With more than 25 years of computer
experience and 15 years devoted to microcomputers, Fred has truly
witnessed the development of the personal computer as have few others.
The son of an IBM Fellow, Fred literally grew up on computers. He
participated in the testing and development of the BASIC computer
language when he was eleven through a timesharing hookup to the original
BASIC system at Dartmouth.
In the late '70s, Fred joined with the original personal computer
pioneers as one of the early promoters of the Apple II. One of the first
to successfully connect microcomputers to mainframes, while conducting
research on database publishing at Stanford, he served as a computer
consultant to large corporations and venture capitalists in the early
days of the industry. In 1983, Fred was one of the founders of
Ziff-Davis's computer publishing division, and worked on the start-up of
ZD's first computer publication,
A+ Magazine, which
rapidly became the leading publication about Apple computers. Later,
during Fred's tenure as Editor in Chief, A+ won the Computer Press
Association award for best computer magazine.
From A+, Fred moved to serve as Editor in Chief of
MacUser
magazine, where he founded MacUser Labs. He oversaw the development of
the magazine during its period of most dramatic growth, bringing it up
to parity with MacWorld. Next, Fred joined PC Magazine, the world's
leading computer publication. As editor and Director of PC Magazine
Labs, he helped develop benchmarks and scripts for testing thousands of
products under review. Later, as editor of
PC Week, he
founded PC Week Labs and helped establish PC Week as the leading product
information source for corporate computing. After leaving PC Week to
return to California, Fred helped launch and served as a columnist for a
number of Ziff-Davis publications including
Windows Sources,
Computer Life,
Family PC, and
the ZD Personal
Computing newspaper supplement. During Fred's 12-year tenure as a
senior executive at Ziff-Davis, he worked closely with CEO Bill Ziff and
other top management on company strategy, product positioning, and new
product development in areas including print, CD-ROM, trade shows, and
online. As a key proponent of ZD's "consultative sales" approach, Fred
worked with computer manufacturers such as Dell, Northgate, Zeos,
Gateway, and Micron to develop direct sales strategies that used
computer publications to create a new multi-billion dollar sales
channel.
Next, Fred worked with Wired CEO Louis Rosetto on the launch of
Wired magazine,
and was part of the original "Wired Brain Trust." After Wired, Fred
worked with C|NET CEO Halsey Minor as
an original member of the C|NET start-up team where he helped develop
both television and online strategies. At both Wired and C|NET Fred
played a major role in strategic issues, capital acquisition, marketing,
editorial development, and recruitment of key personnel.
From 1996 to mid-1997 Fred served as Director of Strategic Development
for CMP Media during the period leading up to their successful IPO in
August 1997. While working for CMP Media's CEO, Ken Cron, on long-term
business strategies, Fred also wrote articles and columns in various CMP
publications, including
Windows Magazine,
Home PC, and
Computer Reseller News.
Fred has also served as a columnist for the
San Jose Mercury News and
was the U.S. columnist for
EYE-COM, one of
Japan's leading computer magazines. Fred was a regular technology
commentator for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" and used
to co-host the radio call-in show "On Computers" with his pals John
Dvorak, Gina Smith, and Leo LaPorte. Fred has also served as President
of the Computer Institute a non-profit scientific and cultural
foundation involved in education research, the study of human-computer
ecology.
Fred has authored over a dozen computer books, including
The Complete IBM Personal
Computer -- the first hardware expansion guide to the IBM PC
published in the early 1980's. His 1985 book,
Desktop Publishing,
helped popularize the term and received an award from the Computer Press
Association. The New York Times hailed Fred's
Windows 3.1 Bible as
"the best" book on the topic. Fred also developed the Windows Bible
CD-ROM, released in early 1994. The Windows 95 Bible was released in
April of 1996, and his Windows 98 Bible (with co-author Kip Crosby) was
published in April 1998. In a different area, he is working on a book, A
Dictionary of Plant Names, to be published by Stanford University Press.
Fred has been named one of the most influential people
in the industry by several publications in both the U. S. and Japan, and
is listed in Who's Who in America. Fred has been widely quoted in
publications such as Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, The New
York Times, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, and the Atlantic
Monthly, and has appeared on many radio and television programs,
including NPR's "All Things Considered," "CBS Evening News," and "ABC
News."
From 1996-1997 Fred was part of the start-up team at Ask Jeeves, an
innovative internet search company. From 1997-2001 Fred was CEO of
Lumeria, a pioneering Internet security, privacy, and infomediary
company. During 2005 Fred served as CEO of PrivateTel, a technology
start-up focused on privacy solutions for telecommunications. Fred is
currently CEO of Eye Games, a computer entertainment start-up that has
created a new type of live action game that uses a web cam to put the
user inside the game, and also serves on the Board of Directors of
Linkify, the Computer Institute, and the Entrepreneurs' Resource
Network.
