All Quiet on Campus Save the Click of Keys

Great article. I was one of the students mentioned who originally helped develop it. I know I was involved and my name is in the help file (well, my old name, Andy Williams 🙂 is in there to prove it. But I can’t at all remember what I actually did. Probably some UI stuff.

Anyway, I went to Dartmouth from 1986 until 1990 and then worked for the college until 1996. In those years, I watched a number of fascinating cultural shifts happen.

First, in 1988, people who used BlitzMail or other email packages were geeks. They were the losers and derided by everyone who was trying to look cool. By 1992, BlitzMail had already become far more ubiquitous. The shift had happened. Suddenly, the cry of “geek!” was gone. Everyone used it. Everyone came into the computer center, long a refuge for the CS majors. By the time I left, it took me months to stop using “Blitz” in any conversation except about WWII. (Ironically, for most of my time after graduation, I used Eudora. I just didn’t like BlitzMail all that much.)

I sure hope Jack wants to go there. Just so I have excuses to continue visiting long after my fraternity forgets I ever existed… 🙂