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Concept
Bob Wallace (computer scientist)
Summary
Bob Wallace (May 29, 1949 – September 20, 2002) was an American software developer, programmer and the ninth Microsoft employee. He was the first popular user of the term shareware, creator of the word processing program PC-Write, founder of the software company Quicksoft and an "online drug guru" who devoted much time and money into the research of psychedelic drugs. Bob ended his Usenet posts with the phrase, "Bob Wallace (just my opinion)."
Bob Wallace was born in Arlington, Virginia. He first worked on computers as a member of an Explorer Scout troop sponsored by Control Data Corp. in Bethesda, Maryland. His father was an economist who later became Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during the administration of John F. Kennedy.
Beginning in 1967, Wallace attended Brown University, where he worked on the pioneering hypertext with Andries van Dam and Ted Nelson. After attending the University of California, Santa Cruz for two years (where he briefly majored in theatre), he received his undergraduate degree (1974) and master's degree (1978) 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. He was a key developer of TI BASIC. 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, Megan Dana-Wallace, 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.
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