| FACE="Times Roman" SIZE=4 COLOR="black"> July 25, 2000 | FACE="Times Roman" SIZE=4 COLOR="black"> 03 00050 61 00072501 |
Mr. Pat Lincoln
Director
Lincoln@csl.sri.com
Computer Science Laboratory
SRI International
333 Ravenswood Avenue
Menlo Park, CA 94025
| FACE="Times Roman" SIZE=5 COLOR="black"> Subject: | FACE="Times Roman" SIZE=4 COLOR="black"> SDS Project |
Dear Pat,
Thanks for taking time to explore scenarios on moving forward with an SDS initiative. After our meeting, I visited with Jack Park. He posed a constructive business arrangement for accommodating both commercial and open source objectives. Jack plans to visit with you and Cliff Joslyn (the rep from Los Alamos National Lab) about it after the DKR team meeting, if you are available.
I was very pleased you did not laugh when I explained the objective of SDS to improve alphabet technology. Since this has not been done for 2000 years, I am sure, that, if SDS does what experience seems to indicate, then it is a very powerful, indeed humbling, effort we contemplate. But, neither can we shrink from the duty to advance the work of those who came before. That is one reason SRI is a good place to seek alliance. Not only do you bring needed credibility and resources, but you, also, have institutional fortitude essential for carrying on original work. The good news is that the solution is relatively simple. But, regardless of technological ease or challenge, you properly framed the cultural hurdles for achieving commercial success, so there can be no allusions, as we begin the journey. There is a slight chance that lightening can strike, and this thing catches on by virtue of pent up demand for a solution to information overload. While that demand will grow, the competition for attention in a market place of endless fools gold augurs for caution. So, with that said, there is really nothing stopping us but details about organization and funding. The task has been waiting patiently for 2000 years. Now that we see the path, it's time to start.
A word about government licensing provisions, which you touched upon. Often when folks launch a company the focus is on how to identify the market, with the idea that we are looking to sell to market segments who have a special need or desire we have identified. The market is out there somewhere, and the aim is to make money by selling something to "them."
In this case, the market is really us, each of us and all of us because the need we address is universal, as with the alphabet. If we cannot make something that improves our work, that of the folks down the hall, and so on, then we really will have produced nothing of value, and will have failed. If we do make substantial progress on "shoving all that paper" on everyone's desk into the computer, then the character of that help applies to every person on the planet, pretty much across the board, because the alphabet is a low level, powerful utility used by everyone, and that is what we aim to improve. In that case, the incentive for folks to contribute to this effort is to obtain the benefit of improving their work and their lives, to whatever extent the alphabet is presently a factor. It turns out that, while none of us stop to think about the role of the alphabet in our daily lives, it is nearly as critical as breathing.
I look forward to receiving your letter summing up ideas you put forward, including meeting with Doug about how an SDS initiative might advance his important work for an OHS/DKR.
Sincerely,
THE WELCH COMPANY
Rod Welch
rowelch@attglobal.net