My James Garner Connection [View all]
Way back in 1994, I created a Windows shareware program that people could use to create business cards to be printed on card stock paper and pre-perforated business card paper from various manufacturers. It was probably my most popular application, and really got my little shareware company, OsoSoft, started on a good road.
I wrote the software because I couldn't find a way to create sheets of business cards with all of the fonts, graphics, etc. that I could use in Windows 3.1 and later in Windows 95. Like most of the shareware applications I created, it started as something I needed that wasn't available in the software market at the time. It survived through several versions and updates over the next few years.
So, what does this have to do with James Garner? When I decided to market the program as shareware, it needed a name. I thought about it for a while and suddenly remembered The Rockford Files TV show. In at least a couple of episodes, Garner opened the trunk of his car, pulled out a small printing press, and then created some business cards on the spot to suit what he was about to do. Since my software could create as few as ten business cards on a sheet of card stock, I decided to name it Rockford Business Card Maker. The filename for the executable was ROCKFORD.EXE
Few people understood the allusion, but enough did to convince me that I made the right choice. The software was very popular with downloaders and I got enough people who actually registered and paid for it after trying it that it was financially successful on a limited basis as well.
After the program was on the market for a couple of years and had gotten reviewed in a few magazines, I received a letter one day from Garner. He wrote that someone had sent him a copy of the program, and that he had a good laugh at the homage to the Rockford character and his car trunk printing press. Made my day, that letter did.
I'm long out of the shareware business, but that was one of the highlights for OsoSoft.
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