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From: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Killer Demo Contest
Message-ID: <3555@well.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 15-Jul-87 02:15:16 EDT
Article-I.D.: well.3555
Posted: Wed Jul 15 02:15:16 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 17-Jul-87 06:10:23 EDT
References: <385@rocky.STANFORD.EDU> <3472@well.UUCP> <1114@knopfler.munsell.UUCP> <878@hp-sdd.HP.COM>
Reply-To: ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab)
Organization: Hole Earth 'Lectronic Loss (or words to that effect)
Lines: 82
Summary: What makes me tick?

In article <878@hp-sdd.HP.COM> nick@hp-sdd.UUCP (Nick Flor) writes:
>>In article <3472@well.UUCP> ewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) writes:
>>	You realize, of course, that I consider this a personal challenge...
>>
>>Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape	ihnp4!ptsfa -\
>
>Hey man, like, what motivates you to do these cute little projects that have
>no real utility.  They're clever and interesting, but appear to be quite time
>consuming.  You're not getting paid, are you?
>
>What gives?  
>
>Nick

	No real utility:  They *are* useful.  They make you giggle.  They
make you laugh.  They make you reverse-snort tuna salad sandwiches.
Clearly, such works will have a lasting social impact.

	Time consuming:  Not really.  The actual code writing never seems to
take more than two or three days.  Robotroff was an exception; that one took
about ten days.  The only real time consuming part is thinking up the idea
and implementation, and for me, that's a background task that's always
running no matter what I'm doing, although more ideas tend to flow when I'm
listening to music.  By the way, when VideoScape 3D becomes available,
*watch out!*  I have *TONS* of ideas for videos that I've accumulated over
the years.....

[ Note:  #define day {coding session lasting from about 8 PM - 1 AM} ]

	Paid:  Since I do these goodies during my free time, I still have
plenty of time to go out and earn a living, which I've been doing of late
with a *WONDERFUL* company called UmeCorp.  My boss, Gary Koffler, used to
help run both DataSoft and DataMost (at different time, of course).  My
other boss, Mike Miller, was president of Waveform, the people who brought
C-64 owners MusiCalc and The ColorTone Keyboard.  UmeCorp also brought you
MusiCraft (now called Sonix).

	Gary has also informed me that there is now an unofficial company
mandate to help me win the Killer Demo Contest.  This, however, runs counter
to my belief that it really ought to be individuals, not companies or large
groups of people, expressing their love for the Amiga through demos.
Notwithstanding, the fact that UmeCorp *is* willing to help me indicates
that these hacks must have *some* practical value.

	I also write hacks as an educational process for myself; to see if a
new idea for software technology will work.  With Robotroff, it was to make
use of the "fork this sucker into the background" routine in a transparent
way.  With Viacom, it was to utilize the blitter directly.  With Oing, it
was trying to figure out how to animate six identical sprites without having
to keep 36 copies of sprites around.  With Ing, it was tripping through the
window list, and also seeing if I could double-buffer an Intuition screen
neatly.

	I also do it for fun, and for the positive feedback I've received.
It's also a form of electronic resume.  Many have suggested that I go
commercial.  That day may be soon coming.  However, few people would have
known about my expertise if I hadn't started throwing my code around, and I
wouldn't have the offers before me I do now.

	I have had several ideas for an entry into the BKDC.  A lot of
implementation details started popping into my head for one of them, so I
guess that one will be the one I use.  I'll probably only score 90 with it,
though, since I'm very bad at using sound, and will probably use it
minimally.

	I'm doing it because I want to, because I think it will be fun (and
because I'll get flamed to a crisp if I don't :-) ).

	Gee, this got long-winded.  Sorry 'bout dat.  I'm not getting
defensive, really.  It just came out of my modem that way.  I think my
.signature says it all:

	"I'm just having fun."


[ P.S:	You realize, of course, that most of this is 'inews' filler in
disguse.... :-) :-) :-) ]
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape	ihnp4!ptsfa -\
 \_ -_	 Bike shrunk by popular demand,	      dual ---> !{well,unicom}!ewhac
O----^o	 But it's still the only way to fly.  hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack")
"Work FOR?  I don't work FOR anybody!  I'm just having fun."  -- The Doctor