Talk:Peter Norton/Archives/2014

Crossed Arm Trademark
I couldn't find any information about the 'crossed-arm' Norton trademark. Can anyone confirm this as a fact? 141.153.139.72 16:37, 5 July 2007 (UTC)


 * It's a US trademark # 1873789, serial #74390161 . You can search the TESS system to find it, but they don't allow deep links. Leigh Honeywell (talk) 22:59, 23 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Confirmed. Go to United States Patent and Trademark Office (uspto.gov). Search pending and registered marks using the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS). Search Option: Basic Word Mark Search (New User).  Search Term: 1873789, Field: Serial or Registration Number. – Wbm1058 (talk) 14:38, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

Where have you gone Mr Norton?
MIA for seven years. Is he divorced now? Did he give the letters back? Has he been captured by aliens? Is he living a quiet life of luxury? I know you're reading this Pete. How about an update? 198.6.46.11 19:24, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

It appears that he has moved to New York and gotten remarried and is primarily focused on philanthropy. The following appeared as a wedding announcement/article in the St. Thomas Source (Virgin Islands):

Gwendolyn Patricia Adams Weds Peter Norton by Source staff

May 30, 2007 - Alton and Patricia Adams announce the marriage of their daughter, Gwendolyn Patricia Adams, and Peter Norton on May 19. The ceremony was officiated by Henry Louis Gates Jr. PhD, chair of the Department of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University at the Old Whaling Church, Martha's Vineyard, Mass. The bride was given in marriage by her father, Alton A. Adams Jr. The matron of honor was Satrice Adams, the bride's niece and best man was John Norton, the groom's brother.

Peter Norton is an American software publisher, author and philanthropist. A native of Aberdeen, Washington, he is a graduate of Reed College, Portland, Ore. He produced a popular tool to retrieve erased data for DOS disks, which was followed by several other tools that are collectively known as Norton Utilities. He, along with Norton Utilities, produced Norton Commander, a very popular file managing tool for DOS; Norton Guides, a TSR program that shows reference information for assembly language and other IBM PC internals; and Norton Editor, a programmer's text editor.

He is the president of the Peter Norton Family Foundation. He also serves on the boards of the California Institute of the Arts, Reed College, Crossroads School, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Cal Tech, the Whitney Museum of Art and Acorn Technologies.

Gwendolyn is a graduate of Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic High School and was in the first early admissions class of the College of the Virgin Islands. She transferred to the College of William and Mary where she earned her degree in Urban Planning. She immediately started her career in banking with First Union of Georgia and finally as senior vice president in charge of the business-banking segment for the northeast with Wachovia Bank, New York City. In the interim, Gwen served as Commissioner of Finance, Government of the Virgin Islands; and Senior Vice President, Banco Popular of Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands. She presently serves on the boards of the Visiting Nurses of New York, the Faith Center for Community Development, and Aid to Artisans, an International non-governmental organization. Gwen is also serving as a consultant to the United Nations Office for International Partnerships. The couple will reside in New York City.

Divorce?
I read somewhere that Peter got divorced sometime near 2000... -- Ryan Norton T 00:45, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

I found a link to the artical; Peter Norton Filed for Divorce, 2000.  --Flibbertigibbet 17:37, 19 October 2004 (UTC)

Note to 67.184.219.166 user
Please do not change articles to make paragraphs start with a proper first name: e.g., Peter started the company in...

We are not on a first name basis with Peter Norton and writing in that style is unprofessional. Much better, after Peter Norton has been introduced, is to say something like this:

Norton started the company in...

or, more formally,

Mr. Norton started the company in...

Best regards, Dan. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Dmccarty (talk • contribs) 11:40, December 20, 2005 (UTC)

Were Salinger's letters returned?
The final paragraph reads:


 * Years ago, Norton resolved a major literary controversy by purchasing letters by reclusive author J.D. Salinger, which were being auctioned by his one-time lover, Joyce Maynard. Norton announced his intention to return the letters to Salinger.

Nearly identical language appears on the J.D. Salinger and Joyce Maynard pages.

The problem is obvious: Were these letters actually returned?

If they were, these articles should say so instead of referring to Norton's "announcement" of his "intention".

If they were not, then the article should say "Norton stated his intent to return them and then did not." After all, his purchase and presumably his promise took place "years ago"... whatever that means. Lawrence King 09:26, 7 January 2006 (UTC)


 * There is a third possibility here: that Norton announced his intention and then what happened next was not a matter of public record. In fact, one 1999 report states, "...Norton bought the letters with the intention of doing whatever Salinger wanted with them. In keeping with his customary isolation, Salinger has not yet made contact with Norton." Furthermore, "software developer buys Salinger letters with intent to return them" is newsworthy; "software developer who stated intent to return letters returns letters" is not. I wouldn't expect to see any reporting on the final outcome.


 * Therefore, if we simply don't have the facts, then the article should say just what it does say. --Darksasami 11:18, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

Good point -- the question of whether the letters were returned should not be answered if we don't have the answer.

