What would we do without our laptops? For many of us they are our constant companion
at work, at home, and on our travels.. So - it was interesting to read about the first laptop
and its creator and to discover that the laptop is celebrating its 22nd birthday this year..

The idea for the laptop came from Adam Osborne, a British technical writer, now one of
Silicon Valley's legends. Osborne introduced the first portable personal computer, the
Osborne 1, in 1981. The Osborne 1 weighed 24 pounds, had a five-inch screen and
came with a large library of software. It was a startling innovation at the time. Orders
for the Osborne 1 totaled 80,000 in 1981 and jumped to 110,000 in 1982. At one
point the company claimed it had a 250,000 backlog of orders. Then, a premature
announcement for the second-generation Osborne, the Executive, along with a failure
to jump quickly to a 16-bit processor and IBM compatibility, and increased competition,
led to bankrupcy for Osborne's company. He tried to rebound with another innovation,
Paperback Software International, which was an initial success but lost a legal battle to
LOTUS. With that disappointment, Osborne retired to his native India until his recent
death at age 64 - http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/26/obituaries/26OSBO.html?th
(New York Times, 26 Mar 03)