From: Timothy Rue 
Date: Mon, 9 Jun 97 08:34:00
Organization: MindSpring Enterprises

* It is now Sunday the 8th of June, in my efforts to write all of this ***

This is only the third part. Take Heart not to make any judgements but put
Heart into any actions you may take based on this first part. For those
who have the ability to translate this into other languages, please do so,
for this IS for everyone.

© Copyright 1997 - Timothy Rue

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Back to Comdex
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As I did in the beginning of part two, I'd like to reflect back on part
two and part one before continuing with part three. Overall, in our efforts
to move forward in our evolution such facets can come into existance and
at a point in time, cause something to happen that seems so remarkable
that many of us fall into a state of illusion and get lost. On the other
side of this coin there are principles and concepts we can apply which
results in remarkable things happening. Either way something remarkable
happens but it is in how we deal with it that effect what all evolves from
it. We can ignore it or act on it and if we act on it we have the choice
to be productive or destructive. But the most important thing is that we
do have a choice.

Things happen for a reason, it's simple physics. The better we understand
this the more we can productively do without getting caught by backward
destructive illusions. It's one thing to create and apply concepts and
another to experience the resulting effects. The better each of us
understands these things the more energy we create. But overall there is
the sum total of our choice (productive minus destructive.) If we are
applying destructive or faulty concepts we will experience of course the
negitive effects, perhaps without realizing it because we may never have
experienced otherwise, to know better.

Many of us believe in the cycle of positive and negitive. It is a concept
of physics and there is much in life that helps us to believe it. But what
happens if we step outside of this sphere? No longer are we affected by it
but we can see it and make productive use of it. As a matter of logic, the
idea of being affected by the cycle concept from outside of this sphere
converts to an illusion. An illusion that can only affect you by believing
in its power to affect you.

Before you go off thinking I've lost it, where in fact I have it very much
in sight, consider this: I'm an end user who has put alot of honest
integrated effort into my communications. I've certainly suffered the
nightmare of the past few years regarding the Amiga, as many of us have.
But what I recognized out of all of this is that I could step outside of
the positive negitive cycle and inject into it the honesty of wide-scope
accountability. And I've watched as the negitive vanishes into the
nothingness it is. Stepping back to see the next sphere and doing the same
thing. I've talked about removing world child hunger, a goal nobody can
say they don't support, without exposing their errors. By exposing and
vanishing the negitive, what happens to the cycle? It gets exposed for the
illusion it is!

With this in mind lets get on with this third part.

During our talk, Petro had asked me about the US economy. I responded that
things where the best they have been in a long time. Petro told me
about the economy in Germany and commented the government was making
things difficult. I responded that the computer industry could force the
government to change. At the airport while waiting for Petro to arrive,
Skal told me how the RAM industry had fallen through the floor and there
was something of a panic happening with the manufactures and their
employees. Petro had also told me how he was having and helping to evolve
increased Amiga sales in a country not having a history of good enconmy
(I'm not sure if I remember which but do recall a brief flash of the
kids I've sponsored for many years, India.) At dinner someone ask about
NewStar the company some of us heard about, regarding the Amiga in China.
Petro said they are producing game machines. I think this is good because
kids do play and learn in the process.

Keep this in mind along with the fact I have been working in the trade
show industry here in Altanta for many years, as you read on.

The first thing I set out to do was size up the show. I went through the
exhibit areas and observed overall make-up of exhibitors and product
types. Lamar had told me Motorola wasn't there, but they where, just not
in they way you'd expect from past shows. He also told me Apple wasn't
there and this was correct. It was about noon when I sat down to think
about all I had seen. The number of shows had increased to four from less
than this years ago, but the amount of floor space used had also shrunk. I
also noticed how alot less money was spent in the way of booths. Something
I'd noticed because of working in the trade show industry. All of the
sudden this show shrunk, not just once but as I thought about it, it
became quite small.

But it wasn't until Wednesday while watching the loop video, waiting to
pick the keynote audio tape up, that the reason for the reduced size
really crystalized. No wonder RAM prices have fallen thru the floor, this
also explained why computer prices had been falling quicker and quicker
over the last few years. I can imagine how some of the exhibitors must
have felt, had they realized what was going on and I suppose many of them
did and why the energy level was so low.

Let me put it to you this way. There are those kids in this playground we
call the computer industry, who have decided to take the toys we have now,
away from us. It's called NC or Network Computing but not the kind of
interoffice or shop network such as Novell (notice how certification in
Novell has become easier and easier to learn and use?). The running
joke was that NC stood for Not Compatible. We're talking internet here,
the moving of our toys to large network servers, like the system handeling
billions of banking transactions.

