DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

### University of Toronto

CSC454/2527S: The Business of Software

January-April 2000

Course Faculty

19 December 1999

Professor Ronald Baecker

Sanford Fleming Building 4306E

978-6983 (phone)

978-5184 (fax)

rmb@dgp.toronto.edu (email)

Office Hour: Mondays 4:30-5:15, or phone or send email for an appointment.

Ronald Baecker is Professor of Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Management at the University of Toronto, and founder and Chief Scientist of the Knowledge Media Design Institute of the University. He was the founder, President for 8 years, and Chairman of the Board of HCR Corporation, a Toronto-based UNIX contract R&D and technology development and marketing firm, sold in 1990 to a U.S. competitor. He is also currently the founder and CEO of Expresto Software, a firm specializing in developing and delivering multimedia explanations of software. He has taught this course to over 1000 students and software entrepreneurs and managers in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Santiago (Chile).

The holder of a B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. from M.I.T., he is an active lecturer and consultant to industry on topics including human-computer interaction and user interface design, multimedia, and entrepreneurship and strategic planning in the software industry. He is the author or co-author of four books, Readings in Human-Computer Interaction: A Multidisciplinary Approach, Human Factors and Typography for More Readable Programs, Readings in Groupware and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work: Facilitating Human-Human Collaboration, and Readings in Human-Computer Interaction: Toward the Year 2000.

# Special Guest Lecturers

Philip D. Stern (pstern@sternthinking.com) is founder and principal of Stern Thinking, a firm that helps private companies and their existing investors create Business Plans that raise money. Prior to Stern Thinking, his was founder and CEO of Simon/Ross + Associates Inc., a successful Apple Macintosh training firm; Manager, Industry Marketing, and Manager, Corporate Development, of MDI Mobile Data International; Vice President, Marketing and Sales, of Pacific Microcircuits; and President of Knoware Inc. He has a B.Com from McGill University and an MBA from Harvard Business School with a focus on marketing.

Lillian Blume (lil.blume@hwcn.org) has taught English and interpersonal communications at Mohawk College and McMaster University, and is a lecturer and consultant specializing in interpersonal communications.

Teaching Assistants

David Rosen (DavidYYZ@aol.com) is a management consultant and writer working in Toronto, Silicon Valley and London. He has 20 years of experience in the computer industry and is a contributing editor of Canada Computes! -- Canada's oldest computer newspaper -- and a past editor of America Online's Multimedia Online, a print magazine with a circulation of over one million readers. The lead writer of the best-selling book, Making Money with Multimedia (Addison-Wesley), his clients include America Online, Apple Computer, Coopers & Lybrand and many others.

Wynton Semple (Wynton.Semple@zds.on.ca) is a Toronto corporate commercial lawyer. He deals mainly with small business clients, many of whom are concerned with computer software as consumers, developers and vendors. He is a partner in the Toronto law firm Zammit, Dash & Semple and holds law degrees from McGill and York Universities.

Michael Shiner (mshiner@chedington.com) manages high-technology and other strategic investments for Chedington Technology. He has also been an independent consultant helping entrepreneurial IT companies with issues related to successful growth including strategic and business planning, marketing, operations, and financing. From 1987 to 1993, he created and built one of the largest independent instructional swim schools in Toronto which he sold to a competitor in 1993. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Performance and an MBA from U of T.