After 45 Years, 74-Year-Old Spreadsheet Legend/EFF Cofounder Mitch Kapor Gets His MIT Degree (bostonglobe.com) 18
Mitch Kapor dropped out of MIT's business school in 1979 — and had soon cofounded the pioneering spreadsheet company Lotus. He also cofounded the EFF, was the founding chair of the Mozilla Foundation, and is now a billionaire (and an VC investor at Kapor Capital).
45 years later, when the 74-year-old was invited to give a guest lecture at MIT's business school last year by an old friend (professor Bill Aulet), he'd teased the billionaire that "there's only one problem, Mitch, I see here you haven't graduated from MIT."
The Boston Globe tells the story... After graduating from Yale in 1971 and bouncing around for almost a decade as "a lost and wandering soul," working as a disc jockey, a Transcendental Meditation teacher, and a mental health counselor, Kapor said he became entranced by the possibilities of the new Apple II personal computer. He started writing programs to solve statistics problems and analyze data, which caught the attention of Boston-area software entrepreneurs Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston, who co-created VisiCalc, one of the first spreadsheet programs. They introduced Kapor to their California-based software publisher, Personal Software.
Midway through Kapor's 12-month master's program, the publisher offered him the then-princely sum of about $20,000 if he'd adapt his stats programs to work with VisiCalc. To finish the project, he took a leave from MIT, but then he decided to leave for good to take a full-time job at Personal. Comparing his decision to those of other famed tech founder dropouts, like Bill Gates, Kapor said he felt the startup world was calling to him. "It was just so irresistible," he said. "It felt like I could not let another moment go by without taking advantage of this opportunity or the window would close...."
When Aulet made his joke on the phone call with his old friend in 2024, Kapor had largely retired from investing and realized that he wanted to complete his degree. "I don't know what prompted me, but it started a conversation" with MIT about the logistics of finally graduating, Kapor said. By the time Kapor gave the lecture in March, Aulet had discovered Kapor was only a few courses short. MIT does not give honorary degrees, but school officials allow students to make up for missing classes with an independent study and a written thesis. Kapor decided to write a paper on the roots and development of his investing strategy. "It's timely, it's highly relevant, and I have things to say," he said.
One 77-page thesis later, Kapor, donning a cap and gown, finally received his master's degree in May, at a ceremony in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Cambridge, not far from where he founded Lotus.
45 years later, when the 74-year-old was invited to give a guest lecture at MIT's business school last year by an old friend (professor Bill Aulet), he'd teased the billionaire that "there's only one problem, Mitch, I see here you haven't graduated from MIT."
The Boston Globe tells the story... After graduating from Yale in 1971 and bouncing around for almost a decade as "a lost and wandering soul," working as a disc jockey, a Transcendental Meditation teacher, and a mental health counselor, Kapor said he became entranced by the possibilities of the new Apple II personal computer. He started writing programs to solve statistics problems and analyze data, which caught the attention of Boston-area software entrepreneurs Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston, who co-created VisiCalc, one of the first spreadsheet programs. They introduced Kapor to their California-based software publisher, Personal Software.
Midway through Kapor's 12-month master's program, the publisher offered him the then-princely sum of about $20,000 if he'd adapt his stats programs to work with VisiCalc. To finish the project, he took a leave from MIT, but then he decided to leave for good to take a full-time job at Personal. Comparing his decision to those of other famed tech founder dropouts, like Bill Gates, Kapor said he felt the startup world was calling to him. "It was just so irresistible," he said. "It felt like I could not let another moment go by without taking advantage of this opportunity or the window would close...."
When Aulet made his joke on the phone call with his old friend in 2024, Kapor had largely retired from investing and realized that he wanted to complete his degree. "I don't know what prompted me, but it started a conversation" with MIT about the logistics of finally graduating, Kapor said. By the time Kapor gave the lecture in March, Aulet had discovered Kapor was only a few courses short. MIT does not give honorary degrees, but school officials allow students to make up for missing classes with an independent study and a written thesis. Kapor decided to write a paper on the roots and development of his investing strategy. "It's timely, it's highly relevant, and I have things to say," he said.
One 77-page thesis later, Kapor, donning a cap and gown, finally received his master's degree in May, at a ceremony in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Cambridge, not far from where he founded Lotus.
