Possibilities - Letter From Phil 8/90

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LETTER FROM PHIL 8/90
---------------------

*** From August 1990 Possibilities Newsletter ***
*** Copyright 1990 by eSoft, Inc.  All Rights Reserved ***

Letter from Phil
by Phil Becker

Last night I spent a wonderful evening at the Mile High Nationals NHRA drag 
races.  Top fuel dragsters with 4000 horsepower engines doing burnouts about 
50 yards from you can be a very clarifying experience.  Perhaps it was the 
combination of the cool summer evening in the mountains, the beautiful view of 
the Denver city lights on the horizon, and the raw fury of nitro burning
engines which caused me to notice things I have often looked at but rarely 
see. 

Watching these pros harness incomprehensible power to travel from a standing 
start to over 275 mph in 5 seconds flat, it occurred to me that man has an 
amazing desire to control his environment.  Even more amazing is the degree to 
which we reliably use power far beyond that which we could individually 
control.  Power which is inherently frightening to consider, but which is 
vital to reaching our goals. 

To many people, computers represent such power.  They intimidate us, but we 
need them to be successful in our endeavors.  This inspires the "fear factor" 
that all people experience when they make their first call to a TBBS.  This 
fear factor often surfaces when TBBS projects are first proposed too.  "This 
will never work", "It will be too expensive (or complicated)", and "You are 
just going to build a monster which will haunt us forever" are common first 
reactions. 

The people who have these reactions are not being stupid or backwards.  What 
is happening is that they are feeling the fear that comes from thinking about 
having to control power when they have no idea how to do it.  It is easy to 
say that something is easy after you know how it is done.  It is much harder 
to make the leap of faith that you will survive the learning curve. 

I was reminded of this as Tom Hoover was being interviewed last night after he 
had just made a mistake in driving his nitro burning funny car.  His car 
exploded (with him in it) and burned spectacularly while it was traveling over 
150 mph.  My thought was that he was going to say that he was glad to be 
alive!  I know I would be in the same situation!  But when the announcer 
caught up with him, Tom only wanted to ask forgiveness for having made a 
stupid error which caused his engine to explode.  The announcer asked how it 
felt to be in the car when it exploded, and Tom admitted that it was a bit 
tough to breathe for a while, but then he immediately started talking about 
the repairs he had to make by next Thursday to be ready for his next race in 
California. 

Clearly this man didn't really feel that what had happened was a big deal!  I 
wondered why not, as it had tens of thousands of people in the crowd praying 
for his survival.  Then it hit me!  He and his team can use pure nitroglycerin 
and machined alloy metal to their limits because they have learned how and 
trust the technology.  He was dealing with an exploding and burning race car 
the way I would deal with a hard drive that had just crashed and lost my data. 

I suppose this is just another way of looking at what motivational instructors 
have known for years.  Our own fear of moving into new things is really our 
biggest obstacle.  For some of you, some of this fear is still keeping you 
from implementing ideas you want on your TBBS system.  You see other systems 
that do the things you want to do, but you can't see how it can be done. 

It takes support.  You have to tap into the resources which are available to 
you in order to get the tips. The eSoft support BBS is just such a resource.  
If you are still using MEDIT (because SDL seems too intimidating) then you can 
never do many things that TBBS is capable of.  You can use the eSoft support 
BBS to find examples, exchange "how to" information with those who have done 
it, and get started now. 

The support BBS is your very best resource when you are facing the learning 
curve with TBBS.  Don't be shy.  All of us have to begin somewhere, and those 
who have learned how are eager to help you win as well.  TBBS is revolutionary 
technology.  If your business depends on having that knowledge, you would be 
wise to use one of the easiest ways to learn it. 

- END -
PS0890-1
Rev. 8/90

Copyright (C) 1994 eSoft, Inc., All Rights Reserved.  Permission granted
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interested party.  Any other use requires the written permission of
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