The Rise and Fall of Osborne Computers

In the early 1980s, two rivals waged a public war for the soul of home computing: Adam Osborne and Steve Jobs. Yet only Steve Jobs is remembered today. This is the forgotten story of the Osborne 1, the world's first mass-market portable computer, and of its charismatic and visionary creator, Adam Osborne. Osborne’s computer company seemed set to rival Apple itself—until a spectacular collapse into bankruptcy in 1984.

In this essay, first published by Every and now adapted by its author, historian and digital strategist Gareth Edwards walks us through the secret history of the first PC revolution. It’s vital context for our present moment, as AI promises to revolutionize technology just like the PC and the internet did before. In order to understand what’s ahead, we need to reckon with how we got here in the first place.

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