I began studying PCs and trying to figure out what to do with one in 1986, with the help of a friend and PC mentor, Rory. From those experiences, thinking "if I cannot figure it out, how are non-technical people going to be able to?", I drafted a book proposal which eventually became "The PC Users Survival Guide" by M&T Books co-authored with Rory and Mike Todd.
When that first book was published about 1990 I had just started a new job in California working with data systems for scientific instrumentation. One of my first tasks was to evaluate and plan a million-dollar PC purchase from COMPAQ and the local support arrangements through ComputerLand.
A short while later I was working diligently to bring a new PC-based scientific data system to market from a British firm. Another company stole that product out from under me and other circumstances caused me to move on, eventually finding my way to a small company called DiagSoft while touring COMDEX-Las Vegas in 1990-1991. I went to work for DiagSoft covering technical support, built and ran their first dedicted QA lab, served as a technical marketing engineer, provided desktop and Novell LAN support, and helped Gordon Kraft bring his Electronic Technical Support Center (ETSC) to life and the market at COMDEX 1994 - boy was that a show! During this time I was exposed to so many vendors and so much PC technology my head was swimming. DiagSoft was sold to Sykes Enterprises, a huge tech support call center operation and I found work in my first corporate IT and networking environment at LSI Logic from 1995-1996. Later we learned that Sykes probably bought DiagSoft only to kill it and ETSC as they felt the technology could reduce the need for their call center services - they were probably right in some respects, and I've been trying to back-fill that void ever since.
Amidst all the fun at DiagSoft a second book, "Troubleshooting Your PC" came about - one of the first PC self-help books to be organized around specific types of problems and solutions. Early 1995 brought to opportunity to 'sell' the book with a short presentation on 'PCTV' - taking me to their studios in New Hampshire and a fateful weekend visiting the publisher in New York City. That one weekend in March 1995 brought "IRQ, DMA & I/O" into being - a whirlwind 89-day writing project describing *the rules* of PC configuration. To date no one has even attempted to match what has become a reference for PC technicians around the world. Many techs and programmers would do a lot better today if they had and read a copy.
In late 1995 I began writing the "Windows Advisor" column for Computer Currents magazine and had a blast exchanging e-mail with hundreds of users across the country, sharing their problems and solutions with thousands more who read the magazine. What fun!
At LSI Logic I learned quite a bit about how corporate/enterprise IT shops and outsourcing work, or do not. At the end of that tour of duty I was scooped up by Mike and Pat at an early dot-com startup called TuneUp.com. Billed as the "one-stop on-line service station for your PC" we endeavored to provide user-friendly support services and just the right utility software applications to help the majority of PC users. TuneUp.com later sold out to Quarterdeck, once a dream company in the industry, and I ended up there as TuneUp's product manager. Quarterdeck sold out to Symantec in 1998 and killed TuneUp as we knew it and wanted it to be.
In 1999 I found myself becoming all-to-immersed in Year 2000 issues, creating a couple of in-depth articles about the issues and non-issues, even traveling a bit to give keynote presentations to several hundred computer enthusiasts.From Quarterdeck/TuneUp.com I moved into a different level of on-line PC help, dabbling in applying artificial intelligence to PC problem resolution. Amidst all of this I began writing the "Windows Helpdesk" column for CNET.com. Quite a rush and an entirely new and larger audience to help. Despite the lack of 'interactive' content between readers and writers CNET still a great resource for tech information!
In 1999 moved on to a cute but too-complex and too-hung-up-in-dot-com-riches pop-up help software offering. After some $17-20M dollars in funding Aveo out-smarted and out-spent themselves and some high-end VCs into oblivion. It was a fun ride, best of all introducing me to a very significant effort fostered by Intel called the Ease of Use/PC Quality Roundtable. The EoU/PCQ Roundtable included participants from many major PC makers, as well as a few on-line and networking vendors. I may have been a little to direct for most of the group, but if you read their networking white paper, you'll see what a little direct common-sense, real-world experience can offer to understanding and improvements in PC use.
The experience with and demise of Aveo and their Attune product let me find my way into Phoenix Technologies - you know them - the Award and Phoenix BIOS people. This place has got more cool technology sitting dormant than you could ever imagine. Unfortunately the market and powers-that-be could not see their way to letting that technology make money. It's still sitting there, under wraps... probably awaiting re-discovery in a time capsule 100 years from now.
After Phoenix I found my way to becoming the IT manager at a 30-person marketing firm for about a year. Running one's "own shop", directly responsible for 'everything' technical that happens around the place is a real eye-opener. Through the course of time you do come to realize that users and often as not bad software and Windows are your greatest opportunities to provide solutions - in that order.
In late 2002 I had the opportunity to jump into the wireless networking space, something that was probably obvious given my prior and current amateur and two-way radio, and broadcasting background. You should be able to find a copy of "Installing, Troubleshooting and Repairing Wireless Networks" at a bookstore near you or on-line.
This brings us to the present day - with a few dozen software and support product marvels behind me, never again will they see the light of day, I seem to bear the "torch of TuneUp" - quite determined and vigilant in ensuring everyday PC users get exceptional support for their PC concerns, in person and in print.
You will probably not find another PC support tech, desktop 'guru', author/columnist, technical marketing engineer or just plain 'geek' with a background as rich and enlightening as mine. I love this stuff and the people I've helped know, feel, experience and benefit from it everytime I get to work with them.
Whether you are a novice with PCs or a veteran service tech, I hope you'll let me have the opportunity to help you!
Happy Bits! - Jim Aspinwall, aka WB9GVF