Re: Bad blood?

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

tarage writes ...
>
> K, someone fill me in here...what's with all the personal
> attacks recently?
 ....

     Art Bell is doing Time Travel tonight (this morning); so, beginning a
response to a message posted an hour from now about events in the mouldy past
probably makes sense.

     As Paul observed, it is something of a "Captain Ahab and Moby Dick"
thing. The attacks on selected persons and institutions like the archives
long ago ceased to make sense. As with Ahab's mad quest, the attacks are
fueled now by obsession.

     Bev's recap comes close to reflecting the 'official party view' of those
few who continue the attacks. Unlike the attackers, she is polite and
diplomatic. And, unlike them, she sees clearly that they have isolated
themselves from the great mass of modern Apple II users.

     To someone involved in personal computing from its beginnings and II
computing since 1980, Bev's portrayal of Apple II activity in the early
1990's is somewhat idyllic. The plain fact is that it was a painful, confused
(if interesting) time which saw the final collapse of the 'old empire'.

     By the early 1990's most of our publications were gone (or featured
coverage split with Mac or PC), almost no new games came from major software
makers, and most Apple II users were also PC users who viewed their II's as
'the second computer'. (The nothing-new ROM 3 had already demonstrated that
Apple was not going to deliver an upgrade which could turn things around.)

     The reason so many publishers and hardware makers and software
developers were fleeing the Apple II scene is simply that, as "scenes" go, it
was relatively small potatoes; and, there was no good reason to expect that
the situation would improve any time soon. Those who remained after 1992
(including magazine editors) should have known that the 'old rules' centered
around a large active market of 'first computer' owners just did not apply
any more.

     As Bev notes, the internet held great promise. What she seems to miss is
that this promise could not be realized until the net became accessible to
more than the tiny fraction of users represented by groupings like GEnie or
the early version of AOL or the early USENET.

     By the mid/late-1990's, the promise of the internet had, indeed,
reinvigorated II computing. Even as traditional software sources dried up,
internet archives like Ground and Asimov provided open, easy access via the
net. When the last major II print publication closed down, users could turn
to the csa2 newsgroups and on-line 'zines for information and news.

     The market for Apple II hardware and software-- very nearly vanished in
the early 1990's-- has revived, too. Web pages, auction sites like Ebay, and
the Csa2 newsgroups mean that Vendors no longer have to depend upon print
magazines to present their wares.

     Perhaps it is understandable that some of those who first hyped the
'Apple II on the internet' concept were not prepared to accept the
consequences and now oppose the "promise". Still, one wonders, what did they
expect?

     Well, maybe, they expected that II users would be connecting to the net
using Apple II's and dependent upon domains like GEnie. Possibly, they
assumed that they would control access to all Apple II software and
information and that they would decide which opinions were fit for exposure. 

     If, as seems likely, this clique of early insiders expected to become
the lords of II computing, then, yes, as Bev puts it, today's internet would
be "sort of a big downer". These would-be Napoleons can not boss the public
archives; they can not boss USENET; and they can't boss the largest on-line
Apple II 'zine.

     Regarding "bad blood": Of all the many thousands they can not boss,
there is one guy who most bothers these internet losers (i.e. 'sends them up
the wall', 'sticks in their craw', etc.).  He arranged with AOL for the Apple
II archives to be moved to Ground, originated modern efforts to get A2
software declassified, set up the original 'Cabi-net public archive, started
the first major public on-line A2 'zine, ... . In short, this person is
responsible for all kinds of Apple II stuff the vogon types can't boss. He
is, of course, Dr. Tom.

     Naturally, when one of the Outs attacks Dr. Tom, they do not say "he
kicked our butts"-- well, sometimes, as in the KansasFest Report scoop, they
pretty much do-- but, usually, not. What they whine, rant, etc. about is Dr.
Tom "the Pirate!". (And, Dr. Tom has on several occasions admitted and
repented for 'being a pirate' during the early 1990's.)

     On the other hand, if the vogons are truly disturbed by Dr. Tom's modest
'piracy career', one would expect them to hang several of their own members--
guys who cracked commercial games in their prime (the 1980's) and released
them on 9600 baud pirate BBS boards.

     Nope. It's not "piracy" that chaps the vogons. Pure and simple, the "bad
blood" comes down to plain old garden variety ENVY. Dr. Tom is not a
programmer or some big-deal puffed-up "software developer"; _but_, time and
again he produces solid results which benefit Apple II users.

     Meanwhile, his attackers 'produce', mainly, discord. It's no wonder that
they so often post anonymously. They _should_ be ashamed.

     So, I think, your question is answered.


     You may suppose that the 'bad blood' goes both ways. To some extent this
is true. There are two key difference, though. One: Those who seek to expand
II computing and to make it more useful and more fun for all users are the
winners. The freedom and openess of the internet makes it hard to boss around
any user; and, that's the way we like it.  Two: We not do not, in general,
wish to drive away anyone. This includes Quantum Cat and other critics.

     Quoting Bev's somewhat colorful portrayal, the vogon types "flee the web
and hunker down with their followers in small, out-of-the-way, or even
private boards."  It is a self-imposed isolation and prison. When/if they
choose to join the 21st century Apple II mainstream, they will be welcome.



Rubywand