Here's a few of the most prolific e

Here's a few of the most prolific entrepreneurs in computer history: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Roger Foster. Roger who?

Admittedly, this British entrepreneur is no household name -- but if history had any justice, he would be. For more than 30 years, through a series of ventures, Mr. Foster has had a knack for spotting the next big wave in the industry.

In the 1960s, it was computer "outsourcing": His company, Applied Computer Techniques Ltd., was among the first at making a business out of doing other companies' computing work. Then there was "shrink-wrapped" packaged software for business. In the early 1980s came his 15 seconds of fame, as creator of the Apricot personal computer, one of the first business PCs that, for a while, outsold even International Business Machines Corp.'s PC in Britain.

But ACT stumbled. The Apricot business soured. Now Mr. Foster, 57 years old and still trend-spotting, has a business-software venture, Financial Objects Ltd., that he predicts will be the Next Big Thing.

A look at Mr. Foster's career highlights a basic lesson from the cutthroat world of computer entrepreneurship: Even if you score top marks in the ideas department, make sure you don't flunk the practical examination. The industry's history is littered with his ilk. There's Adam Osborne, whose Osborne Computer Corp. was a pioneer in portable computers -- until its bankruptcy in the early 1980s. There's Chuck Peddle, founder of now-bankrupt Victor Technologies Inc. and computer designer in the 1980s of now-defunct Commodore International Ltd. And then there's Roger Foster.

"I think his anonymity speaks for itself, doesn't it?" says Martin Campbell Kelly, a historian of computer science at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England.

Some -- including Mr. Foster -- put part of the blame on Britain: In so small a market, with low economies of scale and scarce financial resources, it's tough to compete head-on with deep-pocketed Americans. According to colleagues -- he won't tell -- Mr. Foster is worth about $35 million. Just for the sake of comparison, Bill Gates, who used to visit then-mighty ACT in the early 1980s when Microsoft Corp. was just a microchip, is now worth about $39 billion. Foster partisans draw a simple lesson: "When it didn't quite work, it wasn't because he was wrong. It was because he was British," says Chris Winn, a former board member of ACT.

But more critical observers say the fault lay in not being bold enough in pushing those clever ideas through to their logical conclusions. "When you get to a certain point in time you have to take your product to the next stage; and that isn't Roger's strength," says Harvey Parr, who ran two ACT subsidiaries in the early 1990s.

Mr. Foster concedes pulling back at key moments. "Maybe when the opportunity came and we had to push the boat out, I preferred to stay on dry land."

While Mr. Foster is an entrepreneur, he's not of the swashbuckling variety. He calls himself a good, solid businessman, one with a career marked by steady progress. "My father was an accountant, my brother is an accountant and we have always paid our bills. We don't have one of those checkered histories of boom and bust."

Certainly, he's a button-down kind of guy. On one recent day, below his tailored three-piece suit, only some bright red socks and ankle boots could have distinguished him from a finance director. And he's reserved, colleagues say. In the 1980s at ACT, aside from an occasional round of golf or tennis match, the closest glimpse most colleagues got of his personal life was a party he threw at his Staffordshire home to celebrate an ACT anniversary. Yet he commands fierce loyalty from colleagues, whom he expects to be as committed as he is to the task at hand. He is rarely roused to anger; but employees have learned to run for cover when his eyes turn icy blue.

Borrowed Start
He left school at 16, but qualified as a chartered accountant five years later. It was during his first job, at engineering conglomerate GKN PLC, that the "light dawned," he recalls. At that time, computers were expensive and cumbersome, yet increasingly companies were using them to run back-office operations such as payroll.

So in 1965, with two colleagues and loans from their parents, he set up ACT, designing software systems and offering computer services to corporate accounting departments. To do the computing, he borrowed a mainframe from a cotton producer in Manchester. Mr. Foster and his colleagues drove the two-hour commute each day in a borrowed car, programming the mainframe in Manchester at night and running the Birmingham office during the day. Its one-size-fits-all packaged software -- an early indication that Mr. Foster could spot technological trends ahead of the market -- is similar in concept to the corporate software that has made SAP AG of Germany a giant in the information-technology world today.

