本帖最后由 choi 于 3-31-2022 14:46 编辑
(1) James R Hagerty, John V Roach 1938-2022. 'Country Boy' Helped Launch Home Computer.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/tex ... ter-era-11648216800
Note:
(a)
(i) The English surname Roach is "from Old French roche (later replaced in England by rock, from the Norman byform rocque)." American comic Chris Rock is his real, birth name.
(ii) by-form (n): "a secondary form of a word <historically, 'inquire' is a by-form of 'enquire'>"
More example sentences
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/by-form
(b) Tandy Corporation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandy_Corporation
("Tandy began in 1919 when two friends, Norton Hinckley and Dave L Tandy, decided to start the Hinckley-Tandy Leather Company [in Fort Worth. TX] * * * Dave Tandy had a son, Charles [who became president and chairman of Tandy Corp] * * * In 1961, the company name was changed to Tandy Corporation. [in 1962 acquired RadioShack (1921- ; for $300,000 a 'almost bankrupt' 9-store chain in Boston selling to amateur or ham operators] Charles Tandy died on November 4, 1978, at the age of 60. * * * Tandy was one of three companies (along with Commodore International [founded by Jack Tramiel and Manfred Kapp in 1958 in Toronto; produced Commodore PET in 1977; moved operational headquarters to West Chester (25 miles west of Philadelphia and 17 miles north of Wilmington, DE), Pennsylvania] and Apple) that started the personal computer revolution in 1977 by introducing complete pre-assembled microcomputers instead of a kit. Their [black-and-white screen supplied by RCA] TRS-80 (1977) and TRS-80 Color Computer ('CoCo') (1980) line of home computers were popular in the years before the IBM PC became commonplace, and had wide distribution in Radio Shack stores at a time when there were few computer stores. By 1981, computers were the most important part of Tandy's sales")
(c) "Spurred on by a RadioShack buyer named Donald French"
buyer (n): "a person who has charge of the selection, purchasing, pricing, and display of the merchandise of a retail store"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/buyer
(2) James R Hagerty, Stephen Wilhite 1948-2022 GIF Inventor Began with Modest Aim.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/inv ... -age-74-11648154150
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Stephen Wilhite was merely trying to solve a technical problem when he invented the GIF, or graphics interchange format, in 1987. As a programmer at the computer-services firm CompuServe, he was seeking a way for users of incompatible computers to share graphics files.
The first GIF he created was unspectacular—a picture of an airplane. Only much later was the technology adapted for the brief, looping animations that jazz up social-media postings.
Mr Wilhite, who died March 14 of Covid-19 at the age of 74, 'never got 1 cent' out of his invention, said his wife, Kathaleen Wilhite. Nor, she said, did he complain about not making a fortune: 'He was just so proud that he had done that.'
He did win a Webby lifetime achievement award in 2013 for inventing the GIF. At the insistence of his wife, he rented a tuxedo for the ceremony. He used the occasion to inform the world that GIF is pronounced like Jif, the peanut butter brand.
Around the age of 51, he retired after suffering a stroke. He enjoyed tinkering with a model train layout at his home ain Milford, Ohio.
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