Bob Wallace
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Bob Wallace (May 29, 1949 - September 20, 2003), was the ninth Microsoft employee, inventor of the term shareware, creator of the word processing program PC-Write, founder of the software company Quicksoft and a "online drug guru" who devoted much time and money into the research of psychedelic drugs. His home in Marin was the location used in many of the Friday night dinners. Bob was also noted for ending his Usenet posts with the phrase, "Just my opinion".
Bob Wallace was born in Arlington, Virginia. His father was a speechwriter for John F. Kennedy who later became Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. Bob attended Brown University and later received his Masters in computer science from the University of Washington.
Wallace worked at the Retail Computer Store in Seattle, where he learned about Microsoft after Bill Gates put up a sign advertising for programmers. He joined Microsoft in 1978 as the 9th employee. His first project was to connect a computer to an IBM Selectric typewriter so the company could print software manuals. In the late 1970s, Wallace and Gates were known for their hijinks, and one incident involved breaking into a construction site and driving bulldozers, at one point almost running over Gates's Porsche.
In 1983, Wallace left Microsoft to form Quicksoft and distribute PC-Write using the shareware concept, which he helped originate. In 1996, Wallace and his wife started Mind Books, a bookstore that offered publications about psychoactive plants and compounds. In 1998, they started the Promind Foundation, which helped support scientific research, public education, and harm reduction efforts related to psychedelics.
Wallace also served on the Board of Directors for the Heffter Research Institute and helped financially support the most important organizations in the field, including the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), the Heffter Research Institute, Erowid (responsible for half of Erowid's funding from 2000-2002), DanceSafe, the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics, EcstasyData, Black Rock Arts Foundation, and a number of other projects.
Bob died unexpectedly of pneumonia in San Rafael, California at age 53. On hearing of Wallace's death, Paul Allen was quoted as saying, "I remember Bob as a gentle soul who was soft-spoken, but creative, persistent and meticulous in his programming and thinking."
See also
External links
- Seattle Times biography of Bob Wallace (http://www.maps.org/media/bobwallace9.24.02.html)
- Bob Wallace biography (as a PDF file) (http://lazowska.cs.washington.edu/Wallace.pdf)
- Google's archive of Bob Wallace's Usenet posts. (http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=author:bobw%40promind.com+)