After two years, ACT started making a profit. In fact, it was so successful that it became, in 1979, the first British software company to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange; the shares doubled in price on the first day of trading.

Soon after, however, Mr. Foster decided that the future lay in hardware, not software. A little chip company called Intel Corp. had launched the first microprocessors not long before, and a few entrepreneurs in the U.S. and Europe saw a future in small, personal computers made from them. Says Mr. Foster: "If we have been good at anything, it has been seeing the first wave and getting on it. Based on a gut feeling, we were correct in identifying that more and more people would use a PC."

After distributing a U.S.-made PC called the Sirius for a couple of years, ACT started making its own version in late 1982. The result, called the Apricot, was a phenomenal success. The name -- at a time another silicon fruit, the Apple, was starting to sell in the U.S. -- derived very loosely from some of the letters in the company's name: APplIed COmpuTer Techniques. Most of the early work on the Apricot was done in a workshop opposite a zoo. Within twelve months, a factory was built on a greenfield site in Scotland. Senior management were coaxed onto the factory floor to help run the production line and proofread the software manuals.

The computer was a hit. Between 1983 and 1985, ACT sold between 40,000 and 50,000 Apricots a year, a huge amount then and more than anyone else in the U.K., including IBM. It also transformed the company's fortunes. The original Apricot, a design classic, is celebrated in a glass case in London's prestigious Victoria & Albert Museum. At ACT's height, the company threw a gala at the Royal Albert Hall replete with dancing girls, dry ice and thousands of guests. One marketing whiz suggested hiring a Harrier Jump-Jet to pick up a PC in Scotland and zip it straight to London.

"It was a real jamboree," recalls Peter Horne, one of Apricot's early co-founders, and now head of Mitsubishi Electric Corp.'s world-wide PC division. "We couldn't make enough to satisfy demand."

Bad Bite
But ACT let the advantage slip. "We got carried away and began to think that whatever we did, it would be equally successful," Mr. Foster says.

The first mistake, common to many European technology companies, was a foray across the ocean. In 1985, ACT launched a $7 million advertising campaign in the U.S. aimed at stealing market share from Apple Computer Corp. The ads featured a photo of an apricot alongside an apple. As the series unfolded, the apricot grew, the apple shrank and eventually a big bite was taken out of the apple. In fact, the campaign flopped and the U.S. sortie cost ACT $14 million in 14 months of operation.

And one trend Mr. Foster failed to spot proved fatal: The rise of IBM-compatible computing. Apricot, which ran a version of Microsoft's MS-DOS operating system, had a hardware architecture peculiar to itself; it stuck to that even while the world's software designers were flocking to write IBM-only software. Somewhat grudgingly, Mr. Foster concedes being late in shifting to the IBM standard. "If we got the timing wrong, it was six to nine months, not a year," he says.

ACT tried to catch up. On a sunny winter morning in 1986, Mr. Foster announced at a fortnightly R&D meeting that no more Apricot-compatible machines would be made; the industry trend toward IBM was to be followed, belatedly. People at the meeting recall a hushed silence descending over the room. "The entire R&D staff could have walked out," says John Leftwich, a former colleague who attended the meeting, and is now marketing chief for Microsoft in Europe. "The fact that none left and all knuckled down to the new job speaks a lot about loyalty" to Mr. Foster, he adds.

But it was too late. Margins on the Apricot computer began to be squeezed following the rise of cost-efficient, PC-clone manufacturers like Compaq Computer Corp. "It wasn't a good time to be a domestic player surrounded by a handful of world players," says Mr. Foster. He partly blames ACT's problems on its tiny U.K. sales base: Sales stagnated in 1986 at around 100 million pounds ($164 million), the high set in 1985. ACT's profit of more than 10.5 million pounds in 1985 turned into a loss of 15 million pounds in 1986, as the company jettisoned its non-IBM-compatible inventory.

