25 Years Ago: Free, Easy, Software Begins Jan 31, 2008, 22 :00 UTC (1 Talkback[s]) (3498 reads) (Other stories by Stephen Manes)
"Twenty-five years ago, a writer named Andrew Fluegelman became the editor of a new magazine--this one. He was already something of a celebrity in the wider world of personal computing as the father of 'freeware,' a concept that he had popularized, starting in late 1982, with the release of his trailblazing communications program, called PC-Talk.
"When I heard about plans for this anniversary issue, it occurred to me that Fluegelman's influence, and his program's, amounted to far more than we realized at the time. PC-Talk was clearly a pioneer in helping PCs do something easily that initially was addressed as a clunky afterthought: communicate across vast distances..."
