This archive has been a personal reminder to watch what I say in all digital communication. Even if I think that my post is "internal only" or "private", it can still end up online.
I say this because one of these files has an email that my dad wrote nearly 30 years ago. I'm willing to bet that my dad had no idea that the email he was writing would be read by his son, who would be slightly embarrassed at the fact he was writing in ALL CAPS, and wishing that his dad had used a little more tact in what he was saying.
(The email I'm referring to is in "vax84.txt" search for "THE FUTURE AT ATARI")
Ditto on the reminder of the permanence of any electronic communication.
My dad didn't work at Atari but years ago I worked with Eddie Babcock at Vicinity Corp (one of the early internet map services), so there is some nostalgia in reading his emails there.
This is the same as usenet. Back in the 80's and 90's the expectation of posting to say alt.tasteless.jokes was that it would happily scroll off into infinity. Then a million years later google has the whole damn lot indexed.
The all-caps thing was just the times, terminals were in transition and people were learning how to use the types of services that today have a highly developed etiquette expectation.
I cut my teeth on the Z80. Fun chip. Moving to the 6502 was a shock that took me months to get used to.
But at some point, I would think in a language I called "6502 C", and code would pop out of my fingers. It's an interesting experience, writing big programs in assembly code.
I say this because one of these files has an email that my dad wrote nearly 30 years ago. I'm willing to bet that my dad had no idea that the email he was writing would be read by his son, who would be slightly embarrassed at the fact he was writing in ALL CAPS, and wishing that his dad had used a little more tact in what he was saying.
(The email I'm referring to is in "vax84.txt" search for "THE FUTURE AT ATARI")