Adam Osborne made a name for himself in the 1970s as one of the first successful authors and publishers of computer books. After selling his publishing company to McGraw-Hill, Osborne launched a computer hardware manufacturer, which produced the famous Osborne-1 portable microcomputer. When that business collapsed in 1983, Osborne shifted to software with his third and final venture, Paperback Software International. Unfortunately, Osborne’s decision to copy a competitor’s menu design for his own program proved his undoing after a lengthy lawsuit that proved a critical moment in the evolving legal battle over software copyrights.

• Computer Chronicles Revisited, Part 86 — Lotus HAL, What’sBest!, VP-Planner, Javelin Plus, and Silk
• Computer Chronicles Revisited, Part 23 — Steve Wozniak, Adam Osborne, Lore Harp, and Gene Amdahl
• Osborne-1 Computer (Steve’s Old Computer Museum)
• Portable computer pioneer Adam Osborne dies (The Register, 2003)
• Broderbund Software, Inc. v. Unison World, Inc. (1986)
• Digital Communications Associates, Inc. v. Softklone Distributing Corporation (1987)
• Lotus Development Corporation v. Paperback Software International (1990)
• Lotus Development Corporation v. Borland International, Inc. (1995)
• Podcast Music: “Scenic Detour” by Melody Ayres-Griffiths