In the end, ACT was forced to sell the Apricot business. Because of the company's reputation, interest in the global computer industry was high: Commodore, Intel and Acer Corp. all considered bidding. In the end, Japan's Mitsubishi bought it. The sale price of 39 million pounds was "outstanding, as the company had no [tangible] assets and made no money," says Mr. Foster. (In February 1998, Mitsubishi disclosed it will no longer offer Apricot as a consumer product in Britain.)

At the time of the sale, Mr. Foster had plans to pursue: "I am a person who looks to the future, and the day was done in hardware." Financial software was

Ergebnisse (Russisch) 1:

Вот некоторые из самых плодовитых предпринимателей в компьютерной истории: Steve Джобс, Билл Гейтс, Roger Фостер. Roger кто?Правда Этот британский предприниматель не нарицательным--но если история любой справедливости, он бы. Более 30 лет, через ряд предприятий г-н Фостер имеет сноровки для пятнать следующая большая волна в отрасли.В 1960 году, это был компьютер «аутсорсинг»: его компании, применяется компьютерной техники ООО, среди первых сделать бизнес из делают другие компании вычислительной работы. Потом был «термоусадочный» программного обеспечения для бизнеса. В начале 80-х годов пришли его 15 секунд славы, как создатель абрикос персонального компьютера, один из первых бизнес-ПК, которые, на некоторое время, превзошел даже International Business Machines Corp. PC в Великобритании.Но закон споткнулся. Абрикос бизнес испортились. Теперь бизнес-программного обеспечения предприятия, финансовые объекты Ltd., г-н Фостер, 57 лет и до сих пор тренд-кровянистые выделения, что он предсказывает воля быть следующей большой вещью.Взгляд на г-н Фостер карьера освещает основные урок от беспощадный мир компьютера предпринимательства: даже если вы выигрываете высшую оценку в отделе идеи, убедитесь, что вы не фланк практический экзамен. История отрасли завален иже. Существует Адам Осборн, которого Осборн Computer Corp. был пионером в портативных компьютеров--до банкротства в начале 1980-х годов. Существует Чак Педдл, основатель Виктор Technologies Inc. и компьютер дизайнер теперь банкрота в 80-х годов ныне Commodore International Ltd. И тогда есть Roger Фостер."I think his anonymity speaks for itself, doesn't it?" says Martin Campbell Kelly, a historian of computer science at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England.Some -- including Mr. Foster -- put part of the blame on Britain: In so small a market, with low economies of scale and scarce financial resources, it's tough to compete head-on with deep-pocketed Americans. According to colleagues -- he won't tell -- Mr. Foster is worth about $35 million. Just for the sake of comparison, Bill Gates, who used to visit then-mighty ACT in the early 1980s when Microsoft Corp. was just a microchip, is now worth about $39 billion. Foster partisans draw a simple lesson: "When it didn't quite work, it wasn't because he was wrong. It was because he was British," says Chris Winn, a former board member of ACT.But more critical observers say the fault lay in not being bold enough in pushing those clever ideas through to their logical conclusions. "When you get to a certain point in time you have to take your product to the next stage; and that isn't Roger's strength," says Harvey Parr, who ran two ACT subsidiaries in the early 1990s.Mr. Foster concedes pulling back at key moments. "Maybe when the opportunity came and we had to push the boat out, I preferred to stay on dry land."Хотя г-н Фостер является предпринимателем, он не является удалого разновидности. Он называет себя хороший, твердый бизнесмен, один с карьерой отмечен неуклонный прогресс. «Мой отец был бухгалтером, мой брат является бухгалтером и всегда мы заплатили наши счета. Мы не один из тех клетчатый истории бум и бюст.»