Re: Basement tinkerers and inventors



"Graham Hobbs" <ghobbs@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:sacbd317pn8beqpj24k6artmc2736cb1f6@xxxxxxxxxx
Odd notes I made about BT/I's:

- am just exploring any value/interest to a group/groups for BT/I's
(basement tinkerers and inventors) or is there a place already for
these people; are there many of us, what are we doing?

- BT/I by implication means PC software development; IBM Main, COBOL,
etc seem mostly geared to the high end

- is a BT/I scope too wide e.g. projects in java, cobol, web, VB,
mainframe, non-mainframe, drivers ... ad infinitum?

- what would be a reasonable sub titles?

- my personal interests would be groups ltitled 'BT/I Websphere
Developer for z/OS' and 'BT/I Cobol, CICS, VSAM, DB2'

- five years ago I wrote letters to IBM, Microfocus, Microsoft and
McKinney about something I was developing; there are at least three
black holes on this planet

- via such groups I would be interested in listening to people with
similiar interests, financial constraints, tiny company size,
technical problems, etc.

- is all this naive, impractical, not needed?

Thanks
Graham Hobbs


I think it's a very good idea, Graham, and I'll certainly support such a
group. I spend a lot of my time (when not actually working or doing revenue
generating work) doing exactly what you describe. I never thought of it as
"tinkering" but I have certainly been glad I did the work I did later, when
the skills acquired have paid off.

Perhaps a better name for the group could be agreed?

"Tinkering" sounds pretty amateurish and some of what people produce in
their spare time is far from that. On the other hand you might not want it
to be too serious so "tinkering" might fit. You should be aware that in
certain cultures, association with Tinkers is not a desirable attribute,
even to this day... :-)

Anyway, whatever you decide to call it, if you start such a group, I'll
definitely contribute and support it.

Pete.
--
"I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."

--
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