Newsletter Archives

• AskWoody at the computer museum

  Posted on March 10, 2025 at 02:42 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  HISTORY

  

  By Will Fastie

  In January, I invited AskWoody Plus members from this part of the world to join me at the System Source Computer Museum near Baltimore.

  Many Plus members responded, enough that I could set a date, make appropriate arrangements with the museum, and send formal invitations.

  It proved to be a delightful event. Our guests were uniformly impressed by the museum, and all seemed to enjoy themselves. It was great to meet our Plus members in person, and I am especially grateful to those who came from farther away than I expected.

  I thank all who attended. If you are a Plus member, expect an invitation to our next tour soon. It will probably be scheduled in late April. Those from the previous list who could not be accommodated will be first in line.

  
  Plus members in the IBM room at the museum, with an IBM 360/20 in the background.
  Photo courtesy Plus member Dr. David Peisner.

  See more photos in our Plus Newsletter (22.10.0, 2025-03-10).

  History Computers, History, Museums, Newsletters

• Something we forgot to mention

  Posted on January 2, 2025 at 03:00 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums
  

  Intel 8080

  2024 marked the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the Intel 8080 processor. It is an important event in the history of IBM-compatible personal computers because it is the immediate predecessor of the Intel 8086 and its brother with the 8-bit bus, the 8088. For many of us, personal computing began with the IBM PC and the x86 architecture, but the true birth of the PC industry was powered seven years earlier by the 8080 in iconic and important products such as the Altair 8800.

  If you’re near Silicon Valley, you can visit the Intel Museum through March to see its exhibit about the 8080. Those not close can visit the virtual museum.

  Intel took a risk with the 8080 because it was not 100% compatible with the previous 8008. It was close enough that code could be quickly ported (Intel supplied source code converters for the purpose), and the 8080 flourished. It’s safe to say that without the success of the 8080, Intel might have had problems making what would become the big step to x86.

  Intel History, Intel, Personal Computers, Technology

• The Millers at the museum

  Posted on December 19, 2024 at 03:00 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  My recent article How the IBM PC changed my life generated many responses, most relating experiences with early personal computing. One Plus member, Jack Miller, got in touch because he realized we had a similar background, including Army service at about the same time. At some point during our exchange, I mentioned the Maryland Computer Museum and Jack mentioned that he had some things that the museum might want. I put him in touch with Bob Roswell, the museum’s founder and curator.

  Jack and his wife Jeanine then decided to take a road trip from Ohio to deliver some old computer magazines that the museum lacked. I appreciated the visit because AskWoody is not only spread over the US but also around the world. It’s not often that I get to meet a Plus member in the flesh. In fact, it’s never happened before!

  Jack and Jeanine enjoyed their museum tour, especially the moment Jack sat down in front of an IBM System 3, the computer that got him into computing for life.

  I thank the Millers for coming so far and for an enjoyable visit.

  

  Will Fastie, Jack Miller, and Bob Roswell, with Univac 490 in background. Photo courtesy Jeanine Miller. Used with permission.

  History Computers, History, Museums

• A computer museum near you is closing soon

  Posted on July 10, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.28 • 2023-07-10

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  You certainly remember your first boyfriend or girlfriend. You might also remember your first cigarette and your first drink (hopefully not while driving your first car). But who’s going to remember the pioneering computer technology breakthroughs that have put mainframe power on everyone’s desks and in everyone’s pockets?

  There are discouraging signs that much of our electronic history is going to be lost.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.28.0, 2023-07-10).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Public Defender History, Museums, Newsletters

• 48 years and counting

  Posted on April 6, 2023 at 00:28 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Love ’em or hate ’em, you have to admit… as we start another year – this company has dramatically changed computing.

  Microsoft was founded on April 4, 1975.

