Robert X. Cringely is the pen name

Pen name

A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...

 of both technology journalist Mark Stephens and a string of writers for a column in InfoWorld

InfoWorld

InfoWorld is an information technology online media and events business operating under the umbrella of InfoWorld Media Group, a division of IDG...

, the one-time weekly computer trade newspaper published by IDG

IDG

International Data Group is a technology media, research, event management, and venture capital organization.IDG evolved from International Data Corporation which was formed in 1964 in Newtonville, Massachusetts, by Patrick Joseph McGovern and a friend, Fred Kirch...

.
Mark Stephens was born in 1953, in Apple Creek, Ohio. Stephens earned a bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 from the College of Wooster in Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 in 1975. He worked for Apple Inc. as employee #12.

Stephens was the third author to contribute to Infoworld under the Cringely pseudonym, the first two being Rory J.