[SIGCIS-Members] History of Personal Computers

[Joel West]

I agree the crossover success of Ted Leonsis is remarkable. In between he was vice chair of AOL. He sold Redgate Communications to AOL in 1993, which is presumably where he made enough to buy his own hockey team.

On the Left Coast, our equivalent is Michael Moritz, who wrote the best book** on Apple ever (Little Kingdom). He then became a VC at Sequoia Capital, betting on Google, Yahoo and PayPal. In 2007, Forbes put him #1 on their "Midas Touch" list
	http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/99/biz_07midas_Michael-Moritz_1YIC.html

So far he hasn't bought a hockey team (Wikipedia prints the rumor he's going to buy a Wales soccer club). However, he did give $50m to Christ Church, Oxford.

Joel

Joel West 		http:/www.JoelWest.org/blogs
Associate Professor, Innovation & Entrepreneurship
College of Business, San Jose State University


** I used all the Apple histories in my dissertation. Little Kingdom is the definitive story of the Apple II era. While Infinite Loop (Mike Malone) is the best book about the 1990s, there are several other books that have similar detail, even if the interpretation is not as accurate.



On 1:02 PM -0400 5/15/09, Ceruzzi, Paul hath said:
>Paul Edward's query about books on the history of personal computers was
>bouncing around in the back of my mind for a while, until I went to my
>files & found my notes on a very interesting book:
>
>"Blue Magic: the People, Power and Politics Behind the IBM Personal
>Computer."
>Authors: James Chposky & Ted Leonsis. New York: Facts on File 1988.
>Yes, the same Ted Leonsis who now owns the Washington Capitals hockey
>team, which made a run for the Stanley Cup and is by far the hottest
>professional team in DC. Leonsis is easily one of the most popular
>people in DC right now, and for a good reason.
>
>If only the owners of the Washington Redskins, Wizards, and Nationals
>could write about computer history...
>
>Paul E. Ceruzzi
>National Air & Space Museum
>MRC 311; PO Box 37012
>Washington, DC 20013-7012
>202-633-2414
><http://www.nasm.si.edu/staffDetail.cfm?staffID=24>