My Journey with Astrology Software
By Hank Friedman
When I began my journey with astrology software, it was at the dawn of personal computing.
There were no color screens, hard drives, color printers, Macs, or mice, much less smart phones; and the first units were called microcomputers.
A friend of mine, astrologer Carolyn Brien, came to my home toting a Commodore 64 micro and showed me the first astrology program. I was light green with envy, especially because their price was way beyond my budget.
One day a few months laters, I gave a chart reading to the 13 year old daughter of my good friend Bud Livingston. He was so impressed by how deeply I was able to reach his daughter that he decided to write me a check for my first microcomputer. And boy did that change my life.
I purchased an Apple II computer in 1978 with a "floating point card" so that it could do math, and then got my first program from Matrix Software, the only company making astrology software.
I had to load the program from a cassette tape, and it took several tries before it worked. But when I saw a listing of planetary positions unfolding on my 9 inch green screen, it took my breath away.
Note: Michael Erlewine, with his brother Stephen, James Neely, and a few others pioneered the field, developing better and better programs for DOS computers. While the displays were rudimentary, over time the capabilities got more and more extensive.
Gradually other companies joined the fray, adding their unique approaches to software design and program features.
All along the way, I completely fell in love with astrology software and decided to share my design ideas, suggestions on new features, and my extensive debugging skills with all of the major companies. I donated thousands of hours to them, with the aim towards helping all astrologers have the best tools possible.
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In 1984, I was giving free astrology readings to visitors of the famed Shambhala Bookstore in Berkeley, and one day a computer book editor approached me and asked me if I would write a book on astrology software.
I agreed, and before I knew it, I'd written Astrology on Your Personal Computer for Sybex.
Shortly thereafter, I was asked by the astrology software companies if I would please distribute their programs, and I began to do so.
I started writing reviews and articles on astrology software for several journals and continued to do so for over 40 years, including American Astrology, the AFA Bulletin, ISAR, The Mountain Astrologer, and Saptarishis Astrology.
Now I am completely thrilled with the breadth and depth of the astrology programs available, and very happy to have been a part of this journey.