I don’t remember the exact date, but it was probably in the early 1990s. I was working for Tandem Computers at the time and had switched from using a 6530 terminal for accessing the computer to using a PC, running MS-DOS.
I knew I needed an anti-virus program and so I decided to get get McAfee Anti-Virus, since I was using that product on my home computer. Of course I could have just used my copy from home, but that would have been against the license agreement and I wanted to support small companies who were developing good software. McAfee was small — I would guess less than a dozen employees at the time.
I had problems ordering a copy online, so I called their telephone support number. The support person told me I couldn’t buy an individual license for use in a business environment: I would have to buy a group license for every employee in the company. Since Tandem had thousands of employees (many of whom didn’t use a PC) I wasn’t about to do that, and I seriously doubted that Tandem would buy such a license either.
I explained all this to the support person but he was unmoved. Since I don’t take “no” for an answer easily, I asked to speak to his supervisor.
After a slight delay I found myself talking to the boss himself: John McAfee. I wasn’t that surprised. (This wasn’t like calling Apple Care and getting Tim Cooke on the phone; McAfee Associates was a small start-up.)
I gave John the same story I had told the original support person, and John gave me the same answer. I pointed out that I could easily just use the individual copy I already had, or buy another individual copy and lie about its business use, but I wasn’t going to do that. He would not budge. I was annoyed that he wouldn’t listen to “reason”. I believe I told him that I thought he was making a mistake, all to no avail.
I think I ended up buying Norton AntiVirus.
I read the news this morning that John McAfee was found dead in his jail cell in Spain, of a “probable suicide” after a Spanish court approved his extradition to the U.S. to face tax-evasion charges. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/23/business/john-mcafee-dead.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20210623&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=cta®i_id=93400775&segment_id=61550&user_id=755b56566f88b976bdd3f82c9af112af or https://tinyurl.com/pfbs3ujb . A sad end to a strange but adventurous life.