Don't get me wrong, this does have some worthwhile advantages but there
are also some major flaws these kids clearly don't recognize. On the up
side it can help reduce the cost of accessing powerful computer technology
for many that haven't yet been introduced to it. On the down side, what is
this push doing to the economy of so many in the industry and those
affected by the economy of this industry?

Now in this time and age many of us have learned that you don't go to work
at a company and stay until you retire. So many of us are learning to
accept this and properly deal with other retirement options, therefore this
is not the problem. What the problem is, is what these kids are replacing
the jobs lost with.

People need to be doing something to earn an income, and perhaps invest or
save for retirement. So exactly what are these lost jobs being replaced
by? Somehow I don't think this is supposed to be a problem, we've gone
thru this sort of thing in our evolution before and enough times that these
kids surely must have considered this. Besides there is another side of
this coin to look at. Oops! let's get outside of this cycle and see the
whole coin.

We are moving into a new mode of computing and there is no stopping it. So
let's see it for what it really is, without illusions.

This new technology is just that, new. It means human error can take place
and as it evolves human error can still take place. It means that many
facets can come together and at a point in time, BOOM! But this time, for
those reading this set of postings, we can prepare for it so that any
damage is minimal.

Bill Gates is falling, there is no stopping it because the rules are
changing but the question is what are the new rules and who is making
them? An even better question is, is it going to put us back on the course
we left 22 years ago?

There is only one rule, connection. It doesn't really matter who is making
the rules but then again you might like to know Motorola is a large part of
it. A satellite went up. World-wide connection, no matter where you are in
the world and where you may go, you can connect to any other device in the
world. Wireless! Iridium, the first.

Back on course? Only so long as you know there is only one rule,
Connection!

There will be all types of information/data and processing based services
evolving on the internet. LET'S NOT GET TRAPPED INTO HAVING THEM FORCED
ON US ALONG WITH ANY FAULTY ILLUSIONAL CONSTRAINT ATTACHED, as Microsoft
did to many.

OPEN SYSTEMS!

Recognize that Standards are important for proper communication but being
able to handle the Exception is VERY IMPORTANT. A LIFE AND DEATH MATTER!
And this brings us right back to the problem created 22 years ago. The
fracturing and fragmentation of a beautiful spectrum. A spectrum that MUST
BE PUT BACK INTO PLACE. While we're at it let's take the understanding
we gain in doing this, to put back on track other spectrums that have been
fractured and fragmented. Spectrums identifiable by the existing element of
conflict within them. And where there is conflict there is sure to be
non-productive expence to leverage against. Trillions! Or is it more?

This part three, of this posting set, has been very difficult to write. If
there is anything to say about Comdex, it's that it shrunk so much that
the boys with control over most the toys got nervous and added a few more
shows to the event. They showed their nervousness in other ways as well.
And they have a real reason to be nervous. Security issues on this new
technology direction were not a minor topic. And they know how this
direction is affecting the economy of many individuals. One plus one
equal......

For the Amiga this is good news. Think about it! As the general computing
needs move to the internet, accessable by smaller, less creatively
versatile (or more constraining depending on how you look at it) devices,
along with a time of concern for security....

Where might hardware and software developers go?

So long as the Amiga evolves in stability and versatility, and it will,
it will expand it's market share. Add to this the ability to handle
exceptions while allowing freedom in creativity.....

In all of this it is important to consider how not only software took a
wrong turn 22 years ago, but how this has affected the direction of
hardware development as well. Really think about this people.

Computer technology is such a technology that is limited only by the mind.
Kids put things together in new and interesting ways. Let's not allow the
industry to cause limitations on the creative development of kids. They
may be the ones needing to deal with the exception.

The next level of computer evolution is that of the end user being able to
define the objective and allowing the computer to provide a solution or
solution possibilities. A level of individual creative directed automation
far beyond the current systems of today. As well as being beyond the
general constraints of what is slowly (in comparision to what we can do)
evolving thru the internet. And it is this coming level of evolution that
the Amiga has an established edge, but only so long as it is recognized
and developed.

Connection is the only rule! Send data. Receive Data. But it's what you
can do with the data on your end. Not so much with the evolving general
internet capabilities with inherent built in constraints but with the
personalize and professional exception handeling capabilities of the
system you have. Consider the evolution of magazines, it started with the
general and became more and more specific over time. And the same thing is
going to happen on the internet. Many would say its already happened, but
slow down and think about it. Accessing information is not the only thing
you can do with computers.

