Nothing

[Joe Solla]

I was the first person to log on to this BBS when it opened in Billerica. There
were no "new" messages then - just as there are no new messages today. It was
August of 1989. Today, two pages of the business section of the Miami Herald
were devoted to the advent of Windows 95. Millions of people are rushing to be
the first on their block to own a 32-bit operating system for their 16-bit
programs - to get in on the ground floor of the learning curve - to have good
reason to buy more hardware - all for the sake of being able to mouse around
through over-blown programs they don't understand - draw pretty pictures - play
games and watch the little hour-glass icon.

In a perfect world, these last 6 years would've produced refinements in the
programs' code that improved speed, broadened user programming options, allowed
migration to different operating systems, and took full advantage of ancillary
technologies like scanners, printers & fax-modems. Instead, the tool that works
has been abandoned for tools that don't work as well. Version IV can't add even
dollar amounts (1.00 + 2.00 = 3.) - it can't deal with bit-mapped substitution
characters - it can't use printer commands to "back-up" (relative as opposed to
absolute vertical printer movement) within a document. And forget trying to get
me to use a windows product that won't give up control of the keyboard key
assignments.

Me - I'm still churning out my work with the same program I was using when I
logged on in 1989. (and signing with a quill pen eh?) The company (whatever
it's called nowadays) has gone on to bigger (can't bring myself to say better)
things and appears to have lost its customer base in the process.

Perhaps I'll be the last person to log on. Please send all of the original
program code to Robert Holmgren when you close the doors. Thanks.