established - Desktop Video Group

company is called Micro Finance Systems,
and he's listed as the author of
VisiPlot and VisiTrend. In retrospect,
very small potatoes indeed, but Lotus
and 1 - 2 -3 are still lightyears away.
1982:
Hitting the
Big Time
The lean years are over, and the
BCS is regularly recognized in the
press, including articles in The Wall
Street Journal, Christian Science
Monitor, AP, UPI, People magazine,
and a plethora of lesser-known prints.
* * *
Membership reaches 3,000 in January;
the membership fee is $18, and
the membership application lists 13
groups. The office hires part-time
help. Now one person can stay in the
office while the other runs to the restroom.
This is definite progress. More
and more visitors drop by, supplemented
by an occasional lost tourist
or bum. The tiny office gets tinier.
The phone rings more often. We install
new lines, which ring constantly.
Jonathan calls daily and arrives by
bus on Friday afternoons.
* * *
IBM introduces its new personal
computer to BCS members at the
November General Meeting; the BCS
IBM User Group holds its first meeting
in January. Initial discussions for
creating a Computer Discovery Center
take place at the March Board meeting.
The BCS considers going national.
1983:
At a Turning Point
Membership has doubled in a
year's time---by January, it's reached
3,300. We hire an outside firm to
handle
membership fulfillment.
* * *
88 COMPUTER UPDATE
Reason to smile, The BCS member with the mustache grins as he cogitates about
some newfangled ideas he has for a software program. A few years later, he
shaves the 'stache, sports loud-looking shirts, gives his creation a catchy name,
and rides off into history. Meanwhile, Board member Allen Sneider, on left, thinks
to himself, "Now, if Mitch would only tell me what he's thinking..."