  

  I remember tax season when I first started at my firm – personal computers were relatively new and we filled out these paper input forms in order to prepare tax returns. The forms were then picked up by a courier, driven to the Airport, flown to Torrance, California where someone at CCH/Accutax/other tax vendors would input the information that we had entered on the input forms. They would print out the tax return, put them in envelopes, put them back on an airplane, flown back to Fresno and then a courier to drive around and drop them off at our office a few days later. If we messed up and got something wrong, we would have to enter a “revision” form and send them back for reprocessing. Once again having a courier pick up the change form, having it flown down to Los Angeles, and then back again with the revised tax return.  If the issue wasn’t THAT bad we would take whiteout liquid, cover up the error and type in the revisions ourselves. (I would ruin suit jackets getting not quite dried whiteout on the sleeves every tax season).

  Then came a tax year where farmer deadline was looming on 3/1 (Farmers get the ability to skip estimates if they file by 3/1) and the software company was behind on implementation of the tax changes that year and couldn’t get the farmer tax returns back in time. With four days before the looming deadline we installed a SINGLE IBM 8088 computer and a beast of an HP III printer.  The printer had to have tax font cartridges in order to print out a tax return (remember THOSE DAYS?) and we set up Lacerte tax software on that IBM 8088 (no, not built by Rene Lacerte of bill.com – but second cousins of his), and within a day we were cranking out our own tax returns and no longer relying on meeting the courier deadline, nor facing doing the farmer tax returns by hand.

  We have come a long way in technology in the years in between. Farmers this year are no longer facing a lack of water in Calfornia thanks to the storms we’ve had this year, but in some places too much water. As an aside, if you want to see the California wildflowers or extremely full waterfalls in Yosemite, this will be the year for it. When the snow finally starts melting up there it is going to be the year that will be picturesque for sure.

  I have no idea what the next 48 years will bring. However, I do know that all of us wouldn’t be here without Microsoft. For small businesses and individuals, it has been a game changer for sure. For all that the company can be annoying, it’s also been a dramatic game changer for how we interact with each other, with how we do business, with how we just deal with our daily lives.

  Here’s to the next 48 years.  Stick around and we’ll all see what happens.

  Windows History, Patch Lady Posts

• Lunch with Brian

  Posted on February 6, 2023 at 02:42 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  EDITORIAL

  

  By Will Fastie

  Brian Livingston was on the East Coast a few weeks ago and took the opportunity to make a side trip to Baltimore.

  Brian called in advance to set up the meeting, saying he preferred to meet the people he was working with face to face. He graciously paid his own way, and we had a nice afternoon.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.06.0, 2023-02-06).

  Editorial Brian Livingston, History, Max Oppenheimer, Newsletters

• Welcome to our twentieth year

  Posted on January 9, 2023 at 02:45 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.02 • 2023-01-09

  FROM THE PUBLISHER

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Time flies.

  It seems like only yesterday. Out of the blue, I got an email from Brian Livingston, asking to meet with him while I was in Seattle attending a Microsoft event. Over dinner, he explained that he wanted me to write a column in the Windows Secrets Newsletter that would track issues with Microsoft patches and analyze their impact on PCs and their users.

  It was the dawn of “The Patch Lady.”

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.02.0, 2023-01-09).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  From the Publisher AskWoody, History, Industry, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, Windows Secrets

• The Windows Start menu: Trials and tribulations

  Posted on September 13, 2021 at 02:42 CDT by Lance Whitney • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS

  

  By Lance Whitney

  Don’t get me started: Windows 11 saddles us with yet another major change to the always vital but never quite right Start menu.

  Another version of Windows, another version of the Start menu. With Windows 11, Microsoft has unveiled its most dramatic change in years to a feature that’s always been a core part of Windows. Instead of the traditional vertical list of all the apps installed on your PC, we get a sparse, boxy window with links only to pinned and recommended apps. Getting to all your apps requires an additional step.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.35.0 (2021-09-13).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter AskWoody Plus Newsletter, History, Start menu, Windows