Some History of Matrix Software By Michael Erlewine

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who had a computer that could runthem and was happy to do so.The only other astrologer I knewwho was into programming was RobHand who had a little Wangcomputer that he programmed.When I wanted to start Matrix I didnot want to step on anyone else‟stoes so I called Rob and told himabout Matrix and asked if there wasany conflict with his future plans. Hetold me that he had no intention ofselling software and that I had hisblessing. Then, about a year or solater, I found out he had startedAstrolabe and was selling software.I had never heard this from him buthad to discover it myself. I calledhim and reminded him of hisstatement to me and his only replywas “I changed my mind.”It is not like astrologers by naturetook to the computer right off. It wasjust the opposite. Astrologers as agroup were computer-phobic fromday one and only slowly warmed toa machine that could do thecalculations they did by hand. Theridiculous old log-table rituals ofcalculating a chart were their secretand many saw the computer as anunwanted intruder into their ancientscience. But the forward-lookingastrologers (and aren‟t allastrologers supposed to be futureoriented?) could see the advantageof having a computer and I began toget more requests for my freesoftware than I could fill. Asmentioned, soon I was spendingalmost my entire time recording andverifying cassette tapes of programsfor my fellow astrologers while Icould not pay my own bills. It wasaround then that I began to chargefor my programs. Even this was notwelcome, and this is one of myfavorite stories:Photo: Circle Books Calendar 1979I received very many more poisonpenletters when in 1979 I put acomputer on the cover of anastrological calendar that my brotherStephen and I had been publishingsince 1969. The calendar is stillpublished today, some 42 yearslater! But at the time the photo of acomputer with an astrological aspectgrid on its screen was just too muchof an affront for many astrologers tobear. They hated it. However, moreand more astrologers of anotherinclination loved it and actually couldsee the future, at least when itpresented itself.I could go on and on but I will givejust one more example of the oldsaying that “No good deed goesunpunished” and this had to do withthe advent of the firstmicrocomputer interpretationreports. Oh the horror of the thoughtwhen astrologers figured out whatthese written interpretations actuallywere. I remember one round tablediscussion at a major conference
where we were discussingcomputers and astrology and talkingat that moment of computerizedreports of chart interpretations. Thepoor woman who was assigned forour roundtable to monitor the doorjust stood by the entrance crying hereyes out about how horrible thesereports were for astrology and thatthey would take the bread out of themouths of working astrologers.Of course, just the opposite is whathappened. These little reports gaveevery astrologer the opportunity tosell a client $5 or $10 worth ofastrology when the client was not upto paying for a sit-down reading. Buteven here astrologers did not flockto buy computer software thatprinted out written readings, at leastnot publically. Instead, they calledus on the QT, after hours andunder-the-counter to buy these newreports because they knew theycould sell them but did not wantother astrologers to know theywould stoop to such a thing. Such isprogress.Of course, just a few years lateralmost every astrologer with acomputer had one or more reportsto offer their clients. And one otherstory is worth relating. It had to dowith the first time I went to a majorastrology convention to present mysoftware. I am not sure exactlywhere that conference was held, butit may well have been the AFA(American Federation ofAstrologers) conference in NewOrleans in 1980. That sounds aboutright.Although I was the only personcreating and marketing astrologicalsoftware for home computers, thatdid not mean I had no competition.There was one dedicated machinethat did astrological calculationsfrom a company named DigicompResearch called the DR-70. It was alittle hard-wired computer that camein a neat closed case like atypewriter and cost a couple ofthousand dollars. I will never forgetthat first day when I walked into thelarge convention hall where theastrology exhibitors had theirbooths.I had only one small card table anda couple of folding chairs. As Iwalked into the hall I looked aroundat all of the booths whereastrologers were busy setting uptheir wares. I was looking (ofcourse) for the Digicomp booth. Itmust be there somewhere, Ithought. Then it dawned on me. Atthe back of this large hall, stretchingleft to right along the entire backwall was Digicomp, not a booth, butfilling the entire room horizon withone vast display. It was devastatingto see.I set up my little card table, sat in mychair, and the rest is history. Withina few years Digicomp and the DR-70 disappeared from the scene andmy programs and Matrix Softwarebecame the weapon of choice forastrologers who had computers andby that time almost all of them hadcomputers.As mentioned, Matrix started in mylittle office on the second floor at1041 N. Main street in Ann Arbor in1977. Three years later on March 1,1980, the coldest day in the winteras it turned out, my family and Imoved three hours north to BigRapids, Michigan. It was a smallconvoy of one UHaul trailer and twopickup trucks. We had found a smallhouse in Big Rapids for about$30,000 and we moved in. I had
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Some History of Matrix Software By Michael Erlewine

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