West Coast Computer Faire

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The West Coast Computer Faire was an annual computer industry conference and exposition most often associated with San Francisco, its first and most frequent venue. 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, intended 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.

[edit] History

Some people refer to the first faire as the birth of the personal computer industry. It took place on April 16 and 17, 1977 in San Francisco Civic Auditorium & Brooks Hall, 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 the Apple II to a Japanese textile technician named Mizushima Satoshi who became the first authorized Apple dealer in Japan.[1] There were about 180 exhibitors, among them Intel, MITS and Digital Research. More than 12,000 people visited the faire.

The 2nd West Coast Computer Faire was held March 3-5, 1978 at the San Jose Convention Center.

The 3rd West Coast Computer Faire was held November 3-5, 1978 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The 4th West Coast Computer Faire returned to San Francisco in May 1979. Dan Bricklin demonstrated 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, which gave 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 in San Francisco. That year's conference also featured a Saturday breakout session, titled "THE IBM PERSONAL COMPUTER", with eight talks delivered in a three hour period. One of these was (as listed in the program):

P.C. — It's Impact on the MicroComputer Industry

Bill Gates, President

Microsoft

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Bellevue, WA 98004

The 8th West Coast Computer Faire was held from March 18 to 20, 1983.