Конечно он в пуговицах вида парень. Один из последних день, ниже его на заказ костюм только некоторые яркие красные носки и ботинки могут выделили его от финансового директора. И он зарезервирован, коллеги говорят. В 1980-х годах в закон, помимо случайные раунд матче гольф или теннис, ближайший заглянуть, большинство коллег получил его личной жизни является участником он бросил в его стаффордширского домом для празднования годовщины акта. Тем не менее он командует ожесточенные лояльность от коллег, которых он ожидает, чтобы быть совершенным, как он относится к задаче. Он редко вызвал гнев; но сотрудники научились баллотироваться на крышку, когда его глаза ледяной синий.Заимствованные стартОн оставил школу в 16, но квалификацию дипломированного бухгалтера пять лет спустя. Именно во время его первая работа, в инженерные конгломерат ГКН PLC, что «свет осенило»,-вспоминает он. В то время были компьютеры, дорогостоящей и громоздкой, но все больше и больше компаний используют их для выполнения операций бэк офиса, таких как заработной платы.Так в 1965 году, с двумя коллегами и кредиты от своих родителей, он создал закон, проектирование программных систем и предлагая услуги компьютер к корпоративной бухгалтерии. Чтобы сделать вычислений, он заимствовал ЭВМ от производителей хлопка в Манчестере. Г-н Фостер и его коллеги поехал-двухчасовая ездить каждый день в заимствованных автомобилей, программирование ЭВМ в Манчестере в ночное время и работает офис Бирмингем в течение дня. Ее универсальное комплекты программного обеспечения--признак раннего, что г-н Фостер можно заметить технологических тенденций впереди рынка--похожа по концепции на корпоративное программное обеспечение, которое сделало SAP AG в Германии гигант в мире информационных технологий сегодня.После двух лет закон начал делать прибыль. В самом деле он был настолько успешным, что в 1979 году, он стал первый британский программного обеспечения компании в список своих акций на Лондонской фондовой бирже; акций в цене вдвое в первый день торгов.Вскоре после этого, однако, г-н Фостер решил что будущее лежит в оборудования, не программного обеспечения. Маленький чип компании под названием Intel Corp. приступила Первые микропроцессоры не задолго до того, и несколько предпринимателей в США и Европе видели будущее в малых, персональных компьютеров, из них. Г-н Фостер говорит: «Если мы были хорошо ничего, он был видим первой волны и получать на него. Основанный на шестое чувство, мы были правы в определении что больше и больше людей будут использовать ПК».После того, как распространение американского производства ПК под названием Сириус на пару лет, Закон начал делать свою собственную версию в конце 1982 года. Результат, называется абрикос, был феноменальный успех. Имя--в то время еще кремния фрукты, яблоко, начинает продавать в США--очень слабо, полученных от некоторых букв в названии компании: применения компьютерной техники. Большинство ранних работ на абрикос было сделано в мастерской напротив зоопарка. В течение двенадцати месяцев завод был построен на месте Гринфилд в Шотландии. Старших руководителей были уговорил на завод слово для того, чтобы помочь запустить производственной линии и корректуру руководства программного обеспечения.Компьютер был хитом. Между 1983 и 1985 годах акт проданы между абрикосы 40 000 и 50 000 в год, то огромное количество и больше, чем кто-либо в Великобритании, включая IBM. Он также преобразован компании судьбы. Оригинальные абрикос, Дизайн классический, празднуется в витрине в Лондоне в престижных музей Виктории и Альберта. На высоте закона компания бросил гала-концерт в Королевском Альберт-холле изобилует танцы девушек, сухого льда и тысячи гостей. Один маркетинга свист предложил найма Харриер Перейти-Jet подобрать ПК в Шотландии и zip прямо в Лондон.«Это был реальный Джамбори» напоминает Питером Хорн, один из абрикос в начале основателей и теперь руководитель отдела Mitsubishi Electric Corp. мире ПК. «Мы не могли сделать достаточно, чтобы удовлетворить спрос».
Bad Bite
But ACT let the advantage slip. "We got carried away and began to think that whatever we did, it would be equally successful," Mr. Foster says.

