I know you weren't gloating. It was late. I was joking. See, that was the
joke, the fact that you weren't gloating, and yet I accused you of gloating!
Oh, sure, those blessed with gifts in other areas than pure intelligence may
not have seen that, but trust me, I did!
I here you about the Macintosh interface. Heavy users swear by it, but when
you go from Windows to Mac, intuitive the Mac isn't.
DOS 3.nn was a great O.S. I still have several copies on 1.2MB floppies.
Good stuff. 5 was better still, and of course 6, 6.22 was THE DOS version.
That was right around when Windows started getting going, I guess must have
been around 1989 plus or minus.
You been around like me! And dBase! Did you know Wayne Ratliff? I don't
know if you know the story of the start of dBase, or the name Ashton Tate,
but here you go: the genesis of dBase was Wayne needed a simple little
database program to run the football pool at JPL (Jet Propulsion
Laboratories) in Pasadena. The rudiments of dBase was the result of that
need. Wayne, being one of these lofty scientist types figured he could quit
the cushy science gig at JPL and start his own software company. Why not.
That was the start of Ashton Tate. Except, of course, there was no Ashton.
Some marketing firm told them the name "Ashton" sounded more official, and so
Ashton was grafted on. Eventually the company bought a parrot, named it
Ashton, and said it was THE Ashton. I never worked there, but I know several
people who did, including one of my very best buddies who wrote their
compiler. He intially wrote it for himself, 'cause he was a dBase fanatic,
Ashton Tate got wind of it, and so they had to go and hire the guy that wrote
a compiler for their product. It's a good thing they lived in the same town.
Them were the days! Back then computers were hard and mean and no
compromise affairs. O.S. were difficult because they were supposed to be.
Computers weren't easy, video games were easy. Computers were difficult and
only the best and brightest could understand them. I've always contended
that making these things difficult doesn't secure you a loyal following of
engineers, it just opens the door to competition from someone who is willing
to make something both technologically innovative, and easy to use.
Microsoft has made billions following Randy's 3rd law of computing. Cisco is
learning about the law now. For years there has been that elite core of CLI
snobs. Cisco successfully beat Bay in the early 90's to dominate routing
(with a little help from Boeing, who of course instructed Cisco on what they
really needed to develop and essentially made Cisco who they eventually
became), but we see now competitors like Juniper successfully challenging
that dominance by making both technologically innovative products and
products that are easy to use.
I'm glad you appreciate the humor! While my comments about performance were
factual, you picked up some of the editorializing was to bring some levity to
the situation. It takes a sharp mind, a good eye, and a keen wit to pick up
on that, and you, my friend, obviously possess all three. It is truly a
rarified breed that is able to walk among the seething throng, yet
simultaneously be somewhere above it.
All my verbage and hasn't been lost, as at least one soul "get's it."
Cheers.
