In 1980, Fred Gibbons, Janelle Bedke, and John Page left HP to form Software Publishing Corporation. SPC initially focused on moderately priced, easy-to-use productivity software for multiple computing platforms before shifting focus in the late 1980s to high-end business presentation graphics software for MS-DOS PCs.

Sadly, like many 80s software companies, Microsoft and the dotcom bubble eventually killed SPC. I covered the company's history in this podcast.

https://www.computerchronicles.blog/podcast/chronicles-revisited-podcast-017/

An April 1993 "Law & Order" episode had the detectives looking for a hacker who used a virus to infect the computer at a diabetes clinic. Another hacker helps the detectives break into the suspect's email account.

I dunno about any of you, but I don't remember early 90s email messages being displayed in this manner on an IBM PC. Then again, I also never signed an email "Signed."

For #TransDayofvisibility, I'll note the first "Computer Chronicles" episode to cover computer games, which aired in 1984, featured "Space Shuttle: A Journey Into Space," an Atari 2600 title developed by a trans programmer, Jessica Stevens.

It's an actual #NASA space shuttle flight sim. My post on the episode covers Stevens' appearance where she did on an on-air demo. FYI, she appeared pre-transition but I only referred to her using her current name and pronouns.

https://www.computerchronicles.blog/015-space-shuttle-excalibur-pinball-construction-set-dr-j-larry-bird/

Stewart Cheifet was the host and executive producer of "Computer Chronicles" for 19 seasons. Behind the scenes, he also spent 15 years as the general manager of PBS stations in San Mateo, California, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I recently published a podcast discussing Cheifet's remarkable career, which took him from the streets of Philadelphia to Harvard Law School, and from running a small government-own TV station on American Samoa to testifying before Congress.

https://www.computerchronicles.blog/podcast/chronicles-revisited-podcast-018-the-publics-broadcaster/

"Computer Chronicles Revisited" is a blog and podcast review of the PBS series that originally aired from 1983 to 2002. Since 2021, I've reviewed over 130 episodes from the show's first six seasons. In 2026, I'll be looking at the 26-episode seventh season, which aired in the fall of 1989 and the spring of 1990.

I also periodically release ebook compilations of previous blog posts in EPUB format. There are currently 9 volumes available.

computerchronicles.blog