Phil Goldman

Phil Goldman (July 17, 1964 – December 26, 2003) was an American engineer and entrepreneur best known for co-founding WebTV.

Early life

Growing up in San Mateo, California, Goldman attended San Mateo High School graduating in 1982. He graduated first in his engineering class, Phi Beta Kappa, from Princeton University in 1986 , in a class that also included Jeff Bezos and David Hitz, founder of NetApp. He served as chair of Princeton's Computer Science Advisory Council, and in 1998, Goldman donated $2 million to his alma mater to endow a chair, becoming the youngest alumnus ever to do so.

Goldman would go on to hold 19 patents, and had 30 more pending at the time of his death.

Career

After college, Goldman went to work for Apple Computer, where he helped upgrade the Macintosh operating system, along with Steve Perlman and Bruce Leak. All three eventually left Apple for General Magic, where they developed Magic Cap, an operating system for the company's handheld personal digital assistant.

In 1995, the three founded WebTV Networks, Inc., offering a dialup thin client sold to consumers on the basis of ease-of-use and modest cost.

WebTV was literally a Silicon Valley garage startup, having been founded in a former auto dealership in Mountain View, California. The company leveraged their limited startup funds, provided in part by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, by licensing a reference design for the appliance to Sony and Philips. Eventually other companies would also become licensees and WebTV would profit on the monthly service fees. After 22 months, the company was sold to Microsoft for $425 million, with each of the three founders receiving $64 million.

Even after the sale of WebTV to Microsoft, the three founders remained in management positions with the company. Goldman left in 2002 to found Mailblocks, Inc., an e-mail provider using whitelisting to fight spam.

Personal life

Goldman tried to build a Jack in the Box restaurant near his office in Los Altos, California, but the city refused him permission. In contrast, his long hours lifting weights at the gym and fastidious diet earned him the nickname "Fat-Free Phil."

Goldman's house rabbit, a gray dwarf, became the unofficial mascot of General Magic. Named "Bowser", it moved to WebTV Networks when Goldman did, roaming the halls, offices and conference rooms, sometimes chewing on cables. The programmers at WebTV adopted "Bowser" as the code name for their browser.

Goldman also served as a director of BraveKids, a charity that uses the internet to provide information and support for families of children with serious illnesses.

Goldman died of heart failure on December 25, 2003 age 39 at his home in Los Altos Hills, California. He is survived by wife Susan Rayl and their two children, Sydney and Josephine.

References