Kriger, shown here next to his amateur radio set in Austin, used this call sign since he was 13 years old.

Veteran MPE wizard Winston Kriger, whose work powered 3000 software products from Tymlabs, OPin Systems, and ROC Software, and connected hardware the world over, died this week at his home in Austin, Texas. Kriger made his mark on the MPE community with an advanced understanding of component, bit, and file-level activities that are essential to the 3000's dominance. Anything to do with tapes, software and hardware was his heartland of know-how, one colleague said.

His passing—after several months of a rare, untreatable, and debilitating brain disease impairing muscle control, balance and speech, and finally basic life sustaining functions—was being mourned by colleagues and friends in the 3000's highest technical community.

"Interfacing hardware was his special magic," said Terry Floyd, founder of the Support Group and a 3000 expert from the 1970s onward. With a dry, rapier wit and a massive storehouse of knowledge on subjects as diverse as tesla coils and garden railroading, Kriger left a mark with signature brilliance that reminded Floyd of two other 3000 legends, Fred White and Bruce Toback.

"Winston was up there with Fred and Bruce as far as I’m concerned," Floyd said. As a fellow Austinite, Floyd and worked with Kriger closely, going back to 1978. "I think he somehow tied three HP 3000 Series III’s together, way back there in that timeframe." The magic of such a combination didn't daunt Kriger.

His work on Backpack for Tymlabs and on Reveal/3000 from Opin Systems stood out among countless projects, creativity and precision that was often behind important scenes. His time in the marketplace ran from the 1960s to the current decade. In one of his many bemused signatures online, he said he'd been "specializing in 'obsolete' technology since the mid 20th Century." Kriger was a resource who vendors turned to when answers could be found nowhere else.

A Celebration of Life service for Kriger is set for 2 PM on March 16 at the Cook-Walden chapel in Austin. An online memory book for Kriger is at the Cook-Walden website. His is survived by his wife Ruth, son Carey, brother Brett, and brother-in-law Larry Miller.

Kriger was a Vietnam Era veteran who gathered some initial career experience from the Army Signal Corps. Memorial gifts may be sent to Austin Area Salvation Army, or to the National WW II Museum in New Orleans.