Bob Frankston
Writings
I'm continuing to post my new writings here (Essays, commentary, etc). You can also see a curated list of writings and videos at Further Readings.
Background
To learn more about me and my half century of computer experience, see my bio. Among other activities I write the "Bits Vs. Electrons" column in the IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine.
My current interest is moving beyond the 19th century concept of telecom to community owned infrastructure. This would add hundreds of billions of dollars to the US economy and much more value to the world by creating opportunity for what we can't yet imagine. It also aligns with the new reality. Now that phone calls are apps we can't continue to pretend the infrastructure is still cost center. It is now community infratructure.
I've been working with computers since 1963. I graduated MIT with my undergraduate degrees in 1970 and continued in graduate school. I worked on the Multics projects as well as used the predecessor of the Internet beginning in 1969. Commercially I supported online services since 1966. In 1979 I went from the mainframe world to the PC industry and co-founded Software Arts with Dan Bricklin where I implemented his concept of VisiCalc. I was with Lotus Development from 1986 to 1990 where I created Lotus Express (and started Lotus.com though it was before the Web). At Microsoft from 1993 to 1998 I championed Internet-style connectivity thus making networking accessible to individuals as "Home Networking".
For more on my current efforts to build on the ideas behind the Internet as our new infrastructure see my current writings here. There is also a curated summary of my writings and talks.
Contacting Me
You can send me email: SiteEmail.
