Andrew Fluegelman
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person
Andrew Cardozo Fluegelman (November 27, 1943 – Template:Circa July 6, 1985) was an American publisher, photographer, programmer and attorney<ref>California State Bar membership records.</ref> best known as a pioneer of what is now known as the shareware business model for software marketing. He was also the founding editor of both PC World and Macworld and the leader of the 1970s New Games movement, which advocated the development of noncompetitive games.
Early life
Fluegelman was raised in White Plains, New York.<ref name= loved>Rodgers, Michael (October 20, 1985). "The Mysterious Death of a Man Who Loved Life". Image. The San Francisco Examiner. p. 19.</ref> He graduated from Yale University in 1969.<ref name= loved/>
Career
Attorney
Following graduation, Fluegelman worked in Midtown Manhattan before moving to California and working for a law firm in San Francisco.<ref name= loved/> He was admitted to the State Bar of California in January 1971.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He resigned in 1972 without any particular plan about his future.<ref name= loved/>
Writing
The following year, Fluegelman started working for the Whole Earth Catalog, a job that lasted for about a year. During that time, he separated from his wife and starting living in Sausalito, California. At one point, he fasted for 49 days, drinking only water.<ref name= loved/>
He started writing and publishing books, such as San Francisco Free and Easy and The New Games Book.<ref name= loved/> By 1981 he had published about 15 books, and began writing computer software reviews, the first being for EasyWriter.Template:R
Publisher
In 1981, Fluegelman was the owner and sole employee of The Headlands Press, a small book publisher in Tiburon, California. He had attended an early computer expo in San Francisco in the late 1970s, and after agreeing to publish and coauthor Writing in the Computer Age decided to purchase his first computer. In October, Fluegelman bought one of the first IBM PCs sold in San Francisco, and in two weeks began to write his own accounting program in IBM BASIC,<ref name= loved/><ref name="hewes19820203">Template:Cite news</ref> despite never having used a computer before that year. He recalled "I spent the first month [programming], and I loved it".<ref name="microtimes198505">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Shareware
In 1982 Fluegelman developed PC-Talk, a very popular and successful communications program.Template:R<ref>"Shareware: An Alternative to the High Cost of Software", Damon Camille, 1987.</ref> He marketed it under a system he called "Freeware" and became known as shareware, which he characterized as "an experiment in economics more than altruism".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}.</ref> PC-Talk was licensed under terms that encouraged users to make voluntary payments for the software, and it allowed users to copy and redistribute the software freely as long as the license terms and text were not altered. He collaborated with PC-File developer Jim Knopf to adopt similar names (PC-File was originally "Easy-File"), and prices, for their initial shareware offerings; they also agreed to mention each other's products in their program's documentation.
Magazine editor
Fluegelman edited PC World magazine from its introduction in 1982 until 1985, and Macworld magazine from its introduction in 1984 until 1985.<ref name= loved/>
Disappearance
Fluegelman suffered from ulcerative colitis. In July 1985, he was prescribed prednisone to treat the condition. Within a few days of beginning to take the medication, he became depressed and agitated. He started profusely apologizing to his colleague for perceived failures. In order to reduce his stress, his employer rearranged his work schedule; Fluegelman's behavior did not improve.<ref name= loved/>
On the afternoon of July 6, 1985, he left his office in Tiburon, California. A week later, his abandoned car was found at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge near San Francisco. His family held a memorial service for Fluegelman, and he is presumed dead, though his body has never been found. Kevin Strehlo, InfoWorld columnist, submitted a memorial column which mentioned that "friends say a suicide note was found inside" his car. InfoWorld rejected this column, but an online news service published it.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}[sic]. Note complicated provenance. The Textfiles website is said to be an archive of text postings from the days of text-based computer networking; this item is identified as being from NEWSBYTES (dated 7/30/85), an electronic publication available on The Source. NEWSBYTES says that it is the full text of an InfoWorld article that led to Strehlo's resignation from that publication "because the editors saw the last few paragraphs unfit for publication." Article says in part "Fluegelman had been missing for about a week when his car was found parked near the toll plaza on the Marin County side of the Golden Gate Bridge, the site of so many of his moments of inspiration. Friends say a suicide note was found inside. His family held a memorial service in New York the following Sunday. Yet, as this is being written, no body has been found. Police still list Fluegelman as a missing person."</ref>
Works
Books edited
The Headlands Press produced books and negotiated publishing contracts for them with major publishers.Template:R Many of the books were designed by Howard Jacobsen and produced by his company, Community Type and Design. This list is arranged by year of book publication:
Edited by Andrew Fluegelman and Shoshana Tembeck. A Headlands Press Book, Dolphin/Doubleday (1976). Template:ISBN
- A Traveler's Guide to El Dorado & the Inca Empire
By Meisch, Lynn. A Headlands Press Book. Publisher: Penguin Books New York (1977). Template:ISBN
- Familiar Subjects: Polaroid SX-70 Impressions
By Norman Locks. A Headlands Press Book. HARPER & ROW, PUBLISHERS, San Francisco (1978). Template:ISBN
- How to Make and Sell Your Own Record
By Diane Sward Rapaport. A Headlands Press Book. Putnam, Prentice-Hall (1979). Template:ISBN
- How to watch a football game
By Frank Barrett; Lynn Barrett. Publisher: New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston (1980). Template:ISBN
- Worksteads: Living and Working in the Same Place
By Jeremy Joan Hewes. The Headlands Press, Inc., San Francisco. Doubleday (1981). Template:ISBN
- More New Games
By The New Games Foundation. Main Street Books New York: Dolphin Books/Doubleday & Company (1981). Template:ISBN
- SUSHI
By Mia Detrick, Illustrated by Kathryn Kleinman A Headlands Press Book. Chronicle Books LLC (1983) Template:ISBN
Books co-authored
- Writing in the Computer Age: Word Processing Skills and Style for Every Writer
By Andrew Fluegelman and Jeremy Joan Hewes. Anchor Press/Doubleday Publishing Group (1983) Template:ISBN
Photography
- Mime: A Playbook of Silent Fantasy
By Kay Hamblin. The Doubleday Publishing Group (1978) Template:ISBN
See also
References
External links
- 1943 births
- 1985 suicides
- 1985 deaths
- American computer programmers
- American publishers (people)
- Book packagers
- California lawyers
- Freeware
- Missing American people
- Missing person cases in California
- Writers from Marin County, California
- 20th-century American lawyers
- 20th-century American businesspeople
- 1980s missing person cases
- People from Tiburon, California
- People from White Plains, New York
- 20th-century American inventors
- Yale University alumni