Darwinian Web

Bio

Since I first started programming in 1980, I've done just about everything you could do with software. I've written it, sold it, published it, documented it, taught it, written books, newsletters, and magazine articles about it. I've even driven a truck to deliver software to stores.

In the early 1980s I was a software entrepreneur who started SoftwareBanc, one of the first software mail-order companies. I was one of the biggest advertisers in InfoWorld in 1984. Until the crash came, and we had to shut it down. Failing spectacularly in my early twenties was the best thing that could have happened to me. It taught me that even though I'm bright I'm not always right. Luckily, I had also written the first book on the dBASE language in 1982 and had started teaching a series of dBASE seminars around the country. Those were pretty low-tech days, I could teach with just a whiteboard and a marker in front of the room.

When SoftwareBanc crashed, I started writing and teaching full-time and became a professional pundit. This was a great gig, and I was able to ride the dBASE wave until Microsoft killed it with Access in 1992.

After ~~bumming around~~ consulting for a few years, I fell in love with the Internet in March, 1995, and rode the dot-com bubble right to the top. I helped start Andover.net, which went public in December, 1999. Luckily, we turned around and sold it to VA Linux two months later, just before the crash. I was the CTO at Andover, and got to code and later act as architect for some pretty nice sites, almost all of which VA killed after they acquired us. But, hey it's not as if we created the cure for cancer. If they wanted to pay $950,000,000 in stock for something and then throw it away, that's their right.

I left Andover soon after the acquisition was complete and took a little nap for about 18 months. When I finally recovered, I decided to step away from the computer world for a while and just read interesting books about history and philosophy. I soon realized that telling people I was spending my time reading was less than impressive, so I went to Harvard to get a Masters degree in History of Science. When I told people I was going to Harvard for grad school, they'd go "Oh, Harvard!" in a suitably impressed way. Of course, all I was really doing was reading lots of interesting books about history and philosophy. Harvard is a very strange place. Every once in a while you have to look around and realize that everybody there is someone who got into Harvard.

I graduated in June, and after looking around the computer world I realized that another wave was coming. So I decided to get back up and start surfing again. This blog is my way of exploring the new world of the Internet. I'll probably keep it up until I find a start-up idea that is worth nearly killing myself over again. You are welcome to join me for the ride.

Adam Green
Lexington, Mass.
October, 2005

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