Paul Krill
Editor at Large

“Dilbert” creator charms at EclipseCon

news
Mar 6, 20072 mins

EclipseCon attendees were treated on Tuesday to an entertaining presentation by Scott Adams, author of the “Dilbert” comic strip, featuring Adams showing some memorable entries in the strip and detailing his rise to prominence in his field.

Although rejected as a child by what he called the “Famous Artists School for Young People,” Adams persisted in his craft during years of working in corporate America at the Pacific Bell telephone company and at a bank. His observations showed up in his strips, including a direct quote from a company executive’s memo, which got him in trouble during a time when his budding cartoonist career overlapped with his employment at Pacific Bell.

“I didn’t think he’d notice it,” Adams said.

He also said he has upset parties ranging from square dance callers to persons with the family name, “Dork.” These complaints sometimes have generated sarcastic apologies in follow-up strips.

In one strip, he wrote about ant farms, only to hear from an attorney representing Uncle Milton Industries, which had trademarked the term, ant farm. Dilbert then responded with a strip that disparagingly compared lawyers to ants.

Commenting on the notion of luck, Adams argued that those with luck actually may be those who spot the right opportunity.

“People who expect luck get it,” Adams said.

Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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