5 ms·

When I was at uni in NZ (mid 70s) me and my friends wrote a compiler for 6800s (an algol subset, it fit in 2k), we wrote it with copyrights for "uSoft" (that's

When I was at uni in NZ (mid 70s) me and my friends wrote a compiler for 6800s (an algol subset, it fit in 2k), we wrote it with copyrights for "uSoft" (that's a greek mu), in retrospect it was an obvious name at the time. Later we discovered some other guys using the same name in the US (also with a mu) they had a basic interpreter, how lame! (we had a compiler) however we really didn't understand the advantages of being born in the right place ..... I really wish we'd incorporated, we could have sold the name for some silly amount of money

jll29 2y ago
Not just "incorporated", you would also have to have ported it to various computers that were sold (as MSFT did - and that Bill Gates' parents were lawyers with IBM contacts helped a lot). NZ is a fantastic country, but is relatively remote from larger markets, and its own population isn't large enough for the economics of scale to apply only locally. So even if you had tried, you may have failed. As you rightly say, power of location. On the other hand, now, due to globalization, things are possible there, too - for example, the app market is not limited geographically. BTW, you should consider uploading your old compiler's code on GitHub if you still have it; there is increased interest in "software archeology" now, given that so many emulators have been built.
- Taniwha 2y ago
  I was more talking about owning the name in NZ (and maybe Oz) The software source was on cards (developed on a simulator on a uni mainframe, much like Microsoft were developing their code), sadly the cards were left behind when I moved to the US a decade later
ErigmolCt 2y ago
That's such a great story and such a classic case of being just ahead of the curve but in the wrong corner of the world.
- Rodeoclash 2y ago
  I worked in a digital technology company in Wellington in the 90s and one of our key technologies that we sold was a hosted form on a secure (remember, this is the era that https was not common) website to collect credit card payments. We were a proto Stripe in the year 1999 but totally in the wrong place in the world to take advantage of it.
  - ska 2y ago
    May have been the wrong time too. 1999 was chock full of companies that failed to get traction and died during the dot-com collapse, but variants became much more successful 20 years later. Much of this was mostly waiting in infrastructure I suspect.
  - ErigmolCt 2y ago
    It's wild how many brilliant ideas popped up just before their time or in places that didn't have the ecosystem to scale them
neuralkoi 2y ago
If you read Bill Gates' biography, you'll learn that he had an incredible foundation. A big part of that was his parents and grandmother, who not only loved him deeply but also nurtured his passions — enrolling him in a private school, taking him to therapy, driving him to many extracurriculars such as those done by the Scouts, and helping him develop social skills with the members of his community. But it wasn’t just his parents. His broader community and the environment he grew up in also played a key role in setting him up for success in ways that many others, may not have experienced. For example, from early on he had access to a PDP-10 and was allowed to practice programming from a very young age. Not to undersell Gates, the guy was incredibly intelligent and hardworking, but the conditions he was raised in definitely gave him a head start. He had opportunities that were rare at the time, and an incredible support system that helped him develop his potential.

jll29 2y ago

Not just "incorporated", you would also have to have ported it to various computers that were sold (as MSFT did - and that Bill Gates' parents were lawyers with IBM contacts helped a lot). NZ is a fantastic country, but is relatively remote from larger markets, and its own population isn't large enough for the economics of scale to apply only locally. So even if you had tried, you may have failed. As you rightly say, power of location. On the other hand, now, due to globalization, things are possible there, too - for example, the app market is not limited geographically. BTW, you should consider uploading your old compiler's code on GitHub if you still have it; there is increased interest in "software archeology" now, given that so many emulators have been built.

Taniwha 2y ago
I was more talking about owning the name in NZ (and maybe Oz) The software source was on cards (developed on a simulator on a uni mainframe, much like Microsoft were developing their code), sadly the cards were left behind when I moved to the US a decade later

ErigmolCt 2y ago

That's such a great story and such a classic case of being just ahead of the curve but in the wrong corner of the world.

Rodeoclash 2y ago
I worked in a digital technology company in Wellington in the 90s and one of our key technologies that we sold was a hosted form on a secure (remember, this is the era that https was not common) website to collect credit card payments. We were a proto Stripe in the year 1999 but totally in the wrong place in the world to take advantage of it.
- ska 2y ago
  May have been the wrong time too. 1999 was chock full of companies that failed to get traction and died during the dot-com collapse, but variants became much more successful 20 years later. Much of this was mostly waiting in infrastructure I suspect.
- ErigmolCt 2y ago
  It's wild how many brilliant ideas popped up just before their time or in places that didn't have the ecosystem to scale them

neuralkoi 2y ago

If you read Bill Gates' biography, you'll learn that he had an incredible foundation. A big part of that was his parents and grandmother, who not only loved him deeply but also nurtured his passions — enrolling him in a private school, taking him to therapy, driving him to many extracurriculars such as those done by the Scouts, and helping him develop social skills with the members of his community. But it wasn’t just his parents. His broader community and the environment he grew up in also played a key role in setting him up for success in ways that many others, may not have experienced. For example, from early on he had access to a PDP-10 and was allowed to practice programming from a very young age. Not to undersell Gates, the guy was incredibly intelligent and hardworking, but the conditions he was raised in definitely gave him a head start. He had opportunities that were rare at the time, and an incredible support system that helped him develop his potential.