Doug Mueller, The List, The Universe and all that Forty-two, right? Nuff said, huh?
I suppose that we could have figured out that someday this time would come. The news of Doug Mueller’s retirement and the subsequent shutdown of the ARSLIST, might have been predictable and inevitable, and there are both sad and enjoyable experiences and events connected to each. I’ve known Doug since 1993 and have been honored to work with him on various Remedy panels, projects and conferences. To a great extent I owe my computing career to Doug (and another guy, also named Doug, who couldn’t deal with whatever that “Remedy” startup was…). So do any of us - dozens, hundreds? - who were able to build enterprise-scale solutions to some really, really complicated problems, using processes that Doug envisioned. We owe a lot to Doug, and we owe a lot to The List. Doug came up with a marvelous engine, hooked into lots of services, technologies, platforms and other processes. We learned from him how to use it to make our myriad enterprises better. ARSystem (in all of its various names) has been a true game changer and in our little corner of the world, that is profound. Tens of thousands of companies and agencies may never figure out the degree to which they depend on the concepts he has contributed. To be fair, many many other engineers and designers have helped along the way, but I think Doug deserves credit for the foundation ideas, way back when before there was dirt. Doug (and Dan Bloom too, big time!) also deserves credit for another fundamental concept that was present at the beginning and continues to this day: open exchange of the knowledge needed to make the science work. Doug has been a frequent and consistent contributor to The List, patiently explaining, passionately defending, always sharing. Doug supported and advocated for this tech-centric and customer-centric forum, even when it might not have been to corporate advantage. As we leave the ARSLIST and go forward to work with these and other technologies, that notion free exchange of knowledge and criticisms, ideally with some honest corporate participation, is one we should try to adopt and promote wherever we can. Let this NOT be the end of an era. I didn’t mean this to be such a Dougfest, because there are are so many of you still reading this who have become personal friends as well as go-to people when things got tough. I for one will really miss you all! I was going to try to start naming some, but Matt Laurenceau name-checked just about everyone I ever met last week so I figure you can just go ask Matt. Doug Mueller, thank you for making the rest of my life possible. I hope we have not heard the last from you (unless you want it that way) and I wish you satisfaction from all that you choose to do or not to do, bearing in mind that forward-looking statements do not imply any sort of commitment that any feature of your life will be included in a future release. The rest of you, please do keep in touch. Communities is a good place to start looking for addresses Long Live The List! Doug Blair d...@dougblair.com <— easy, huh? > On Nov 27, 2019, at 11:58 PM, David Durling <ddurli...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I want to add my well wishes to Doug on his retirement!
-- ARSList mailing list ARSList@arslist.org https://mailman.rrr.se/cgi/listinfo/arslist
