ohjeez

This is incredibly cool. I had it open on my desktop for most of the day.

I don't have any useful advice, but I do have a hug from an internet stranger.

It's a kickass obituary, no matter the subject!

People will do ANYthing to avoid using metric.

I CANNOT AGREE MORE. So much so that I use ALL CAPS.

...and geez haven't these people read any other books?!

Overheard: Wouldn't it be interesting if Sauron eventually merged with Ring?

A "version" function may play a part in this. Such as the people who hang onto Windows XP instead of upgrading because....

But it's still easier to stick with the provider (Microsoft) than to look elsewhere.

And popular for good reason.

Jesus Christ you just scared me. Next time, post a title like "Lee Felsenstein (is fine)," please!

With Tom Lehrer's passing, I suppose this is a moment to share the story of the prank he played on the National Security Agency, and how it went undiscovered for nearly 60 years....

https://bsky.app/profile/opalescentopal.bsky.social/post/3lu...

I worked as a contractor at Lotus for about a year, back in 1987. My client/friend told me a story about Kapor that has stuck with me, although it turned out that she was an utterly unreliable witness... so take this with a grain of salt. She was Lotus employee #70, though, so maybe it's true.

Kapor found himself in an elevator with another employee sometime after he had handed over the reins to Jim Manzi. The other employee, who apparently didn't recognize Kapor, was dressed in a full three-piece suit. "That's when Kapor decided to leave," my erstwhile friend told me. "He said, I started Lotus because I wanted a company where I could wear Hawaiian shirts and sandals. I didn't want to work somewhere where I had to wear a suit." But that's what Lotus had become, so it was time to go.

We never met, but I have always admired the guy.

He was a kind person who offered SO much useful advice to people who needed help with Office and Windows.

The happiest reason for a hug!

I want to reward people for posting on Bluesky instead. If they get more engagement on Bluesky, it'll motivate them to move.

Also posted at https://bsky.app/profile/techemails.bsky.social/post/3lhox2p...

Your father opened doors to other worlds and helped us humans reach one another.

I crossposted this to the os2 reddit, as well as LinkedIn and my personal Facebook page. I used to write about OS/2 exclusively, so I'm still connected with a lot of the IBM engineers and executives. Though I would not count on them keeping every language version, any more than I kept the 300 OS/2 applications I'd acquired.

You don't need a separate site for that. Some LinkedIn "quick apply" applications have exactly those sorts of questions. ("How many years of experience do you have with Toolname?" or "Do you have more than 8 years experience in the Foobar industry?"

I never once got an interview from those companies.

Initially called Zapcis, Howard Benner released the new shareware version as TAPCIS, which IIRC cost $35 to register. Worth every penny because I was paying long distance rates to access CompuServe, with phone bills regularly exceeding $250/month. (There were a few competitors, such as OZCIS.)

Far beyond automation, TAPCIS had messaging features that I wish I had today, particularly as sysop/moderator. For instance, if a message thread unraveled (as they do), and the conversation wandered from "snow tires two or four?" to "favorite radio stations"... the sysop could type Ctrl-S and snip into a new thread with a more suitable title. I WANT THIS EVERY SINGLE DAY.

I would be uncomfortable applying to those jobs. How long before they were laid off, again?

I attended a few of his keynote speeches. The "reality distortion field" was real. It was impossible to look away from him. And no matter how cynical I was when I arrived, by the end of the presentation, I believed everything he said.

(It helped that he was so often right.)

Why is it always 8% of the company?

A LOUD THANK YOU.

My candidates are largely fiction, such as _To Say Nothing of the Dog_ (Connie Willis) and _Door Into Summer_ (Heinlein).

But I do re-read Jerry Weinberg's _Secrets of Consulting_ every so often.

72241,1417

Ziff Davis owned the 72241 set of IDs. Bill Machrone was 72241,10.

(I was lead sysop of the ZD Executives Online forum and backup sysop of the Computer Shopper forum.)

Also it took everybody forever to realize everything on CompuServe was octal.

This makes me giggle more than it should.

Same. That was my first computer!

As you say, the independent stores found a sweet spot. Compare the success of independent bookshops to the big chains like Barnes & Noble. The former are inherently browsable; you know you'll find something interesting, even if you have no idea what it'll be. And they draw you in with events like book-signings.

Mostly, I think the big retail industry stopped innovating the (cough) shopping "experience." They put more attention on helping people find things they are actively looking for ("I need a blue left-hand widget") than encouraging serendipity.

Both things can exist in parallel. I find myself comparing in-person retail shopping to sports. You absolutely can get a more comfortable sportball experience sitting on your couch, with cheaper beer and immediate analysis. But in baseball, for instance, the teams have done a lot to encourage people to attend games... not because one is better than the other, but because they are interestingly different.

This is a time to ask for advice from people who can help you decide what YOU need, not what worked for someone else. A therapist or someone who can give you spiritual help, whatever is most comfortable for you.

It's time for you to discover what gives you joy.