RIP, Jerry Pournelle, a pioneer of tech journalism for the non-geeky

In 1980, anyone who used a PC was, by definition, something of a nerd. ButByte, the leading computer magazine of the time, saw a need for a column that emphasized the benefits of the machines rather than their innards. Itfound its author in celebrated science-fiction author Jerry Pournelle, whoseBytewritings–best known by the name “Chaos Manor”–were not very technical; profoundly first person-y and opinionated; focused what you coulddowith a PC; and prone to going off on extended tangents that were as defining an aspect of the columns as the parts that more obviously belonged in a publication calledByte.

Pournelle continued the column until Byte’s dead-tree demise in 1998 and later on the Byte.com website and elsewhere; blog-like from the start—long before blogs existed—it eventually became a blog. He posted on Thursday, noting that he didn’t feel well. And yesterday he died, at the age of 84. His early 1980s columns were some of the most addictive reading about personal technology ever, and I hope I’m not the only one who will mark his passing by revisiting some of his work in the Byte issues at the Internet Archive.

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