, to CP/M(operating system called Control
Processor/Microcomputer), which ran on virtually every
personal computer of the time. The reason for the switch was simple,
Apple's DOS 3.3 only supported disk storage of 140K. For the hospital
application, we would need much more storage. Under Apple DOS, the only
way to address storage on a hard disk was to create a whole bunch of 140K
partitions.(something like 70 of them, just imagine drives A through CS)..then
came the problem of where data was being stored AND how to find it!! It
wasn't an insurmountable issue, but there were more elegant solutions.
CP/M, for example, was able to address storage volumes of 10 megabytes...which
was a HUGE amount of data in those days! Remember, we were running in 64K
of RAM...the WHOLE PROGRAM fit in 64K! By porting the program to CP/M, I
was able to offer it to anyone with a micro. At first I used CP/M for
Apple, but, needing portability, purchased an Otrona
Attache (which was THE most desirable and costly portable computer available at
the time...$3995 in 1984 dollars!!). It was also VERY SEXY!!
Working with dBASE II in the early '80s placed me on the ground floor of that
technology. After analyzing many programming requests from local
businesses, I determined that most, if not all, of them could be solved with a
custom database program. It became a simple thing to create a set of entry
screens (front end) feeding a custom database (back end) and put the whole thing
together in a matter of days, not months. Besides being lucrative, it was
SO MUCH FUN!! Solving programming problems, making dBASE do things it was
never set up to do, was very satisfying. It was also rewarding to call the
company and tell them how I did some special programming trick that I'd been
told it wouldn't do...great ego boost!
At this point, I should have gone to a venture capitalist and gotten proper
funding to polish up the product and begin marketing in serious. However,
that didn't happen. What did happen is pharmacist wages moved out of the
ridiculous level...$10/hour...to something more reasonable...$20. I guess
that was my price. I accepted a full-time position with Smith's Pharmacy
(remember them from the Vegas days?). Having regular hours and
regular paychecks had a certain appeal after seven or eight years of starvation
in the computer game.
Note: Don't sacrifice your dreams for a paycheck!
In about 1987, a friend and I did a complete rewrite of the Hospital program
under the UNIX operating system, using a 4th-generation programming language
called SQL, with a code-generating front end whose name escapes me.
Anyway, this system was procedure-oriented, not code-oriented. With it,
you could define a process (or procedure) and the program would generate the
code necessary to accomplish it. It was pretty cool! Rather than
worry about HOW to do something, you just had to decide WHAT to do. The
program figured out HOW and did it! It seemed like magic after spending
thousands of hours coding every single detail in the hospital program.
When we were through with the upgrade, I handed over rights to it to my
buddy.
Now, in 2011, I have an urge to learn JavaScript so I can develop
Android Apps...we'll see!
Steve
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