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Anyone been in touch with Todd Fischer?

dfnr2

Experienced Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2011
Messages
465
Location
Dallas, TX
Hi all,

Has anyone contacted (and received a response from) Todd Fischer, of IMSAI, lately? I was waiting on an IMSAI manual, and he seems to have gone dark.

Is he doing OK?

Dave
 
seriously? I thought people long ago gave up on him, early 2000's. I did not think he was doing business anymore, his site, other than a post from 2011, seems to be exactly the same as it was 10 years ago. But don't just take my word for it....ANYONE --competed-- a transaction with Fischer in the past 3 years? Perhaps I am misinformed? Anyone say otherwise? I have heard many stories of people sending money and getting nothing, ever.

b
 
Nope. Both seem to be mostly non-responsive now. Must be contagious...

I don't know about Vince Briel, but Todd Fischer was never an easy guy to communicate with. I sent him a down payment for one of his IMSAI IIs way back when (2002?), and then struggled with him to get status updates over the years. After some years, he finally announced that he had had a bout with cancer, and it became more clear why he wasn't communicating, although I always thought it might have been easier to just put it out there in the beginning, rather than frustrating everyone who was wondering what was going on. Eventually, I did request my money back, and he did provide it back to me.

Since then, I have purchased his $99 copy of the original IMSAI documentation, but that was several years ago now that I think about it.

I, too, mightily wish that someone could get through to Todd and pick up the entire operation and bring it back to some sort of life again. I was excited to hear that Vince was giving it a try, but that petered out, too, without any real status updates, or any sort of information on what had gone awry.

Vince had an excellent reputation in the vintage computer community. Too bad he's gone quiet - that could easily ruin his reputation, too. I certainly hope that he is OK.

smp
 
I've done business with Todd Fischer, both through his company "Fischer - Freitas" and his eBay handle "Uheep". I never had any problems to speak of but this had to be 20 years ago, long before his bout with cancer. I asked him about his eBay handle and as a result had a long email conversation with him on his touring days with the rock band "Uriah Heep".

The history of computing is littered with stories of people who started and lost companies primarily because while they knew a lot about machines they didn't know squat about running a company and in some cases weren't very good relating to other people. I would prefer to remember the Todd Fischer I corresponded with 20 years ago than one that would stiff a customer. But the reality is that 20 years and a bout with cancer do things to people and often not for the better.
 
I would prefer to remember the Todd Fischer I corresponded with 20 years ago than one that would stiff a customer. But the reality is that 20 years and a bout with cancer do things to people and often not for the better.

I agree completely. You could not have said it any better.

smp
 
I reached out to Mr. Fishcer today, and am happy to report that he replied very politely, and appears to be going strong. Apparently this was an oversight, he was apologetic, and the manual will go out next week. I'm glad he's still carrying the IMSAI torch.

Dave
 
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I was in touch with him recently, too. His correspondence was prompt and professional.
 
To further follow up, I did receive the manual shortly after my previous post. Well worth the wait!

Dave
 
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