Profiles - Revision history

FrankRahman: /* Early Profiles avoided talking about Kaypro */

2025-07-20T14:37:49Z

Early Profiles avoided talking about Kaypro

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:37, 20 July 2025
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	==Early Profiles avoided talking about Kaypro==		==Early Profiles avoided talking about Kaypro==
	<blockquote>		<blockquote>
	FR: The earlier profiles appeared to almost avoid talking about Kaypro products.		''FR: The earlier profiles appeared to almost avoid talking about Kaypro products.''

	~~Well,~~ the original (actually the second) editor, and I never worked for him, I think I met him once before he left. His name was Tyler Sperry. ~~He was about 5'5". He was a careerist.~~		It was the original [actually the second] editor, and I never worked for him, I think I met him once before he left. His name was Tyler Sperry.
			When he left Gwyn Price took over and she was a very impressive woman. Hard charging, good humored, just nice. Didn't take any BLANK from anyone, but a very, very positive person. And that's when the magazine changed. More about technical detail, more about what customers needed, more about what they were interested in. She came on I think about four months before I started working at the magazine.<br>
	He had a vision for how profiles would help him in his career. And it wasn't to impart information to Kaypro users. It wasn't to give good work in return for employment to the Kaypro. It was about Tyler and how Tyler was going to use this to climb to the next step. He wasn't real involved with it.

	When he left ~~and~~ Gwyn Price took over, she was a very impressive woman. Hard charging, good humored, just nice. Didn't take ~~anything~~ from anyone, but a very, very positive person. And that's when the magazine changed. More about technical detail, more about what customers needed, more about what they were interested in. ~~It was like, probably~~ four months before I started working at the magazine.<br>
	([[Interview with Marshall Mosley]])		([[Interview with Marshall Mosley]])
	</blockquote>		</blockquote>

FrankRahman: /* Profiles Q&A Column */

2025-07-20T14:36:51Z

Profiles Q&A Column

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:36, 20 July 2025
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	==Profiles Q&A Column==		==Profiles Q&A Column==
	<blockquote>		<blockquote>
	I had a column called Q&A~~. Which~~ was completely made up. ~~You know, it~~ was supposedly questions from customers. I made up the question~~, I wrote~~ the answer. I tried to come up with things that I thought people should know. It was things that weren't immediately obvious, like a lot of people who bought ~~CPM~~ machines didn't know ~~CPM~~ had a command processor. ~~It was basically~~ batch files ~~that CPM versioned, or~~ how to use PIP, because PIP was counterintuitive. It was ~~PIP~~ then target then ~~source~~ instead of ~~PIP~~ then source then ~~target~~.		I had a column called Q&A, which was completely made up. It was supposedly questions from customers but I just made up the question and then the answer. I tried to come up with things that I thought people should know. It was things that weren't immediately obvious, like a lot of people who bought CP/M machines didn't know CP/M had a command processor. You could create batch files just as you could with MS-DOS. Or I’d explain how to use PIP, because PIP was counterintuitive. It was ‘PIP then target then source’ instead of ‘PIP then source then target’.

	I would ~~write up what~~ I had run into, or what support had told me about. I would make up ~~a name, Joe~~ Cochrane from Akron, Ohio wants to know blah ~~blah. And that was how I did that. But the articles were very different because the articles were ferociously factual~~. ~~The column, that~~ was just ~~an excuse to be able~~ to impart information.		I would create questions and answers from issues I had run into, or what support had told me about. I would make things up like ‘Joe Cochrane from Akron, Ohio wants to know blah blah’ and then answer it. It was just a way to impart technical information the subscribers needed.

