Levy_S-Hackers-Heroes-Computer-Revolution

dozens of new software companies that had taken booths that year.John had gotten the courage by then to ask a few companies whether they neededany programs on the Atari. They generally said no. Then he reached the boothrented by On-Line Systems. Someone introduced him to Ken Williams, whoseemed nice, and John told Ken that he was an assembly-language businessprogrammer, but he was kind of fed up with it.Ken Williams at that time had been discovering that people who could write goodassembly-language games were rare finds. He wanted to lure these assemblylanguageprogrammers to Coarse-gold, California. On-Line Systems had seenexplosive growth at the last Computer Faire, Ken had been testing the waters forMystery House, and one year later he was an established game publisher, in needof products. He had placed an ad in So/talk headlined "Authors Wanted,"promising "highest royalties in the industry... No need to ever work anyone else'shours again." The ad mentioned another benefit: a chance to work with Apple guruKen Williams, who would "be personally available at any time for technicaldiscussions, helping to debug, brainstonning..." Ken was smart enough to realizethat the programmers to create these products were not necessarily veterancomputer workers. They might well be awkward teen-agers. Like John Harris."Well," Ken said to John Harris, not missing a beat, "how would you like toprogram amongst the trees?"As appealing as that sounded, it meant working for On-Line Systems, which JohnHarris knew a little about. He knew they sold mostly Apple software. "I don'tknow the Apple system," he said, tactfully omitting that as far as he did know theApple system he wanted to flush it down a toilet.Ken said the magic words. "We want to expand to the Atari system. We justhaven't found anyone who can program it."John was almost speechless."Can you program it?" Ken asked.Within a month. Ken Williams had bought John Harris a plane ticket to Fresno,where he was picked up at the airport and driven up Route 41 to Oakhurst. Kenpromised Harris a place to live, and then they started talking salary. John had justgotten a raise at Gamma, so the one thousand dollars a month Ken offered himwould actually have been a pay cut. John found the courage to say that he wasgetting more than that now. Did Ken think he could pay twelve hundred a month,