It is with great sadness that I report the passing of my father Edward “Eddie” Smith, who was a previous Director and owner of our business. He passed peacefully at Westwood Lodge Nursing Home on the 7th August 2018 following a long illness.
Born on the 28th November 1932, Eddie, after leaving school did two stints in the military, serving in the Malayan campaign, and also in the Suez Crises. After leaving the army, my father became an electrician, and worked for a number of years as an electro-mechanical engineer specialising in heavy engineering and material handling.
When I started programming in 1982, my father was instrumental in purchasing my first ever home computer, (which I still have and use), and I started learning not only BBC Basic, but also ISO Pascal and 6502 machine code. My father realised I had a flare, and so encouraged me onward’s, writing freeware (free software) under the pseudonym “Application Soft”.
We formed the Limited company in 1998, and then after family discussions, he pointed out that I should work overseas, and to consider “other markets”. It became prudent to become a multi-national, which we eventually did in 2013.
If it was not for my father’s encouragement, and business assistance in those fond early days, and valued business opinions, we would not be helping small businesses with our software today.
We shall all miss him.
