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Chris Espinosa

And that, dear readers, is how I heard that Guy’s software company pitch was canned; I wasn’t going to be taking over for him; instead I’d be working for Ed Colby in System Software Product Marketing.

And that my old group, User Education, was merging with Apple II/III User Education and all my directs would be working for that group’s manager, not for me anymore. That was just one of the many One Apple group mergers Sculley had directed Gassée to make.

28 comments
Chris Espinosa replied to Chris

(@scottknaster knows the punchline)

And that group manager, to whom all of my old directs would now be working, who’d been running Apple II and III Pubs while I was doing Mac and Lisa, was my mother.

There’d been a corporate power struggle for control of a merged 100-person team, I’d lost, my Mom won, and I was five thousand miles away before I even heard about it.

(My Mom was a great manager, and while she questioned some of my hiring choices, most of my folk loved working for her.)

Chris Espinosa replied to Chris

And that’s the story of how I went to Europe, lost my group to my Mom, but did get a great car.

Aulia Masna :verified: replied to Chris

@Cdespinosa that was fascinating to read. Thanks, Chris

paulmather007 replied to Chris

@Cdespinosa What an amazing story! Thank you for posting!

Joshua Jung replied to Chris

@Cdespinosa That was amazing storytelling, what a fun way to start in to the week. Thank you! I guess it took us another ten-ish years until we got widespread DTMF over here in Germany…

Scott Knaster replied to Chris

@Cdespinosa A fabulous story, superbly told.

Robin Phillips replied to Chris

@Cdespinosa this was a great story; I enjoyed reading it a lot. Amused by the thought of family dinners afterwards.

Also, saw this article the other day and it seemed timely considering. Thought you might appreciate it.

theguardian.com/technology/202

Nigel ✅ replied to Chris

@Cdespinosa Love these old stories. I worked for a reseller from 1988-1998 in Australia, but first machine was a II Plus in 1981. Great days. The best.

🏴🦄 Ugo 🏳️‍🌈🏴 replied to Chris

@Cdespinosa what a story! Many thanks for sharing 🙂.

Betsy Langowski replied to Chris

@Cdespinosa using a DTMF tone generator and leaving voicemails is still how we communicate with each other in evangelism. Well, when our sophisticated network of mail carrier pigeons needs a rest, anyway. 😝 great read and a great car!

Tyler Hillsman replied to Chris

@Cdespinosa Amazing story, in many ways. Thanks for sharing, Chris! 😊

Claus Hesseling replied to Chris

@Cdespinosa What a story! And the only time that Osnabrück is mentioned in the same sentence as revolutionary high tech stuff

Phil replied to Chris
LL af R :jerry_hand: replied to Chris

@Cdespinosa did not see your mom entering the story coming, plot twist!!

Tommy Thorn replied to Chris

@Cdespinosa Back then you could REALLY disconnect. I remember and I miss it. No vacation is really the same anymore. But talk about perfect time on yours :)

Elin replied to Chris

@Cdespinosa what an incredible story! Thanks for sharing.
I do remember going to the PTT in France so my parents could call home to their parents to check if things were okay.
Later we could just call them (but still from the post office). Even later my dad took his work mobile phone with him.

Jonathan Wight replied to Chris

@Cdespinosa Was that the VW you bought by selling AAPL stock that would be worth gazillions today?

Chris Espinosa replied to Jonathan

@schwa If (totally hypothetically) I had chosen not to buy a $12,000 car in March 1985, invested that sum in $AAPL instead, and held it until today, it would be worth twenty five million dollars.

ThatKomputerKat :neocat_cool: replied to Chris

@Cdespinosa @schwa back in the early 80’s my mom’s aunt convinced her not to invest in Microsoft. :blobcatcoffee:

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