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Re: [colorforth] Dare I say ANS!


On Sat, 17 Jan 2004, Howerd Oakford wrote:

> Hi Mark,

Hello Howerd,

>
> From: "Mark Slicker" <maslicke@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Also it doesn't take an army to do great things in software as Chuck
> > continues to demonstrate. The future is free and open systems. The highest
> > quality software will eventually rise to the top.
> Sorry to be a pessimist, but the highest quality software is not the most
> common at the moment, and I see no tendency for this to change until the
> World changes, and I'm not holding my breath...

The world is changing, constantly in fact. It is hard to ignore the
monopoly busting potential of free Unix systems[1].

"highest" is probably the wrong word, it is perhaps too subjective. I have
no doubt there is signifigant audience for the kind of quality colorForth
provides and can potentially provide.

To the unititiated, computers can provide an intimidating and frustrating
experience. The initiated can surely find frustration in present
software. The idea that one should be "computer literate", to know the
arcane details of poorly designed software, is completely wrong.

I've talked with developers end user applications, the common attitude is
condescension toward end users. I don't think the present situation is
particularly healthy.

> On a more positive note, there will always be people who only see the
> surface of things, but there will always be people who are curious about
> reality. It is the latter who will appreciate Forth....

With the interenet, the pool of talent only gets larger. An immediate
task is to provide examples and document the work.

I am excited to finally get a chance to take a look a Chuck's networking
code. The driver for my card is a simple permutation of one provided by
Chuck.

Once I get some experience with code, I'll put a write up on my web site.

Mark

[1] http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html

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