West Coast Computer Faire

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The West Coast Computer Faire was an annual computer faire held in San Francisco. The first faire was held in 1977 and was organized by Jim Warren and Bob Reiling. At the time it was the biggest computer show in the world, intending to popularize the personal computer in the home. In 1983, Warren sold the rights to the Faire for US$3 million to Prentice Hall who later sold it to Sheldon Adelson, the owner of Interface Group and COMDEX. In total thirteen shows were held, with the last in 1989.

History

Some people refer to this faire as the birth of the personal computer industry. It first took place on April 16 and 17, 1977 in Brooks Civic Auditorium and saw the debut of the Commodore PET, presented by Chuck Peddle and the Apple II, presented by then 21-year-old Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. On the first day of exhibition, Jobs introduced Apple II to a Japanese textile technician named 水島敏雄 who became the first authorized Apple dealer in Japan.[link] About 180 exhibitors took part in that event among them Intel, MITS and Digital Research. More than 12,000 people visited the faire.

The 2nd West Coast Computer Faire was held at March 3-5, 1978 at San Jose Convention Center. The 3rd West Coast Computer Faire was held at November 3-5, 1978 at Los Angeles Convention Center. The 4th West Coast Computer Faire was held in May 1979. Dan Bricklin demonstrates VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet program for personal computers. At the 5th West Coast Computer Faire, Microsoft announced their first hardware product, the Z-80 SoftCard that gives the Apple II CP/M capabilities. The 6th West Coast Computer Faire was held in April 1981, when Adam Osborne introduced the Osborne 1. The 7th West Coast Computer Faire saw the introduction of the 5MB Winchester disk drive for IBM PCs by Davong Systems. It was held on March 19-21, 1982, The 8th West Coast Computer Faire was held from March 18 to 20, 1983.

External links

[Original article about the first faire by David H. Ahl] in The Best of Creative Computing Volume 3 (1980)
[On the Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore] (2005) Variant Press. Mentions the WCCF and the debut of the Commodore PET and Apple II.

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