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The Professional Developer
is
the
monthly newsletter of the Dbase
Language Professional
Developers
Group, dedicated to the advance-
ment of knowledge among Dbase
developers.
Address:
DLaP
do
Therese Padila
8726 S. Sepulveda, B204
Los Angeles, CA
90045
Board of
Directors:
Bob
Balocca
818)784-9981
Brian
Heess
818)409-1431
John
Kinney
213)531-6543
Therese Padilla
213)450-4399
L J. Richter
213 398-4358
Charlie Rider
818
901-2826
Randy Unruh
213
390-8039
BBS Sysop:
Lee Thompson (213)469-4682
The Crows Nest (213)962-1428
300,1200,2400
8,N,1
Member Benefits:
John Kinney
(213)531-6543
Newsletter Editor:
L J. Richter (213)398-4358
LA. Fox
User
Group
Greg Dunn (213)373-4893
Glendale
Clipper
SIG
Paula Thomas C1S73677,312
San Fernando
Valley
Clipper UG
Charlie Rider
(818)901-2826
Template Language SIG
Therese Padilla (213)450-4399
Subscriptions,
Membership,
Change of Address:
Membership
for 1
year,
with a 1
year subscription to The Profes-
sional Developer,
is
$45.
Contact
Therese Padilla at address above.
Disclaimer:
Neither the Dbase Language Professional
Developers Group, its board of directors or
its members (collectively, DLaP), make
any express or implied warranties of any kind
with regard to any information disseminated,
including, but not limited to, warranties of
merchantability and-or fitness for a
particular purpose.
Opinions provided by newsletter articles, or
by speakers, members or guests who address
the meeting are individual opinions only, and
do not necessarily represent
the
opinions of
DLaP. All opinions and information should
be carefully considered,
and
DLaP is not
liable for any incidental or consequential
damages
in
connection with, or arising out
of, the furnishing or use
of
any information
or opinions.
&and names and product names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks
of
their
respective owners
Page One
Continued from Page 1.
mentality” and urging “distrib-
uted processing”. Relatively
inexpensive
and capable comput-
ers were being mass manufac-
tured and marketed to
individu-
als.
Believe me, no large corporation
in the world would have, initially,
bet the farm on the success of
the small personal computer. But
once that market acceptance was
proved,
they
jumped on the
proverbial bandwagon with
gusto. Over the
next
several
years we saw thepenvnal copier,
the personal
fax and
the personal
portable phone. A creative
sunburst of
labor
and time
saving, as well as, communication
enhancing electronic products
became available to the ordinary
citizen,
-
who
was
full of his or
her
own
creative ideas on how to
make fertile
use
of the
new
machines. The increases in
overall productivity are still
evident
and
individual creativity
from, science to scriptwriting,
has been
enriched.
The following quotes are
from
the August 11,
1990
issue of
Science
News:
“Many scientists and
engineers,
looking
back
just
a
few
years,
find it hard to imagine how they
got along without their facsimile
machines
and
networked com-
puters.
. . .
To an astonishing
degree, electronic mail
carried
over computer networks and
documents
transmitted by
facsimile machines have already
supplanted the more traditional
means of formally exchanging
scientific ideas and data.”
“A National Science Foundation
report states:
. . .
The goal is to
build no
less
than a
distributed
intelligence,
(emphasis added)
fully
and seamlessly networked,
with fully supported computa-
tional
assistance
designed to
accelerate the pace and quality
of discourse, and a broadening or
the awareness of discovery.”
In the United States more
new
small businesses have been
started over the last five years
than in any comparable
period
ir
history. Many of them, if not
most, were able to compete for
the
first
time because the capital
cost of entry had been signifi-
cantly lowered. Meanwhile, the
micro-computer phenomenon
reinvigorated the
electronics
manufacturing industry through-
out the
free
world. Coinciden-
tally, we have seen one of the
greatest
periods
of economic
expansion in history.
You would never have found
those sentiments and activities
behind the “Iron Curtain”!
Beyond the political restrictions,
East European countries simply
do not have the electronic
infrastructure to support such
activities and goals. That fact
was
not lost on the leading intellec-
tual communities in those
countries. The gap between
“East”
and “West” had become sc
painfully obvious, not
just
in
consumer goods, but in knowl-
edge; in intellectual productivity
and the rapid sharing of ideas.
The “East” had become isolated,
by choice,
-
from choice. Even
the average
East
European
citizen, who was able to catch
occasional
glimpses
of the
amazing
range of choices af-
forded an individual in the
“West”, felt the detachment from
the great “idea
party”
that
was
going on.
My contention is that the
per-
sonal
computer, and the subse-
quent fallout of all the other
Continued on Page 3.
The Newsletter of the Dbase Language Professional Developers Group, September
1990
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