Who We Are

Fred Davis
Chairman & CEO

With more than 25 years of computer experience and 20 years devoted to microcomputers, Fred has truly witnessed the development of the personal computer as have few others. The son of an IBM Fellow, Fred literally grew up on computers. He participated in the testing and development of the BASIC computer language when he was eleven through a timesharing hookup to the original BASIC system at Dartmouth.

In the late '70s, Fred joined with the original personal computer pioneers as one of the early promoters of the Apple II. One of the first to successfully connect microcomputers to mainframes, while conducting research on database publishing at Stanford, he served as a computer consultant to large corporations and venture capitalists in the early days of the industry. In 1983, Fred was one of the founders of Ziff-Davis's computer publishing division, and worked on the start-up of ZD's first computer publication, A+ Magazine, which rapidly became the leading publication about Apple computers. Later, during Fred's tenure as Editor in Chief, A+ won the Computer Press Association award for best computer magazine.

From A+, Fred moved to serve as Editor in Chief of MacUser magazine, where he founded MacUser Labs. He oversaw the development of the magazine during its period of most dramatic growth, bringing it up to parity with MacWorld. Next, Fred joined PC Magazine, the world's leading computer publication. As editor and Director of PC Magazine Labs, he helped develop benchmarks and scripts for testing thousands of products under review. Later, as editor of PC Week, he founded PC Week Labs and helped establish PC Week as the leading product information source for corporate computing. After leaving PC Week to return to California, Fred helped launch and served as a columnist for a number of Ziff-Davis publications including Windows Sources, Computer Life, Family PC, and the ZD Personal Computing newspaper supplement. During Fred's 12-year tenure as a senior executive at Ziff-Davis, he worked closely with CEO Bill Ziff and other top management on company strategy, product positioning, and new product development in areas including print, CD-ROM, trade shows, and online. As a key proponent of ZD's "consultative sales" approach, Fred worked with computer manufacturers such as Dell, Northgate, Zeos, Gateway, and Micron to develop direct sales strategies that used computer publications to create a new multi-billion dollar sales channel.

Next, Fred worked with Wired CEO Louis Rosetto and President Jane Metcalfe on the launch of Wired magazine, and was part of the original "Wired Brain Trust." After Wired, Fred worked with C|NET CEO Halsey Minor as an original member of the C|NET start-up team where he helped develop both television and online strategies. At both Wired and C|NET Fred played a major role in strategic issues, capital acquisition, marketing, editorial development, and recruitment of key personnel.

From 1996 to mid-1997 Fred served as Director of Strategic Development for CMP Media during the period leading up to their successful IPO in August 1997. While working for CMP Media's CEO, Ken Cron, on long-term business strategies, Fred also wrote articles and columns in various CMP publications, including Windows Magazine, Home PC, and Computer Reseller News.

For the past five years, Fred has been the U.S. columnist for EYE-COM, one of Japan's leading computer magazines, and is a regular technology commentator for National Public Radio's "All Things Considered." Fred is currently President of the Computer Institute (www.fog.com) a non-profit scientific and cultural foundation involved in education research, the study of human-computer ecology, and the establishment of the San Francisco Computer Museum, a major facility planned for downtown San Francisco. The San Francisco Computer Museum is also the producer of the annual CoMA Festival of Computer and Multimedia Arts, that was most recently held in San Francisco on Oct. 2-4, 1997. Fred also serves as a consultant to a number of technology companies including Intel, Adaptec, Ensemble Solutions, Ask Jeeves, and Supply Base; and serves on the board of directors of Spark Online, an interactive marketing and promotions start-up located in San Francisco.

Fred has also authored thirteen computer books, including The Complete IBM Personal Computer -- the first hardware expansion guide to the IBM PC published in the early 1980's. His 1985 book, Desktop Publishing, helped popularize the term and received an award from the Computer Press Association. The New York Times hailed Fred's Windows 3.1 Bible as "the best" book on the topic. Fred also developed the Windows Bible CD-ROM, released in early 1994. The Windows 95 Bible was released in April of 1996, and his Windows 98 Bible (with co-author Kip Crosby) is due in April 1998. In a different area, he is working on a book, A Dictionary of Plant Names, to be published by Stanford University Press.

Named "one of the 100 most influential leaders in the computer industry" by MicroTimes and one of the international "one hundred top computer people" by EYE-COM in Japan, Fred has also earned the reputation as one of the personal computer industry's savviest analysts and has been quoted in Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, and was featured in Japan's Dime magazine. Fred has also appeared on many radio and television programs, including NPR's "All Things Considered," "On Computers," "C|NET Central," "CBS Evening News," and "ABC News."

Aside from computers, Fred tends to his other love, orchids; sings and composes music in his home studio; and is an avid photographer.

Fred's homepage, WebLust, is one of the Internet's oldest personal websites and has received numerous accolades both online and in print.