Re: How did people find out about Byte (was Re: Byte Magazine: 18 Vintage issues, 1985-1986)

[Michael Black <blackm00@CAM.ORG>]

On 11 Aug 1999, Mike Albaugh wrote:

> jsavard@ecn.ab.ca wrote:
> : David Harmon (source@netcom.com) wrote:
> : : On Mon, 2 Aug 1999 12:14:28 GMT in comp.arch.embedded,
> : : bill@wjv.com.REMOVEME (Bill Vermillion) wrote:
> 
> : : >Well Interface Age had a lot of really good stuff in it too,
> : : >though not in the same league at Byte.
> : : >
> : : >A lot of early users had also come from the Ham radio arena
> : : >and Wayne Green was never shy to promote his new magazines :-)
> 
> : : And what was the name of Wayne Green's computer magazine?  
> : : Kilobaud, or something like that, if I recall.
> 
> : That was *after* he lost Byte. Yes, it was Kilobaud.
> 
> 	That was _after_ Virginia's lawyers had a little talk with
> him. Before that it was Kilobyte :-) (For those just _barely_
> following, Wayne started Byte, then got divorced. His ex-wife
> (Virginia Peshke? ) got Byte as part of the divorce settlement.
> 
> 						Mike
> | albaugh@agames.com, speaking only for myself
> 
> 
Wayne and Virginia were divorced long before Byte,  Wayne wrote about the
split in 73 back in 1968.  He went on and remarried, and had a child,
before Byte began.

Knowing that, it did seem odd to see Virginia's name show up in the early
Bytes.

Years later, the story I read was that Wayne was having legal problems at
the time (with Bell Telephone, for a series about telephones that included
bits about phone phreaking, and with the IRS, both of which he'd written
about at the time).  Somehow, the experts said it would be best to put
Byte in someone else's name.  I don't know whether they specifically said
his ex-wife, and I'm not quite sure why she would be brought back into the
picture years later.

Three issues later, the magazine was of course lifted out from Wayne, it
always seemed like it was overnight, and there was nothing Wayne could do
about it.

Carl Helmers (whatever happened to him  I know about Robotics Age)
editor of Byte, who Wayne had picked, mentioned at least once in his
editorials that one of his favorite books was Robert Heinlein's A Door
Into Summer.  The story is about time travel and someone who invents a
household robot, and the company gets lifted right out from underneath the
inventor overnight.

The parallel between the story and the magazine always seemed fairly
strong.  Every time I think about it, I wonder if there is any connection
between fiction and fact.

   Michael