Be User Profile - Chris Simmons

Well... where to begin? I guess I'll start with the vitals, and go from there. ;-)

Vitals

Hobbies

• Advocating BeOS when possible.
• Collecting mp3's, divx, and all manner of media.
• Burning said media... ;)
• Reading sci-fi.
• Cycling.
• Pool and playing lots of it. (Favorites: Tournament rules "ball in hand", Elimination, Nine Ball)
• Drumming, and/or participating at local live music venues.

Favorite Books

• "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards. (Amazon)
• "The Tipping Point" by Malcom Gladwell. (Amazon)
• "Cryptonomicon" by Neil Stephenson. (Amazon)
• "Snow Crash" by Neil Stephenson. (Amazon)
• "The Diamond Age" by Neil Stephenson. (Amazon)
• "Ender's Shadow" by Orson Scott Card. (Amazon)
• "Shadow of the Hegemon" by Orson Scott Card. (Amazon)
• "The Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis. (Amazon)
• "Skywalking" by Dale Pollock. (Amazon)

Affiliations

The BeOSJournal, BeTips, BeUnited, BeForever, BeGroovy, BeFAQS, BeOS Radio

Work

Freelance Web Designer, computer consulting, some teaching. I'm currently between employment opportunities, but I do have a number of active projects on my plate, most importantly The BeOSJournal and BeTips.

I'm usually found on BeShare, 24/7, as I spend an obscene amount of time online helping people, researching new IT ideas, reading /., my own site(s), and more. You might say that computers are in my blood.

My BeOS History

Back in early 1998, I was bored one summer day, and decided to do some random surfing. I punched in "be.com" out of mere curiousity to see if it was taken. Behold! I stumbled onto this neat little company in the states, "Be Inc.", and it had an amazing looking OS with details, info, screenshots, and more!

Getting back onto my chair, I tentatively scrolled down the page, reading with baited breath as my heart raced, the gears in my head spinning round and round. Could I leave this mortal Windows world, and step into something breathtaking? I nervously read each paragraph carefully, looking for that "aha, gotcha" line that says it was too good to be true.

It never came. Well, not really.

I still remember the feeling I had in my chest when I saw the infamous "Restart Networking" screenshot, showing the nice, leetle "restart networking" button in the Networking Preference Panel. At the time, I had just wired up a 7000 square foot building with 25+ jacks, and had spent days cursing at the silly windoze server that refused to play nice with others. Upon seeing the power and elegance inherit in this new OS, I promptly ordered a copy, post-haste!

It arrived not even 2 weeks later, with a white "Be" t-shirt to boot too. I was elated. I think from that moment on, I struggled to break my windoze shackles, and tame this wild animal that I had stumbled upon. Animal? No, more like "wanderlusted love child of devilish coding demi-gods". Or something like that.

Ever since those exciting times, I've witnessed the famed "Focus Shift", have seen numerous marketing mistakes, have born the frustrations of repeated reboots at the whim of a fanciful windoze world, and more, all in the hopes that someday, life "will get better". At least, that's what I keep telling myself when I fall asleep each night crying into my pillow. (I'm kidding... honest. Call it dramatic flair. ;)

I'm a happy camper these days. I see the progress with openBeOS, and it fills my heart once again with excitment, joy, and gosh darn, that warm fuzzy feeling. It's like playing with lego as a kid, all over again, except this time, you have better blocks, and you damn well know how to use 'em!

That's enough for now, I think. If you want to get in touch, and have some wild, crazy idea in your head just striving to get out, please, don't come near me, you lunatic! Haha... just kidding.

Seriously though. I am very approachable, reachable via email or BeShare, or even the forums around the BeOS Community. I look forward to hearing from you if you have any questions or comments. As someone whom I respect and admire once said... Just call me "General" Technix, of the BeOS Community Light Brigade!

Till next time, Same bat channel, same bat time! Goodnight Gracie...

-Chris Simmons,
I use Haiku; you?
http://haikunews.org

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