Leaving (was Re: Stack; Abnormal termination of MeNu frames; the Escape key)

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from Judith Davidsen  on Thu, 29
Jan 2004 18:42:03 -0500

> Robert Holmgren wrote:

>> On the blessed day that I unsubscribe,

> Blessed for you, maybe, but devastating for the rest of us.
> (And what has Carl done to deserve being stuck with us all
> by himself?)

The poor bastard. Well, nothing. Carl is a brilliant
programmer, and he's been a true (and delightful) friend to
me. We've had a lot of fun together, and I trust that will
not end. He'll cope. Beyond that ... you need to ask him.

> When is the evil day?

As soon as U2 v116 is stabilised and working smoothly for
users. There were some basic upgrades in this version, e.g.
the introduction of cURL, and I want to feel that the
transition is accomplished, and that users are comfortable.

I intend to continue, with Carl, to maintain and improve
XyWWWeb.U2. One focus will be compatibility with NBWin, to
which (hitherto) we have paid scant and only intermittent
attention. I may participate in the NB maillist, although
at a much reduced level. My biggest susceptibility is my
near-inability to stifle an answer when I know the solution,
or think I know how to go about solving the problem. The
result is a giant time commitment, which I really can't
sustain any longer. I'm all worn out, to tell the truth.
And the burden increases rather than diminishes. Our U2
library has become increasingly esoteric and "far out"; it
really does some genuinely wild things now -- but the
farther out it gets, the more we _seem_ to leave the users
behind (that's my impression anyway). I'm out of patience
with user-error, and also with imprecise descriptions or
questions -- it's just discouraging, and a total waste of
time. The odd thing, to me, is that users have become
_less_ adept at problem solving than they were, say, ten
years ago. General knowledge of computer innards has
actually deteriorated, as operating systems increasingly
mask the guts with Wizards and what-not.

Moreover, I often wonder why we make this stuff publicly
available -- it is really written for our private use, and
then simply "shared". Let me take one example. There's a
program in v116 called ZIPView, with which I am really
tickled. It is, by a WIDE margin, the easiest, most
friendly utility for peering inside (and reading files
within) ZIPfiles that I have ever used -- and I've tried a
bunch. Blazingly fast, and you are privileged (truly) to
read the files within the ZIP using all the tools that
XyWrite makes available (instead of being stuck with some
dumb LIST utility). But singling that out, among about 700
other programs in the U2 library, seems sort of arbitrary --
there's so much nifty stuff in there. In the course of a
year, maybe (maybe!) one or two users will try ZIPView. So
what the hell. (I think many users are simply terrified to
try new things.) Also discouraging: that after 10-15-20
years of daily use, users still generally have a tenuous
grasp on how XyWrite works -- seemingly they know _less_
today than they did 10 years ago (just take a gander at the
1994 archives). Carl and I started the U2 project in
genuine hope that it would encourage others to start
programming and taking control of XyWrite (for starters),
and maybe finally their whole computer. In genuine hope
that we would acquire additional "partners" in the project.
To date, it's still just Carl and Robert.

So there it is. Tired and discouraged. And totally
depressed when people get into the sorts of pickles with
their machines such that a silly spooler problem escalates
into hard disk replacement(!). The sheer ignorance of it.
And then they bring that problem here! Unsubscribing seems
to me to be the only solution. I've "tuned out" in the
past, for months at a stretch, and just loved it.

I am well aware, to speak candidly, that unless someone
steps in and either finds or creates solutions, XyWrite use
will surely die. Somebody has to hold this act together,
solve printer problems, etc etc etc. The inability to print
is obviously sufficient to tip the balance for many many
users; they will depart, most likely for Word -- but if
people love XyWrite, then I urge a long look at NBWin,
despite the cost (there is going to be a price to pay no
matter what). (People simply MUST investigate compatibility
first before they buy, say, a printer! They have to learn
to help themselves. But nobody here seems to use DejaNews
-- the FIRST place to go when you're having a computer
problem. Nobody, virtually, consults the XySearch archives.
It's so much easier to just ask here. I'm all pooped out.)

Well, you asked. No offense intended. As I often say to
guests, amid the lingering hugs and goodbyes, "How can we
miss you if you won't leave?"

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
-----------------------------