Microcomputerata Go placidly amid the noisy trade shows and remember what fun may be had at the parties. As far as possible, be everybody's friend; only do no favors for that guy who screwed you last week. Speak you truth only after receiving executed nondisclosure agreements; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant, especially when they've had a few. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, unless they can provide necessary backing for your projects. If you compare yourself with others, the publications may refuse your advertising and the FTC may question your claims; for someone is bound to have a product better than yours by next week. Exploit your finished products (if any) as well as those that you have announced but not completed. Keep interested in your own career, however unfulfilling; it is a real possession, at least until you become obsolete (week after next). Exercise paranoia in your business affairs; for the next guy knows tricks you've never dreamed of. Pay your attorney, if no one else, well and promptly. But do not fail to take advantage of what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals and are ripe for the plucking, and everywhere life is full of potential new products. Be yourself, taking due care with whom you are yourself. Do not feign affection when a businesslike approach may seem more impressive. Neither be cynical about love; only restrict ownership of your company's stock to blood relatives, if possible. Be not afraid of every teenager who knows a little assembler, but surrender gracefully the things of youth: eight-bit processors, cassettes for mass storage, the ability to innovate. Nurture your own savings account to shield you against whims of the marketplace and vagaries of financial manipulation. But do not distress yourself with tomorrow's problems, which will find you in their own good time. Whatever your troubles, they would only be worse were you overstocked with 4K RAMs or trying to write another word processor. Beyond the appearance of discipline, make full use of the corporate expense account. You are a child of the industry, only slightly less than the better-established vendors; you might as well sell ill- conceived, unfinished products when everyone else does. And even though it will never be clear to you, no doubt the industry is unfolding as it must, moving majestically toward the twin poles of Armonk and Japan. Therefore be at peace with your customers, even those who take 90 days to pay you. And whatever your development lag, in the mismanagement of your affairs, keep looking out for number 1. With all its five-pound magazines, unusable products and bewildered users, it is still an explosively expanding market. Be cagey. Strive to make money. Found in an old INFOWORLD dated 1983.