Paul Terrell on Retirement

Approaching the retirement age is even more difficult when your aging friends send you regular updates on how great it is in retirement. Paul says...Everyday is a Sunday! Paul was the founder of Byte Shops back in 1976. He was the first one to franchise retail computer stores. At that time Byte Shops sold the popular Altair computer line. In 1976 he gave Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak an order for 50 Apple I computers (In those days 50 units was a huge commitment) and Apple was founded. Jobs used the Byte PO to leverage purchases from Cramer Electronics to get the parts needed to build the boards and the rest is hstory. Paul insisted that the boards have the parts soldered in as most of his potential customers were software programmers unfamiliar with soldering parts. The terms were the usual COD in those days. No credit! The next step for them was an introduction to Don Valentine and the world of Vulture Capital. Byte also introduced one of the first computers, the Byt-8. Today he divides his time between Portland and Florida. One of the real pleasures in life is to sit down with Paul and talk about computer history. I miss the old days when we would hook-up at Comdex, PIP and other conferences several times each year. Back when the PC business was FUN! Today he traverses the USA with his charming wife Jeri, and another computer old-timer, Wayne Sanders and his wife, and they experience the best of our country. He just sent me some snapshots of a family get together in Cancun. I think that is Vicente Fox and George W playing water volleyball in the pool?