Gateway co-found Mike Hammond has passed on.

[47of74]

RIP Mike Hammond;

Mike Hammond, who co-founded computer maker Gateway Inc. in a northwest Iowa farmhouse in 1985, has died at age 53.

Korey Robinson, of the Meyer Brothers Funeral Home in Sioux City, Iowa, said Hammond died on Thursday.

Hammond started Gateway with brothers Ted and Norm Waitt, selling what became among most the popular computers on the market. The firm grew quickly while shipping computers directly to consumers in boxes decorated with cow spots.

Hammond helped manage the company's operations in Iowa and South Dakota. After retiring from Gateway, he started Dakota Muscle to restore and repair classic cars.

I remember the old Gateway 2000 days. Their old machines ran forever - one place I worked had a Gateway 2000 PC that ran for over 20 years - it was used to run some old network monitoring software.

[exboyfil]

1. My first desk top was a Gateway with Intel 386 processor

I bought it around 1990. Gave it to my in laws in the late 90s (around 97 I think). They eventually replaced it sometime around 2005 (it was still going strong even then).

The biggest thing I remember is that I spent about 8-10X more than what I spend on a laptop today, and that was a good price. I had two other desktops after that which were not nearly as good (the second eMachines still works but the monitor died years ago).

Another thing I remember is that I had two employers that actually paid a 1/3 of the cost of the computer as a benefit (my first two machines).

[47of74]

2. I almost bought one in 1993.

I wound up going with a Dell. My uncle went and bought a Gateway as his second PC and that lasted a good long while.