	But Diane Ingalls would not tolerate for one moment being loosey goosey with the facts. ~~She~~'d walk in and hit me in the back of the head.<br>		But the articles were very different because the articles were ferociously factual. Diane Ingalls would not tolerate for one moment being loosey-goosey with the facts. If she thought I was doing that, she'd walk in to my office and hit me in the back of the head.<br>
	([[Interview with Marshall Mosley]])		([[Interview with Marshall Mosley]])
	</blockquote>		</blockquote>

FrankRahman: /* Famous writers from Profiles */

2025-07-20T14:35:58Z

Famous writers from Profiles

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:35, 20 July 2025
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	==Famous writers from Profiles==		==Famous writers from Profiles==
	<blockquote>		<blockquote>
	Profiles was this weird intersection. ~~Don~~'t know why it happened, but a lot of later famous ~~writers~~ wrote ~~there.~~ David Gerrold was established before he wrote for ~~profiles~~ [Profiles, July 1984]. He wrote the ~~screenplay~~ for Trouble with Tribbles, for the original Star Trek~~. He wrote [~~the novel~~] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Folded_Himself~~ The Man Who Folded Himself~~]. He wrote~~ the ~~[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Against_the_Chtorr~~ Chtorr] series.		Profiles was this weird intersection in time. I don't know why it happened, but a lot of writers who later became famous wrote for us, though David Gerrold was established before he wrote for Profiles [Profiles, July 1984]. Gerrold wrote the teleplay for ''Trouble with Tribbles'', for the original Star Trek TV series, the novel ''The Man Who Folded Himself'', and the ''War Against the Chtorr'' series. Robert J. Sawyer and Ted Chiang, both later multiple Hugo and Nebula Award winners, wrote for us. So did Jack Nimersheim, who was nominated for a Hugo. In the mid-90s Ted Chiang wrote The Story of Your Life, which was later made into the movie Arrival, with Amy Adams.<br>

	~~[https://www.sfwriter.com/about.htm~~ Robert J. Sawyer], ~~at the time~~, wrote for us.

	Jack ~~Nimershine~~. Ted Chiang~~. He~~ wrote The Story of Your Life, ~~and it~~ was made into ~~that~~ movie [Arrival], with [Amy Adams].<br>
	([[Interview with Marshall Mosley]])		([[Interview with Marshall Mosley]])
	</blockquote>		</blockquote>

FrankRahman at 00:18, 20 July 2025

2025-07-20T00:18:07Z

@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 But Diane Ingalls would not tolerate for one moment being loosey goosey with the facts. She'd walk in and hit me in the back of the head.<br>
 ([[Interview with Marshall Mosley]])
 </blockquote>

FrankRahman at 00:16, 20 July 2025

2025-07-20T00:16:31Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:16, 20 July 2025
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	Jack Nimershine. Ted Chiang. He wrote The Story of Your Life, and it was made into that movie [Arrival], with [Amy Adams].<br>		Jack Nimershine. Ted Chiang. He wrote The Story of Your Life, and it was made into that movie [Arrival], with [Amy Adams].<br>
	([[Interview with Marshall Mosley]])		([[Interview with Marshall Mosley]])
			</blockquote>

	==Profiles Q&A Column==		==Profiles Q&A Column==

FrankRahman at 00:15, 20 July 2025

2025-07-20T00:15:52Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:15, 20 July 2025
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	Jack Nimershine. Ted Chiang. He wrote The Story of Your Life, and it was made into that movie [Arrival], with [Amy Adams].<br>		Jack Nimershine. Ted Chiang. He wrote The Story of Your Life, and it was made into that movie [Arrival], with [Amy Adams].<br>
	([[Interview with Marshall Mosley]])		([[Interview with Marshall Mosley]])

			==Profiles Q&A Column==
			<blockquote>
			I had a column called Q&A. Which was completely made up. You know, it was supposedly questions from customers. I made up the question, I wrote the answer. I tried to come up with things that I thought people should know. It was things that weren't immediately obvious, like a lot of people who bought CPM machines didn't know CPM had a command processor. It was basically batch files that CPM versioned, or how to use PIP, because PIP was counterintuitive. It was PIP then target then source instead of PIP then source then target.

			I would write up what I had run into, or what support had told me about. I would make up a name, Joe Cochrane from Akron, Ohio wants to know blah blah. And that was how I did that. But the articles were very different because the articles were ferociously factual. The column, that was just an excuse to be able to impart information.