The first mistake, common to many European technology companies, was a foray across the ocean. In 1985, ACT launched a $7 million advertising campaign in the U.S. aimed at stealing market share from Apple Computer Corp. The ads featured a photo of an apricot alongside an apple. As the series unfolded, the apricot grew, the apple shrank and eventually a big bite was taken out of the apple. In fact, the campaign flopped and the U.S. sortie cost ACT $14 million in 14 months of operation.

And one trend Mr. Foster failed to spot proved fatal: The rise of IBM-compatible computing. Apricot, which ran a version of Microsoft's MS-DOS operating system, had a hardware architecture peculiar to itself; it stuck to that even while the world's software designers were flocking to write IBM-only software. Somewhat grudgingly, Mr. Foster concedes being late in shifting to the IBM standard. "If we got the timing wrong, it was six to nine months, not a year," he says.

ACT tried to catch up. On a sunny winter morning in 1986, Mr. Foster announced at a fortnightly R&D meeting that no more Apricot-compatible machines would be made; the industry trend toward IBM was to be followed, belatedly. People at the meeting recall a hushed silence descending over the room. "The entire R&D staff could have walked out," says John Leftwich, a former colleague who attended the meeting, and is now marketing chief for Microsoft in Europe. "The fact that none left and all knuckled down to the new job speaks a lot about loyalty" to Mr. Foster, he adds.

But it was too late. Margins on the Apricot computer began to be squeezed following the rise of cost-efficient, PC-clone manufacturers like Compaq Computer Corp. "It wasn't a good time to be a domestic player surrounded by a handful of world players," says Mr. Foster. He partly blames ACT's problems on its tiny U.K. sales base: Sales stagnated in 1986 at around 100 million pounds ($164 million), the high set in 1985. ACT's profit of more than 10.5 million pounds in 1985 turned into a loss of 15 million pounds in 1986, as the company jettisoned its non-IBM-compatible inventory.

In the end, ACT was forced to sell the Apricot business. Because of the company's reputation, interest in the global computer industry was high: Commodore, Intel and Acer Corp. all considered bidding. In the end, Japan's Mitsubishi bought it. The sale price of 39 million pounds was "outstanding, as the company had no [tangible] assets and made no money," says Mr. Foster. (In February 1998, Mitsubishi disclosed it will no longer offer Apricot as a consumer product in Britain.)

At the time of the sale, Mr. Foster had plans to pursue: "I am a person who looks to the future, and the day was done in hardware." Financial software was

Ergebnisse (Russisch) 3:

вот некоторые из наиболее активных предпринимателей в компьютерной истории: стив джобс, билл гейтс, роджер фостер.роджер, кто?

, безусловно, это британский предприниматель не является непререкаемым авторитетом, - но если истории не справедливости, он будет.за более чем 30 лет, через ряд предприятий, мистер фостер должен был определять следующий большой волны в промышленности.

в 1960 - е годы,это был компьютер "аутсорсинг": его компания, прикладных компьютерных технологий ", был одним из первых, на то, чтобы сделать бизнес из других компаний вычислений.потом был "в термоусадочный материал" пакетов программного обеспечения для бизнеса.в начале 80 - х пришел его 15 секунд славы, как создатель абрикоса, персональный компьютер, одним из первых бизнес - пк, что на какое - то время,outsold даже International Business Machines "PC в великобритании.

но закон наткнулся.абрикоса, бизнес - веру.мистер фостер, 57 лет и по - прежнему определении тенденций, есть деловое программное обеспечение предприятия, финансовые объектов ", в том, что он предсказывает будет следующей большой звездой.

смотрите мистер фостер карьеры подчеркивает основной урок беспощадном мире компьютер предпринимательства:даже если вы набрали высшие оценки в идеи департамента, убедитесь, что вы не завалил практический экзамен.промышленность в истории много его присным.там адам осборн, чьи осборн компьютер "был пионером в портативных компьютеров - до его банкротства в начале 1980 - х годов. вот и чак торговать, основатель сейчас банкротом виктор технологий.