Ted Nelson

Computers for Cynics

Are you a Dummy, naive and gullible? If so, there are thousands of books for the likes of you. Go elsewhere, and drink in the lies called "computer basics".

But if you are a clever and sophisticated person who wants to know the real story of how the computer world works, you may enjoy some of the insights I present in this brief series.

• Computers for Cynics 0 - The Myth of Technology

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdnGPQaICjk

• Computers for Cynics 1 - The Nightmare of Files and Directories

• Computers for Cynics 2 - It All Went Wrong at Xerox PARC

• Computers for Cynics 3 - The Database Mess

• Computers for Cynics 4 - The Dance of Apple and Microsoft

• Computers for Cynics 5 - Hyperhistory

• Computers for Cynics 6 - The Real Story of the World Wide Web

• Computers for Cynics N - CLOSURE: Pay Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

Books

• Computer Lib (two editions)
• Geeks Bearing Gifts
• Possiplex

Ray Borrill writes

I would have been a little too old too, since I am older than Ted. I was 75 last Saturday. I met Ted at the first World Altair convention in 1976 and we became friends, I had opened my computer store in Feb. 1976 and it was going great guns. Ted was in the process of opening "the itty bitty machine company" in Evanston Ill. ( Mine was "The Data Domain" in Bloomington, IN) Ted suggested that we get togeter and merge the two bsinesses because I was verey good at making deals with the manufacturers and selling and his company had very good financial backing but wasn't experienced in my areas of expertise. This was to take place in early 1977. I would end up as president of the new company. In the meantime I would make decisios on what to sell and set up dealerships for both companies. It never came about because the industry and the market had changed so much that I was too busy and they were in the process of going belly up. But Ted and I have remained friends until this day. My ssigned copy of CLDM was signed on the cover in Magic Marker and it disappeeared after 20 or so years. It is gone now but I wish I still had it so I could read it again. I At the time of that NCC I was working with The Computer Systems Group at Brookhaven National Labs on Long Island. Part of my jb was to learn all there was to know about the scientific computers on the market and if they were suitable for the work tha we did. I also checked on who the principals in new companies, their expereience and backgound and, if appropriate, what company they spun off from. So, I was sent to every computer confeence and/or engineering show held every year I was employed there and about five years after I left.

June 15, 2005