But "Years ago" does not belong in a Wikipedia article, since it is (a) vague and (b) relative to the day the article was written. Do you have an actual date for this? And do you have a date for when Norton made the promise (which might have been at the same time, but isn't specified)? Lawrence King 23:06, 8 January 2006 (UTC)


 * Psst...watch the edits to the document more closely. :D --Darksasami 08:19, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

Oops, my bad! You already added this info to the Norton and Maynard pages. To make up for my inattention, I have added this info to the Salinger page. *grin* Lawrence King 08:46, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

A Mole in IBM?
It is interesting that a Liberal Arts Major discovers undocumented features in DOS. Things like how the FAT is put together and how files are erased? It is rumored that Norton had a 'friend' at IBM or some such thing which pointed him in the right direction. Anyone have any reference as to how Norton was able to figure this all out without any assistance? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by GGP (talk • contribs) 17:08, January 29, 2006 (UTC)
 * Reed College is not what most would consider a typical liberal arts college. The math and science programs (well, all programs, really) are exceptionally rigorous.  Norton either had a dual major of math and physics or an interdisciplinary degree of both (the alumni directory isn't clear).  From the point that the curricula of both departments are rumored not to have changed focus or methods greatly except to incorporate innovations within the fields, combined with knowledge of more recent curricula, I would have to claim Norton's technical achievements were well within the abilities of a Reed graduate. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.113.44.193 (talk • contribs) 06:11, February 2, 2006  (UTC)

Loosened Tie
Somebody once told me that in the photo taken of Peter Norton for each front cover of Norton Utilities, the knot of his tie was slighly higher up than in the previous version, i.e. in the photo on NU v1, he's virtually tie-less and in NU v8 the tie is on properly. Is there any truth in this?? --Jamesedmo 09:32, 19 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I have a copy of NAV 5.0 on my desk here and the tie looks to be properly adjusted 198.6.46.11 19:26, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Idea theft?
Some time ago the article said that Peter Norton stole ideas from his students. Why is not that in the discussion page? (unsigned)

While that is certainly possible, the only students Mr Norton is on record as having were US Army soldiers, being trained for duty in the jungles of Indo-China. ````

Fair use rationale for Image:Peter Norton.jpg
Image:Peter Norton.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 19:54, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Trivia
Much of the biography section reads to me like a list of trivia, which is against Wikipedia policy - anyone agree? 136.186.1.186 (talk) 05:58, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

"other kids like them"
"My children are half black, and we thought Oak Bluffs would give them an opportunity to summer around other kids like them"

Can someone write a clarification of this quotation? What is the significance of Oak Bluffs? This quotation makes it sound like Oak Bluffs is a summer camp for biracial children. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Acc78 (talk • contribs) 21:17, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Oak Bluffs is a section of the island that is historically & presently known for a stable, African American, middle and upper-middle class presence. Some are year-round residents, and many are vacation visitors. PlayCuz (talk) 08:08, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Norton brand
Is there really a product called Norton Pink Shirt? From the article: "However, the Norton brand name lives on in such Symantec products as Norton AntiVirus, Norton 360, Norton Internet Security, Norton Personal Firewall, Norton SystemWorks (which now contains a current version of the Norton Utilities), Norton AntiSpam, Norton GoBack (formerly Roxio GoBack), Norton Pink Shirt, Norton PartitionMagic (formerly PowerQuest PartitionMagic), and Norton Ghost." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.76.197.232 (talk) 17:28, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

Origin of Norton Commander
Assuming the Wikipedia article on John Socha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Socha) is correct, not misleading, and I haven't misread it, it seems credit for the origination of Norton Commander should go to John Socha.

In particular, I think the phrase "Along with Norton Utilities, Norton produced Norton Commander, a file managing tool for DOS;" is misleading. Later in the article, some products are described as produced by "Norton and his company, Peter Norton Computing," which might be more accurate, but I would have a preference to include John Socha's name somewhere in the article, maybe in a parenthetical phrase, revising the first statement I quoted to something like:

"Along with Norton Utilities, Norton's company produced Norton Commander (originated / invented by John Socha), a file managing tool for DOS;"

Rhkramer (talk) 13:52, 12 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Actually, unless there's a specific connection to Peter himself, and not just to his company, this content be moved from the article to the Peter Norton Computing article. Dovid (talk) 15:59, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Buddhist Monk
I read that Peter Norton was at one point a Buddhist monk, which seems unlikely. However, is there any truth to the idea of him being Buddhist? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.7.214.217 (talk) 14:44, 26 December 2011 (UTC)
 * About the Author, p. xi of Norton's first book, Inside the IBM PC: Access to Advanced Features & Programming (1983), says:
 * Peter Norton... has labored in the various vineyards of computing for the last twenty years, with time out to teach medicine in the Army, to study for five years in a monastery, and to back-pack around the world. Mr Norton lives on the beach in Venice, California, and always wears his shirt sleeves rolled-up.
 * From this I assume that he may have studied in a Buddhist monastery, but was not a monk himself, but I'm not familiar with Buddhist monasterys. Wikipedia's article says: "Some Viharas became extremely important institutions, some of them evolving into major Buddhist Universities with thousands of students, such as Nalanda". – Wbm1058 (talk) 13:55, 4 June 2012 (UTC)