Dick Brass
Encyclopedia
Dick Brass is a technology investor and executive, and a former newspaper reporter and editor.
Brass attended Cornell University
, where he was an editor of The Cornell Daily Sun
and member of the Quill and Dagger
society. After a journalism career as a reporter and then editor at the New York Daily News
, as well as restaurant critic for Playboy Magazine and WNBC-TV, Brass entered the technology field. In the late 1970s, Brass developed the first dictionary-based spelling checker and invented the electronic thesaurus. He founded Dictronics Publishing Inc, which acquired the exclusive rights to many of the world's most important reference works, including The Random House Dictionary and Roget's Thesaurus. Dictronics was sold to Wang Laboratories in 1983. In 1987, Brass joined Oracle Corporation
as a vice president and served as president of one of its subsidiaries. He was involved in a [proposed] tie-up between Oracle and McCaw Cellular.
During the 1980s, Brass became one of the first investors in Omnipoint, a cell phone startup that through growth and merger ultimately emerged as T-Mobile. Brass helped recruit various other lead investors, including Oracle's founder and CEO Larry Ellison and New York attorney and philanthropist James Ross. Omnipoint merged with Voicestream Wireless Corp in 1999. In July 2001, Voicestream was acquired by Deutsche Telekom for $50.7 billion, and in September 2002 changed the company name to T-Mobile.
In 1997, Brass joined Microsoft
, serving as corporate vice president. He was responsible for the development of ClearType
and led the project to develop the company's tablet PC
and e-book
. In October 1998, during his keynote speech at the world's first ebook conference in Gaithersberg, MD, Brass proposed the Open Ebook (OEB) standard, which was adopted by most of the pioneering e-book publishers. It became the basis for the organization and formatting of most e-books in the world today and evolved into the popular ePub format in 2007. Brass was recognized for this contribution with an award for meritorious service from the government's National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). Brass also led the company's Emerging Technology group and its automotive software unit. He retired in 2004.
In February, 2010, he wrote a widely read op-ed
for The New York Times
in which he argued that Microsoft had lost its ability to effectively innovate in many fields and needed to regain creative leadership. He blamed the highly competitive corporate culture, which he said undermined true innovations created by Microsoft's labs and engineers.
Brass attended Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
, where he was an editor of The Cornell Daily Sun
The Cornell Daily Sun
The Cornell Daily Sun is an independent daily newspaper published in Ithaca, New York by students at Cornell University. It is the oldest independent college daily in the United States....
and member of the Quill and Dagger
Quill and Dagger
Quill and Dagger is a senior honor society at Cornell University. It is often recognized as one of the most prominent collegiate societies of its type, along with Skull and Bones of Yale University...
society. After a journalism career as a reporter and then editor at the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
, as well as restaurant critic for Playboy Magazine and WNBC-TV, Brass entered the technology field. In the late 1970s, Brass developed the first dictionary-based spelling checker and invented the electronic thesaurus. He founded Dictronics Publishing Inc, which acquired the exclusive rights to many of the world's most important reference works, including The Random House Dictionary and Roget's Thesaurus. Dictronics was sold to Wang Laboratories in 1983. In 1987, Brass joined Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
as a vice president and served as president of one of its subsidiaries. He was involved in a [proposed] tie-up between Oracle and McCaw Cellular.
During the 1980s, Brass became one of the first investors in Omnipoint, a cell phone startup that through growth and merger ultimately emerged as T-Mobile. Brass helped recruit various other lead investors, including Oracle's founder and CEO Larry Ellison and New York attorney and philanthropist James Ross. Omnipoint merged with Voicestream Wireless Corp in 1999. In July 2001, Voicestream was acquired by Deutsche Telekom for $50.7 billion, and in September 2002 changed the company name to T-Mobile.
In 1997, Brass joined Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, serving as corporate vice president. He was responsible for the development of ClearType
ClearType
ClearType is a trademark for Microsoft's implementation of subpixel rendering technology. ClearType attempts to improve the appearance of text on certain types of computer display screens by sacrificing color fidelity for additional intensity variation. This trade-off is asserted to work well on...
and led the project to develop the company's tablet PC
Tablet computer
A tablet computer, or simply tablet, is a complete mobile computer, larger than a mobile phone or personal digital assistant, integrated into a flat touch screen and primarily operated by touching the screen...
and e-book
E-book
An electronic book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital...
. In October 1998, during his keynote speech at the world's first ebook conference in Gaithersberg, MD, Brass proposed the Open Ebook (OEB) standard, which was adopted by most of the pioneering e-book publishers. It became the basis for the organization and formatting of most e-books in the world today and evolved into the popular ePub format in 2007. Brass was recognized for this contribution with an award for meritorious service from the government's National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). Brass also led the company's Emerging Technology group and its automotive software unit. He retired in 2004.
In February, 2010, he wrote a widely read op-ed
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
in which he argued that Microsoft had lost its ability to effectively innovate in many fields and needed to regain creative leadership. He blamed the highly competitive corporate culture, which he said undermined true innovations created by Microsoft's labs and engineers.