                            Ramblings . . .
                            by Patrick Grote

(Feel free to respond to patrick.grote@supportu.com)

LATE ISSUE
    Ok, this issue is a little late out the door. No particular reason,
    except that in our effort to keep the commitment to publishing an
    electronic publication entirely through electronic means, we have
    met with some pitfalls:

		*	Email connections lost.
		*	Uuencoded files showing up corrupt.
		*	Missed deadlines due to hardware failure

    With each obstacle faced, we have developed better processes and
    work-arounds. Look for us on a monthly basis with our next issue due
    out on January 29, 1994!

    Remember, CyberNews is produced by a team of dedicated people. We
    are devoted to bringing you real world reviews from real world
    people. Sometimes, the grammar or punctuation may not be the best,
    but these are real people.

NEW STAFF ADDITION
    Wayne Macleod joins us in this issue as the Reviews Manager. Wayne
    is responsible for assigning reviews, coordinating the editing of
    the reviews and ensuring writers complete assigned reviews. Join me
    in wishing Wayne luck by sending an email message to him at
    wyattj@delphi.com.

DEATH AND CYBERSPACE
    In a certain sense you can say that we all exist forever in
    cyberspace. As long as there is a message thread with our name in
    it, a file with our credits on it or a compiled message listing
    available for download with a glint of wisdom from us in it, we live
    forever in the electronic domain.

    I've come to reflect on death and cyberspace just recently. Not that
    anything has happened to me personally, but something strange
    happened with a piece of software I own and use . . . FidoPCB.

    If you are a PCBoard sysop you may know that FidoPCB was about the
    only mail tosser available for Fidonet mail for your PCBoard. The
    author of FidoPCB, Matjaz Koce, was a resident of  Slovenia. As a
    typical American I have absolutely no clue where Slovenia is on a
    globe. About the only thing I cared about concerning Slovenia was
    that support and new releases came from its telephone lines.

    One day while scanning my mail packet, I noticed that someone had
    entered a message concerning Matjaz's death. My first impression was
    one of disbelief. I was in shock. As the day wore on it quickly sank
    in that he was gone and the software might be going as well.
    Luckily, the chief support person in the Untied States. Jeffrey
    Boyd, quickly dispatched a message to all FidoPCB owners letting us
    know that support and development would continue through Matjaz's
    partner. Whew, that was a relief. The product knew and loved
    wouldn't be disappearing. But what about Matjaz? His family? These
    were questions we began to talk about in the FidoNet FidoPCB Forum.
    As we were just beginning to get a grip on Matjaz's death, Jeffrey
    Boyd died.

    What do you do? Now that the author and the chief support person
    have passed away does the product fade away? What about their
    memories? These are people known only to you by the pixels formed by
    their words. You never met them. You never felt them. You never even
    saw them. Your whole impression or thought of them was based on
    their writing style and what you thought someone with their name
    should look like. How do you deal with this?

    In a typical death you would go through a traditional period of
    mourning. Maybe send your regrets to the family, attend a wake or
    service then attend the funeral. But in Cyberspace you don't know
    the family. You don't even really know the person. How do you mourn?
    This is just one of the many questions we are still facing as
    cyberspace becomes more and more populated.

	We'll see you next month . . . 