Spreadsheets (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Spreadsheets (Score:5, Informative)
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Thanks for the info, I just looked it up [youtube.com].
p.s. Now someone just needs to write an Emacs mode for it:)
Older students (Score:4, Interesting)
Back in my University days , 1990s, early 2000s (I was there a decade, grad, postgrad all that) I was a fairly regular bar-fly at the on campus student pub. Learned more in that pub talking to academics and other students over pints than I ever did in the classroom.
Around half way through my degree a new face turned up, a man in his early 70s with a polite british accent, Kev, walked up to our table with a jug of beer and introduced himself. We where a pretty diverse lot, so we made a space, and all of us became fast friends.
He had retired a while back, had a career as an industrial chemist that sent him around the world, spent a lot of time in africa, and generally had an almost endless stream of stories to tell. After a few years of retirement, he decided to go and do a chemistry degree again, because when he had retired he felt the world had left him behind in his knowledge., so he went back to scratch to catch up on all the developments the previous 40 years had brought. No intention of working again, but he didnt want to spend his twilight years as a bored retired person with 20 cats and a drinking problem.
He had a blast too with his newfound circle of 20yo friends. Smoked his first joint, discovered the joys of 90s indie pop, occasionally got himself in trouble with the ladies, but generally had a polite british demeanor that got him out of a lot of trouble too. We all knew his morals came from a different era, so we cut him a bit of slack. We dubbed him "The worlds oldest teenager".
I visited him a few months ago. Age finally caught up to him, and I doubt he has much time left. He ended up hooking with one of our groups elderly mothers (that was..... awkward) and ended up looking after her after her son died and she fell to pieces, but its clear he hasnt got much time left. His body is just falling to pieces.
Still, I thoroughly recomend to anyone who's retired to consider going back to university if, or you've got the funds to pay for it. Too many old folks just retire and stop doing anything, and the lack of activity in both the brain and body end up killing them. And don't worry about all those young folks. If your a friendly, fun and active person, chances are all those young folks will adore you for your stories and wisdom, and you get to have a second youth.
Re: Older students (Score:2)
Or, you know, we could get our shit together and work on anti-aging.
Re: Older students (Score:2)
Let me guess: you're all for space exploration and colonizing the galaxy, but our lifespan is natural and can't be tampered with.
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I think settling Mars is impossible, but still easier than lifespan extension.
Given enough money, we can go to Mars, build and support basic dwellings. It's idiotic if you ask me but we can at least try.
But biochemistry is very complex and our understanding is too limited. Anything disruptively anti-ageing will have chances to be pro-cancer.
Re: Older students (Score:2)
Medical science already has provided enormous life expectancy, through vaccines, cure for some acute conditions, treatment for chronic conditions, and so on.
There is no reason to believe that will not continue, since research and science will continue to be fully funded, and these medical breakthroughs will be available and affordable to all who need it worldwide. /s
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Medical science already has provided enormous life expectancy, through vaccines, cure for some acute conditions, treatment for chronic conditions, and so on.
There is no reason to believe that will not continue, since research and science will continue to be fully funded, and these medical breakthroughs will be available and affordable to all who need it worldwide. /s
We allow more people to live longer, but there are certain age based limitations. I'm pretty skeptical we're going to ever see 500 year old humans.
And then there is the other side of the issue. Life extension happens on the deteriorating end of the spectrum. If I was promised an extra 50 years at 40 years old physiology, I'd say "Sign me up!" But it doesn't.
And then there is the issue of normalization. Let's say we extend the average lifespan to 250 years. It won't take that log for life to seem as sho
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Oh absolutely, we aren't going to see 500 year old humans in either of our lifetimes. And possibly no future generation every will, we just won't know.
I just turned 49, and already have very old people issues - macular degeneration, and osteoporosis, both caused by prescription drugs, one of which arguably saved my life. These medication risks weren't known for one of them. They were known for the other.
I will live, but working again is probably not in the cards, and for other reasons as well. I don't know
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Re:Older students (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Older students (Score:2)
And I thought 10 years to get my EE/CS was slow (Score:2)
Brian May lead guitarist with Queen (Score:2)
Finished the PhD that he'd started in 1971 in 2007. So I see your Master's and raise you a PhD...
I rewrote the Kapor paper (Score:1)
In honor and respect of only some of what I know Mitch Kapor has gifted the world, here is my suggestion for his MIT graduation paper.
Dear MIT Board and fellow students,
My actions of the past three decades speak for themselves.
Judge my by those actions, not a paper I wrote.
Best wishes to all of mankind, that I have benefitted and will continue to do so.
M, Kapor
---
The above was written by my in honor and respect of what Mitch has done for this entire world. They are not his words. He is more shy, less conf
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