Conference 7.286::digital

    CTnotes was created on Jan 13th, 1983.   No doubt it was not the first,
    but it very soon became one of the largest notes files on the network.
    Originally named FT2DITTY and DITTYBAG, CTnotes now spans 7 volumes.
    
    At the time, we (engineers) just created the file, and announced
    (within CT initially) that it was available.  I believe the idea was
    Jeff Ghannam's.  The systems managers on the systems were/are?/should
    be? responsible for the overall operation of the system, NOT EVER the
    contents of files; thus we didn't ask anyone. 
    
    Initially, CTnotes was a mix of information passed between developers
    and at times a place where CTfolk let off steam.  (The program was
    under considerable pressure at the time.)  In later volumes it has
    become less fun and more informational.   Sometime last year, CTnotes
    was passed up by SOAPBOX as the largest file on the network (Trivia
    too?).
    
    - M (a CTnoter since the beginning)
        
                                                                          

    You'll find some entries in TRIVIA dated 1981.  I don't think it
    was the first, but it's one of them.
    
    For newcomers, the original "NOTES" program was written by Len Kawell
    and is referred to as K-Notes.  It didn't know from timezones, so
    it got messy with its SINCE function when the E-net spanned time
    zones.  NOTES-11 (ran on VAXen too) was its replacement; it had
    NOTARY and TIMEZONE support, and was generally slicker.  Then came
    VNOTES, which worked with a server object to greatly speed up remote
    file access (NOTES-11 did repeated FALs).  Finally, this Real Product
    was introduced.
    
    Somewhere there's been a discussion of predecessor programs, like
    the one on CDC's Plato system in the 70s.

    The first notes file was SYSNOTES, used internally by VMS Development.
    Note that in 11 days, "noting" at DEC will be six years old:
    
================================================================================
                    DISK$VMSDOCLIB:[NOTES]SYSNOTES_OLD.NOT;2
  KAWELL                        VMS system notes              16-JUN-1980 14:11
 Note 1.0                            Welcome                        0 responses
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  This notes file should be used to log changes to VMS and its bundled
components.  That is, when you make a change to something that might
possibly be interesting to someone else, write a short note here.
    

    
    	How about a NOTES_BIRTHDAY_PARTY.NOTE. I'll volunteer the disk
    space for the birthday event! I dont know what would be entered
    (mabye just the most notes written in a 24 hr period) but it seems
    we ought to do something to commerate this milestone. A lot has
    evolved since K-notes.... most of it entertaining,educational and
    FUN!
    
    	-John

    In past years, nobody needed authorization to start a NOTES file.
    If there was a need for a particular file, someone created it.
    VMS development needed one, so Len Kawell wrote a program in order
    that he could create the first note file.  Others followed suit,
    though much later.
    
    In 1981 there were still very few note files.  I don't know which
    is the second one after SYSNOTES.  Maybe it was TRIVIA.  It was
    almost certainly the first "employee interest" note file.  Somehow
    I doubt that its creation was "authorized" either.
    
    The first note file with a net-wide orientation was probably the
    ENET note file.  Again, this was created because ENET engineering
    felt its need; there was no need to ask permission.  (Hey, this
    is DEC we're talking about.  KO tells us to "do the right thing,"
    and that's good enough permission.)
    
    Ironically, the first topic that generated lots of replies from
    all over the net was in ENET notes, on the subject of the name of
    the net.  This was triggered (if memory serves me) by some memo
    that declared that the net was going to be called 'CDN'.  [Bleagh!]
    (Trivia question:  What was the note number of that discussion,
    and how many replies did it get?)
    
    Nosirree, we didn't need any permission to create note files.  If
    there was a need for a file, common sense led someone to create
    it.  Even the notorious Soapbox was originally created because it
    made sense to do so, so that flaming on the subject of smoking could
    be separated from work-related discussions in ENET notes.
    
    As to news on the subject of note files, there is still no approved
    policy to restrict note files, despite the circulation of one oft-
    forwarded memo.  Keep calm, and be patient.  As soon as there is
    news, it will be posted here soon enough, you can be sure.
    
  --Simon
        

    I suggest that the (formative) NOTES DIG sponsor this event conference,
    so I have reposted the observation in its new public conference,
    NOTES::NOTES_DIG. I suggest that people interested in this very
    important BirthNOTEingDay Party/event participate there, and get
    the Digitial Interest Group off to a bang-up start!

re .5

>    TRIVIA ... was
>    almost certainly the first "employee interest" note file.  Somehow
>    I doubt that its creation was "authorized" either.
    
I'm not sure exactly what "authorized" means here, but I was
VAXworks unit manager in Feb., 1981 and approved its creation.

reg

    re:.7
    
    
    	SCROOGE!!!!!!
    
    
    	:-)
    
    	A Notes lover
    	-John

    re .8, "authorization":
    
    I don't know what that's supposed to mean either.  I find it curious
    myself that the topic note was asking "about the origin of note
    file authorization," as if "authorization" was something that's
    now required to create note files.  Clearly it's safer for an employee
    to ask a unit manager to approve the creation of a note file, but
    I don't think that explicit permission is always needed.  Nor is
    the permission of "someone higher up" needed, although that too
    depends on whether a given unit manager felt safer in having a senior
    manager approve such action.
    
  --Simon
    

It would never even occur to me to ask my unit manager for permission to
create a note file.  It wouldn't occur to me to ask for permission to send
an electronic mail message or for permission to use the men's room either.

Sarcasm aside, I see no need to ask permission unless it is anticipated that
the conference might cause some sort of undue impact on system or network
resource utilization, or unless the unit manager has explictly stated that
permission is required before a conference be created.

Part of what has made DEC great is that decisions generally are made at the
lowest possible level in the management hierarchy.  We are expected to "do
the right thing" and to have the authority as well as the responsibility to
do our jobs.

As far as NOTES history goes, Len Kawell was a software engineer in the VMS
Development group.  He wanted to learn PL/I.  Instead of writing little do-
nothing programs to teach himself the language, he decided to write a
program similar to the NOTES computer conferencing program in the CDC PLATO
system.  He did so, and NOTES was born.  SYSNOTES on node STAR was the
first notes file.  Len did this entirely on his own time and without
permission.

--PSW

re: -1,

	Ha!  I should have guessed that this started on PLATO!  I grew-up
    on PLATO at the Searle Computer Center in Urbana, Illinois - where
    PLATO was born.  Being a mere squirt at the time, I spent all of my
    time in the vast games system (there were easily thousands of different
    multi-user games and simulations on PLATO).  Then, my family moved to
    Iowa City, Iowa where WEEG Computer Center tried to fill the void for
    my computer networking interests which PLATO left, but fell far short
    (WEEG has mostly IBM and PR1MES, with a few VAXes stashed away in
    research labs).

	I'll never forget the time I was playing Empire (not to be confused
    with the land, sea, and air battle game - this was/is a 60-player Star-
    Trek game complete with live graphics), and I was blasting away on a
    cookie (Orion spaceship), when a fello confused me with my friend (whose
    account I was using), and he started sending me funny messages.  I then
    asked my friend who it was that had sent me the message, and it turned
    out to be a friend of his who was playing from Japan!  My life has never
    quite been the same since.

						-DAV0

    If only CDC could have modernised it with more forethought.
    
    					=maggie
    					(tarbet/uminn)