The Way Back Machine

As part of its 10th anniversary - Google has brought back the web... to 2001. They have put live the oldest copy of the index they have - a snapshot of the web in 2001.

A lot has changed since then - but one thing hasn't - this blog.

That's right - if you go to the Google 2001 site - and search for Bob Cusick - you'll see that the second entry is from a Bob's World back in 1997. Unfortunately, the link doesn't exist - so I went back through this morning and tried to find an old archive.

(Bob doing his best Dr. Evil Impression): Then I realized that back then my "column" (the term "blog" didn't exist) was actually in a database being served up live with "dynamic" pages. A big concept back then.

It was actually in a FileMaker database using a new "CGI" (Common Gateway Interface) called "Lasso." The site was called ClickWorld and it catered to the FileMaker Pro community. The site was a collaboration between myself (database and CGI programming), Jason Fried (graphic designer extraordinaire and founder of 37 Signals [you know - BaseCamp, CampFire, Ruby on Rails])... and... and... and I'm sorry, but I don't remember the 3rd guy's name - but he was a co-founder of one of the first "ISPs" (Internet Service Providers).

We had a fully dynamic site that users could register for (23,000+) and they could customize their view of the data; we had "loyalty points" that could be redeemed for consulting services, software and other goodies; we had guest blogs and articles; a basic search engine for our knowledge base - basically it was a more crude version of Facebook meets Engadget meets iGoogle.

Good times... good times.

So I went back to my oldest archives to see if I had actually kept anything from back then (first I had to find my oldest archives!). That was many, many machines ago - so I knew the chances of actually finding stuff would be bleak, at best.

Well, I managed to find a really old text file - an export of SOME of the old Bob's World Articles - circa 1997-2001 (it seems that 2001-2006 are missing). I fired up Servoy and did a quick import to see what was there. In looking back through that stuff... AAAAHHH! It's like reading an old high school yearbook.

Here's the actual picture I used back then on the site:

It was interesting - because some things never change - and other things have. I was totally cringing at some of those posts - let's just say I was wwaaaaayyyyy into Apple and FileMaker Pro at the time. I did have to clean up some of the HTML (I was writing raw HTML in BBEdit on my Mac at the time) - but other than that I've left them 100% unedited.

So, to celebrate my 10 years of blog... er... "columns" - I've published them in their original form - dated on their original dates. Look on the side bar for the year.

WARNING: Best viewed with bell bottoms and a lava lamp...

FREE - but at what price?

Editor's NOTE: This is a moldie oldie that I pulled from a text dump archive. None of the links will work anymore (or 99% won't) - but the names and companies have NOT changed.

Ok, Ok, I know. It's been a couple of months since I've been able to update this column (in fact, the entire damn site!)... I deserve 1000 web lashings.

There's been a ton o' changes to the FileMaker Pro landscape (and computing in general) since the last column. Claris has become FileMaker, Inc., Apple Computer has announced an all-in-one mac called the iMac, Rapshody has become Mac OS X (ten), and we've been entertained by Mr. Bill's courthouse antics. At ClickWare, we launched ClickWorld (the definitive FileMaker Pro resource) in January, and so far have almost 10,000 registered users of the site.

But growth comes at a price...

For FileMaker Inc, the loss of ALL other products other than FileMaker Pro also meant the loss of some fantastic people (and some real JERKS) at the restructured company. It was with an extremely heavy heart that I slowly lost touch with some of the people who were with me at the beginning of my FileMaker journey.

For Apple... well, you know the story. If not, you can check it out here.

For ClickWorld... alas, I feel the end is near. We currently have a Macintosh G3 (233 mHz) computer running WebStar and Lasso 2.5 - that powers the ENTIRE site. The performance has been excellent! The problem comes down to dollars and cents. When we launched the site, we launched it in cooperation with an ISP in the Bay Area (Infoasis). They were creating a FileMaker Pro Hosting service, and in exchange for a connection to their T-1, we provided free banners on certain pages forever.

Well, this week, the "other shoe" dropped. It seems Infoasis is now re-thinking their hosting business, and therefore do not need the banner ad. No banner ad = no "free ride" on their network. Translation: either we have to pay $350 per month to co-locate the computer, or ClickWorld goes away. Now, if you've cruised this ClickWare site - or you've surfed on over to ClickWorld, you know that we provide tons of free tips, free software, and resonably priced tools for FileMaker folks. You also may or may not know, our web presence is for YOU. We strive to be a resource, a depository of information, tips and files that are of use... all for free.

The ClickWorld site is free, the discussion area on ClickWorld is free, the international developer on ClickWorld is free, you can quickly locate and purchase the latest FileMaker Pro books (in association with Amazon.com), there are articles (including this one) that are free.... well, you get the idea.

We don't make any money from our web sites. The product sales simply help to cover the costs of the web presence - we make our money by doing custom FMP and Web development. The reality is that since the ClickWorld site has taken a considerable amount of time and money to implement, it's simply not possible to continue dumping money into a "free" resource.

UPDATE 6/13/98: Shawn Hogen from Data-Point Software has arranged for an ISP to co-locate the server. THANKS Shawn!

Whatever the fate of ClickWorld, rest assured that THIS web presence (ClickWare) is NOT going anywhere. We're committed to keeping it up and running as long as ClickWare is in business. We want to update the site according to what YOU want. Tell us what you LIKE and HATE about this site - and I promise that we'll do everything we can to help.

Thank you all!