Two Years of the Early PC Revolution in the Great Land


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I've blogged a few times about my early career selling small (PC) systems in Alaska.    I don't know why I gravitated to the seamy side of those experiences - other than iI found them really funny and they were in fact some of my earliest successes in system sales. 

I basically spent two years of my early career in Alaska, first at ComputerLand and then at a Radio Shack Computer Center.   By far my favorite of the two was ComputerLand.

During those two years I really had a rocket boost of a start.   Small business was truly excited to be able to harness the new generation of computers and the new kinds of software being invnted almost daily.    I'm sure that Alaska was somewhat behind the curve (at that time, Alaska was behind in most technologies), but the people I met were serious and quickly became adept at what they were purchasing.

One of the coolest aspects of my experience was selling into and often traveling to really remote parts of the state to install the systems I was selling.   This was really focused on the installation of the hardware at that time, with a much smaller focus on installation and training of  software.    New users were quite willing to read manuals to get going with their software. 

I was installing relatively advanced systems in remote villages such as Bethel, Alaska in buildings and businesses that had no indoor plumbing.    More than once I was a "guest" in such places until my "hosts" felt the job had been done to their satisfaction.    Business folks in Alaska don't mess around.

Some of my favorite memories of those learning experiences:

- Installing an Osborne "portable" on a sailboat getting ready to sail around the world
- Working with the lady in Barrow who owned the three key businesses in town - the cafe, the bas station, and the Honey Pumper (Septic system pumping and dumping)
- An electrical contracting business in Bethel (loved those folks)
- A marine repair and sales company in Homer, for whom I customized accounting software for marine Point of Sale
- An actuarial in Fairbanks
- A dentist in Palmer (who later offered to back me in business)
- School districts all over the state


I have to say that those first generations of business systems and much of the new software often didn't work all that well - and dealing with the very small capacity floppy disks was always problematic.   Still customers took it on the chin and kept on plugging away.   

I recall working with a writer in Anchorage who bought literally every word processing software program we carried or could get our hands on at ComputerLand - probably at least 5.    That was her living and profession, and she wanted what she used to really work for her. 

I sold a terrible system (Altos MP/M) to a law office - unfortunately, my dad's law office :(.    My dad was a great customer and always supportive of me, but the fact is that law offices really needed to stick with the specialized systems available to them; PC's weren't ready for the job for law offices until the later 80's in my opinion.    I learned a lot installing that system, but it was a bust.    Fortunately the senior partner in my dad's firm had redlined the heck out of his bank lease contract, so they weren't stuck with the system - but it was a black eye I did not forget.   I'd say Dad had at least three bad experiences buying systems from me however - perhaps a blog in itself.   He never said a word about it - I think he just wanted to support my career.  Thankfully I finally learned to say "No" and refer him to specialists, but I still appreciate the chance to work with him.

I spent my last 10 months in Alaska outside of the computer industry.    A customer hired me away from the computer center to run the system I'd sold them.    While this was a career mistake in retrospect, it was one of the most rewarding thing I did because of the great lifelong friendships I made at that company - with people who were very supportive during a difficult period in my personal life.      But that's a part of the Fortune story, the last I'll relate about Alaska before moving on to the next phase.