Re: NUTS

[Phoenyx <quazar@dcnet2000.com>]

In many ways, this newsgroup has been a reflection of the A2
community since the early years. It seems like there has always
been some division between the average user and those who
develop hardware/software for us. In many ways this was Apple
Inc's fault and perhaps it was on purpose.

In the A2 era, you had to pay exorbitant fees to license other
people's software if your program required it. Then Apple
created APDA, a group which was supposed to help developers.
To take advantage of this, you had to be a member. Of course,
there was a fee for this also. IMHO, this is where the division
began. I have never been a big time developer and so couldn't
justify the expense. I also worked with the authors of the Apex
development system who were members. Needless to say, it did
not help them very much. It certainly didn't help them improve
their sales.

Then there is also the shadier group of users known as pirates.
These were the real software pirates. The ones who cracked the
originals as soon as they hit the store. Well, this is an issue
I try to avoid, as many still wish to label people here with
that title. These pirates though are the cause of much grief
to many Apple II users and developers. While I can't condone
what they did, even they helped to advance the current
knowledge of the Apple II by creating tools which they used for
pirating, but we can use for maintenance and software backups,
file recovery, etc.

Now today, we have the general A2 public who are just trying
to make the best use they can of their favorite computer. I
don't want to get into the pirate issue in today's community
as it's a no win argument and very subjective. It is also a
major cause in the current division of Apple II users and most
likely will remain so. 

There is still a group of elitist developers and I'm sure some
of them belonged to APDA. Personally, I have no problem with
them, I feel like they loose out by not participating with us,
the ones who would be buying and using their developments.

So, while the numbers in each group may vary, we still have the
same basic divisions. At least we (the average II user) have
matured some and learned to ignore the flames of others. Well,
for the most part anyway. Now comes the hardest part, we have
to get the whole community back together. If we can't eliminate
the chasm between us we can at least try to build a bridge.

I think there is still a chance for this, after all the one
important bond we share is our love of a great computer and the
fun we have in using it.

Ok, I yield the soap box to someone else.

Phoenyx