Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and I were all born the same year, 1955. Growing up, we all shared a common avid interest in electronics.
In January, 1975, Popular Electronics magazine published a cover story about the Altair 8800 computer, the device widely considered to have started the personal computer revolution.
In his just-published memoir, Source Code: My Beginnings, Gates describes how his friend and future Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen had burst into his dorm room with a copy of the Altair article.
The Altair 8800 had no operating system, no built-in screen, no video output.
But Gates and Allen spotted the opportunity and acted on it.
They persuaded the Altair’s inventor to allow them to write its operating system, planting a seed that would grow into one of the world’s largest companies.
The following year, Steve Jobs and phone hacker Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer.
Meanwhile In Sarnia, Ontario, I became aware of the Altair when my fellow computer aficionado, Jeff Head, rushed over to me with the same Popular Electronics issue.
Jeff was excitedly gushing all the same stuff as Paul Allen, about how a world-changing personal computing revolution was ready for takeoff.
But both Jeff Head and I had other interests that had less potential to change the world.
We stared clear-eyed into the face of the same opportunity.
We saw the potential and did nothing with it.
Shoulda. Coulda. Didn't.
Having totally blown my single chance to become the world’s richest billionaire, I ended my formal education after high school and wandered through a succession of other failed careers including stints as a baker, colourblind paint mixer and lumber-yard attendant.
I was never interested in becoming a computer programmer.
I had no interest in writing code.
I dreamed instead of using technology as a communications tool to help build a better world.
Nowadays, my technical capabilities are almost non-existent compared to the dozens of brilliant young minds who’ve joined us at Village Media headquarters.
Around the office, my nickname is ‘User Error,’ meaning that whenever I report an issue to our tech-support staff, the problem usually isn’t technical.
Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and I were all born the same year, 1955. Growing up, we all shared a common avid interest in electronics.
In January, 1975, Popular Electronics magazine published a cover story about the Altair 8800 computer, the device widely considered to have started the personal computer revolution.
In his just-published memoir, Source Code: My Beginnings, Gates describes how his friend and future Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen had burst into his dorm room with a copy of the Altair article.
The Altair 8800 had no operating system, no built-in screen, no video output.
But Gates and Allen spotted the opportunity and acted on it.
They persuaded the Altair’s inventor to allow them to write its operating system, planting a seed that would grow into one of the world’s largest companies.
The following year, Steve Jobs and phone hacker Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer.
Meanwhile In Sarnia, Ontario, I became aware of the Altair when my fellow computer aficionado, Jeff Head, rushed over to me with the same Popular Electronics issue.
Jeff was excitedly gushing all the same stuff as Paul Allen, about how a world-changing personal computing revolution was ready for takeoff.
But both Jeff Head and I had other interests that had less potential to change the world.
We stared clear-eyed into the face of the same opportunity.
We saw the potential and did nothing with it.
Shoulda. Coulda. Didn't.
Having totally blown my single chance to become the world’s richest billionaire, I ended my formal education after high school and wandered through a succession of other failed careers including stints as a baker, colourblind paint mixer and lumber-yard attendant.
I was never interested in becoming a computer programmer.
I had no interest in writing code.
I dreamed instead of using technology as a communications tool to help build a better world.
Nowadays, my technical capabilities are almost non-existent compared to the dozens of brilliant young minds who’ve joined us at Village Media headquarters.
Around the office, my nickname is ‘User Error,’ meaning that whenever I report an issue to our tech-support staff, the problem usually isn’t technical.