This lady called the Amiga, well she's pregnant. And we all know she has
been in the wilderness, came out for a short time, went back into the
wilderness and now she's about to give birth. And this birth is not
something you rush but take care of heart in delivering. And this baby is
going to like having alot of toys to play with. Virtual Interaction. A
geniune gift of good will. Playing together is WHERE IT's ALL AT.


Let's look back to a time just before the Gates explosion:

A BIT OF HISTORY

Software Piracy, what's it's origin? A look back to a time when PC's
didn't exist nor did the idea of software piracy, will reveal:

The Hacker Ethic:
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Access to computers - and anything which might teach you something about
the way the world works - should be unlimited and total. Always yield to
the Hands-On Imperative.

All information should be free.

Mistrust Authority - Promote Decentralization.

Hackers should be judged by their hacking, not bogus criteria, such as
degrees, age, race, or position.

You can create art and beauty on a computer.

Computers can change your life for the better.
-------------------

Before going off with a possible wrong perspective of the above, one needs
to take a look at the original hackers. The list is very impressive and
can be found in the book "HACKERS" by Steven Levy. Sub-titled "Heros of
the computer revolution."

YES! there was a time when the word "Hacker" had a very good, positive and
highly productive conotation applied to it!

How is it that "Hacker" now has a negitive conotation applied? Well it's
really quite a simple and well praticed technique in dishonesty. Reversal!
A well praticed technique often used in politics. I once told a joke to
someone very much into Rush L.... I said this is the left wing, as I moved
my left arm up and down several times. I then said this is the right wing,
as I moved my right arm up and down. Then I asked him if he'd ever seen an
eagle fly like this, as I moved my arms up and down opposite each other.
Time to get out of this cycle to see the whole sphere.

The meaning behind words used, can change thru the intentional acts of
dishonesty.

Today there is a great deal of free information available via computer
connection, much to learn from in how the world works. To understand the
only rule is connection is to assist decentralization. Of course the big
boys want to centralize much for their feedback, control and profit.
Consider the customizable news service of CNN and Oracle and the feedback
this will proviude them with, perhaps there is another hidden meaning
behind the name oracle. One that says we see what the people are
interested in and with this information we can convince them that we can
tell the future. But this doesn't suppoert the Kids who can put things
together in new and interesting ways to create art and beauty and change
all our lives for the better.

To close out this part, as well as lead into the next part of this posting
set:

***********

IN MEMORIAM

John George Kemeny

1926-1992

John G. Kemeny, co-inventor of BASIC and co-founder of True BASIC, Inc.,
died very unexpectedly on December 26, 1992, at the age of 66.

Born in Hungary in 1926, John Kemeny emigrated to the United States in
1940, on, as he put it, "the last boat to get out." He graduated at the
top of his class at George Washington High School in Brooklyn in just
three years.

He then entered Princeton University. While there he was drafted and
assigned to the Manhattan Project, where he worked on numerical
calculations using nothing more than the punched card equipment available
at the that time. After the war, while finishing his PhD, he served as
Albert Einstein's Assistant for one year. He came to Dartmouth in 1953,
and served as chairman of the Mathematics Department from 1955 to 1968.

I first met him when he hired me in 1956. Immediately we began to work on
joint projects to make computing easier to learn and use. After many
attempts, we finally settled on the concept of time-sharing as a way of
distributing computing power to the greatest number of people. To make
this a pratical venture we also devised a new language that was easier to
learn and use: BASIC. It first saw the light of day on May 1, 1964, and
has grown to be the most widely used programming language in the world.

John Kemeny then went on to serve as the Dartmouth's thirteenth President
from 1970 to 1981. He led Dartmouth, one of the last all-male colleges,
into coeducation, and chaired President Carter's Three-Mile-Island
Commission.

After that illustrious career, he took on one more challenge in 1983: to
do something about the poor quality of educational software and BASIC
compliers on personal computers. Nineteen years after he helped invent
BASIC, he helped establish True BASIC.

His friendship and leadership will be greatly missed, but his work goes
on.

- Thomas E. Kurtz

*****************

AGAIN, this is not the end of my postings. There is more coming!

* It is about 8:30 the 9th of June, at this point in writing. This
third part may be revised as I integrate more. This work is copyrighted
1997 by myself - Timothy Rue. But only so that no alteration be done. You
may copy it but only in it's complete context or with notice that it is
only a part of larger work. ***

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Email: timrue@mindspring.com

Copyright © 1975, 1988, 1994, 1996, 1997 Timothy V. Rue