Title:
Oral History of Mitch Kapor

Date:
2004-11-19

Pages:
23 p.

Interviewer:
Aspray, William; interviewer
Kapor, Mitch; interviewee
Walton, Mike; cameraperson
Grad, Burton; editor

Abstract:
Mitch Kapor, the founder of the Lotus Development Corporation, talks about his personal education and his various pre-computer and early computing activities. He covers the creation of Tiny Troll which later became VisiTrend and VisiPlot which were marketed by Personal Software along with VisiCalc. He discusses working for Personal Software and his reasons for leaving and then starting Lotus Development. He goes into some detail about the specification and development of Lotus 1-2-3 and its great success in the marketplace. He describes some of the other products developed at Lotus and his leaving the company. He tells about his role as “godfather” to Lotus Notes. He concludes by discussing some of his projects and interests since leaving Lotus.

Keywords:
Kapor, Mitch
Tiny Troll
Personal Software
VisiCorp
VisiTrend
VisiPlot
Rosen, Ben
Bricklin, Dan
Frankston, Bob
Flystra, Dan
Software Arts
Sachs, Jonathan
Manzi, Jim
Lotus 1-2-3
Lotus Notes
Ozzie, Ray
Electronic Frontier Foundation

Rights:
Computer History Museum

102657943