Item Details

Description

The collection includes financial, personnel, and legal records pertaining to MicroPro, documentation of marketing and sales of MicroPro products, and information about new product development. There is also a small amount of papers more specifically pertaining to Seymour Rubinstein himself and not MicroPro as a company. This collection does not include content about Rubinstein’s work with other companies, and contains limited information about MicroPro’s other products besides WordStar.

Biographical/Historical Note

Seymour I. Rubinstein, an influential innovator within the software industry, was born in 1934. He grew up in New York, received a B.S. from City University of New York and an M.B.A. from the Baruch School of Business. Rubinstein ran his first program on an IBM mainframe 1620 in 1963, which sparked his interest in a career in computing. In 1964, Rubinstein was hired at Sanders Associates as their Manager of Programming Development for the Data Systems Division. At Sanders he developed a telecommunications software interface for CRT terminals. He went on to work as a computer programming manager, and as a consultant to a variety of firms. He designed several telecommunication software systems in the fields of banking, law firm management, and online credit card authorization. He was also Director of Marketing for IMSAI Manufacturing Corporation, providing leadership on management and product development strategies.

Rubinstein founded MicroPro International Corporation (MicroPro) in June, 1978. At MicroPro, Rubinstein served as President and Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board, and later as Chairman Emeritus. MicroPro released word processing software WordStar, one of the first commercially successful applications for the personal computer, in 1979. MicroPro had many software products, but WordStar’s success was a primary driver of MicroPro’s $70 million valuation when the company went public in 1984.

Rubinstein led the development of WordStar, working with programmer Rob Barnaby whom he had met at IMSAI. In 1990, Rubinstein was sued by former CEO of IMSAI, Bill Millard, who accused Rubinstein of stealing trade secrets to create WordStar. However, Rubinstein was not found guilty.

Rubinstein claims responsibility for creating the end user software licensing agreement, a current industry standard, as well as for innovating the practice of creating distribution agreements with foreign vendors. Both of these developments contributed to the accelerated growth of the software industry.

Rubinstein continued to be active in the software industry until the mid 2000s. In 1987 he worked on developing a spreadsheet called Surpass, which was later sold to Borland International and renamed Quattro Pro. In 1995, he founded a company called Prompt Software, which specialized in internet and intranet research as well as document management tools. In 2005, Rubinstein became the director for business development of Avatier Corporation. He also held directorships at large corporations including IMSI, InterTrust Technologies, and Prompt Software.

Level of description

Folder

Date

1978-1986 (Made), 1981-1986 (Bulk)

Publisher

Computer History Museum (Publisher)

Extent

3.75 linear feet, 3 record cartons

Subject

Word Processing

Collection title

Seymour Rubinstein collection of MicroPro International Corporation records

Credit

Gift of Seymour Rubinstein

Catalogue number

102762352

Lot number

X4735.2008