Dennis Wortman
Age: 68
Company: Cogito Computer Corp.
Technology: Wang computers
Number of repairs: Around 6 a week
Location: Stillwater, Minn.
Wortman cut his teeth working at Wang Laboratories for a decade starting in 1980. After the company declared bankruptcy, he struck out on his own. Now, when one-time Wang users are ready to give up the now-defunct platform, Wortman takes the old machines, tests them, and takes them apart.
"They're happy for us to take them away for free," he says. Then Wortman sends out the old circuit boards all over the world to Wang users that need a replacement.
Some of these mainframes computers have sold for $2 million apiece, and users (mostly governments and companies) could have invested at least that much in software over the last 25 years. But they'd rather not spend the next five rewriting all their Wang software for a PC. "They say, `Let's just keep the old one running'," explains Wortman. "And everyone's happy."
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