Artifact Details

Title

Esber, Edward M., Jr. oral history

Catalog Number

102657944

Type

Document

Description

In this interview, Edward M. Esber, Jr. (commonly known as Ed) discusses his career with two key software companies: VisiCorp, the publisher of the spreadsheet VisiCalc and other Visi products; and Ashton-Tate, which was primarily known as the producer of the dBase database products. He discusses his early career at IBM, his MBA at the Harvard Business School and a key job that he held at Texas Instruments. In explaining his work at VisiCorp, he talks about his relationship with Dan Fylstra, the company's relationship with ComputerLand and the importance of both the Apple II computer and the Microsoft DOS operating system. For his career at Ashton-Tate, Esber talks about his management and marketing activities and the company's merger with Borland Software. The interview explores the connections within the early PC software industry and the general career path of the first leaders of that industry.

Date

2004-11-19

Contributor

Esber, Edward M., Jr., Interviewee
Garcia, Christopher, Cameraperson
Grad, Burt, Editor
Grier, David, Interviewer

Publisher

Computer History Museum

Place of Publication

Mountain View, Calif.

Identifying Numbers

Other number OHP 101

Extent

26 p.

Category

Transcription

Subject

Software business history; Esber, Edward; Personal Software (company); VisiCorp; Ashton-Tate; Borland; Texas Instruments, Inc. (TI); Flystra, Dan; Cole, David; VISICALC; dBase II; Product marketing; Creative Labs; SoloPoint; Product acquisitions; Kahn, Philippe

Collection Title

Oral history collection

Lot Number

X3005.2005