			But Diane Ingalls would not tolerate for one moment being loosey goosey with the facts. She'd walk in and hit me in the back of the head.<br>
			([[Interview with Marshall Mosley]])
			</blockquote>

FrankRahman: /* From my Interview with Marshall Mosley */

2025-07-19T11:08:49Z

From my Interview with Marshall Mosley

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:08, 19 July 2025
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	~~==From my Interview with Marshall Mosley==~~		==Famous writers from Profiles==
	~~(July 18, 2025 - Cave Creek, Arizona)~~

	===Famous writers from Profiles===
	<blockquote>		<blockquote>
	Profiles was this weird intersection. Don't know why it happened, but a lot of later famous writers wrote there. David Gerrold was established before he wrote for profiles [Profiles, July 1984]. He wrote the screenplay for Trouble with Tribbles, for the original Star Trek. He wrote [the novel] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Folded_Himself The Man Who Folded Himself]. He wrote the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Against_the_Chtorr Chtorr] series.		Profiles was this weird intersection. Don't know why it happened, but a lot of later famous writers wrote there. David Gerrold was established before he wrote for profiles [Profiles, July 1984]. He wrote the screenplay for Trouble with Tribbles, for the original Star Trek. He wrote [the novel] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Folded_Himself The Man Who Folded Himself]. He wrote the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Against_the_Chtorr Chtorr] series.

FrankRahman: /* From my Interview with Marshall Mosley */

2025-07-19T11:08:19Z

From my Interview with Marshall Mosley

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FrankRahman: /* Grandpa Kay */

2025-07-19T10:56:00Z

Grandpa Kay

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:56, 19 July 2025
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	David would try to handle it professionally which he did at the same time he answered to his father and his family and it was like, doing anything about it was a non-starter no one would even talk to him (Grandpa).		David would try to handle it professionally which he did at the same time he answered to his father and his family and it was like, doing anything about it was a non-starter no one would even talk to him (Grandpa).

			===The Wister Board (Kaypro 16)===
			When it became clear that CPM was going to fail, and Compaq was succeeding. Compaq basically copied us in terms of the design. But they had the MS-DOS operating system, but it was identical to a Kaypro in design. The goal was to build a PC compatible.

			And there was a period of time, maybe 10 months, maybe a year, where everyone was talking about the Wister board. The Wister board was going to save our bacon. The board was going to be PC compatible and blow everybody out of the water and Wister referred to one of the engineers if not the chief engineer whose name is Jay Wister and it never materialized, it got talked up and talked up and it just never appeared and so they they bought a PC compatible board from some Taiwanese manufacturer but also paid for a redesign of the board to break it into two pieces so that it would fit inside a Kaypro case and that became the Kaypro 16.

			===Kaypro 286i===
			Then they did the Kaypro 286i. When I first got to profiles, I got a Kaypro 286i because I needed it for evaluations. And people were angry with me. There were far more senior people who didn't have a Kaypro 286i sitting on their desk. I had a coprocessor, I had a Hercules graphics card. The head of sales would come by and just give me a dirty look. My 286i was gray. It was gunmetal gray.

			Kaypro had given the 286i to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Pournelle Jerry Pournelle]. He wrote science fiction books with Larry Niven. He co-wrote Lucifer's Hammer. He was also a columnist for Byte Magazine. We gave him a 286i, which was the only compatible for the PC-AT at the time.

			Because the AT was the 80286 processor. What I understood was that Andy had just written a giant check to some manufacturer in Taiwan, I mean a giant check, so that we would have exclusive license to it for a year. They had illegally duplicated the IBM PC-AT.

			The 286i sold more and better than the Kaypro 16. The Kaypro 16 was an 8088, but none of it was going to stop the downward spiral. The Kaypro 386 came in like the last year that I was there.

			===The downfall of Kaypro===
			Andy had a good eye for technology. One of the things was, even if that, company had been run, extremely efficiently it still wouldn't have survived. PC's Limited, which was starting in Austin, which was Michael Dell's company, were building computers in their dorm rooms. They couldn't do it. And those were very smart people who were very efficient. They had none of the family drama or you know they were very focused business people and they couldn't compete with Taiwanese and Japanese manufacturers and then later Chinese so it's arguable that there's no computer company in the United States that makes computers, it was never going to work.

			===Amber Screens===
			Some Kaypro 4s and Kaypro 10s had amber screens instead of green screens. A lot of the ones we made for Europe, because I think Scandinavia required amber screens.

FrankRahman: /* Marshall getting hired at Kaypro */

2025-07-19T04:20:20Z

Marshall getting hired at Kaypro

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