From: greg@afs.com (Gregory H. Anderson)
Subject: AFS volunteers to keep FAQ, provide free email support
Reply-To: greg@afs.com
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 04:42:29 GMT

With the new NeXT support policies, an earlier poster suggested that  
c.s.n.programmer create an FAQ and prepare for a barrage of questions  
starting in August. Anderson Financial Systems accepts the challenge with  
two offers you can't refuse:

1) We are volunteering to maintain the FAQ for c.s.n.programmer.

2) We will provide FREE application development advice by email (only) to  
all interested NeXT developers, to the extent of our abilities (see below  
for details), RTFMs notwithstanding. 8^)

Let me state at the outset (to keep the net.police at bay) that we stand  
to make no money on this venture. This is not a ploy to get consulting  
jobs. We are an application development firm, not consultants. If  
consulting opportunities arise, we will advertise them in  
c.s.n.marketplace to other firms who _are_ in the consulting business.

You may ask yourself, why is AFS volunteering for this thankless  
assignment? Three reasons:

1) We believe in the power of a community of minds cooperating to create  
the best possible results. Solid NeXT experience is scarce, and when lack  
of access to this knowledge holds up anyone's project, all of us are  
harmed.

2) We believe computer professionals, like doctors and lawyers, have an  
obligation to provide pro bono services for the general benefit of the  
community. This is one way for us to give something back.

3) We have the skills and resources to do the job. AFS has developed full  
fledged securities trading systems in NeXTSTEP for the First National Bank  
of Chicago, Citicorp, and other financial firms. We have written several  
palettes and built two complete toolkits of objects in the course of these  
efforts. In addition, we are developing shrink-wrapped, real-time  
groupware applications for project management, time billing, and general  
accounting. We have a staff of 9 programmers exclusively dedicated to  
NeXTSTEP applications, including:

Greg Anderson (President), 10 years of custom trading systems application 
development, 1 1/2 years in NeXTSTEP. Wrote afskit and tradekit objects.

Dave Anderson (Lead Developer, HourGlass project management), twelve years  
of Unix experience, including stints at Bell Labs and Interleaf, 1 1/2  
years in NeXTSTEP. A great electronic artist, designer of all our icons.

Michael Pizolato (Lead Developer, CoutingHouse accounting system), 10  
years of programming, a DEC VAX sysadmin at AT&T, 1 year in NeXTSTEP.

Mike Matlack (VP of Marketing), until recently NeXT's district SE for  
Philadelphia, three years at NeXT. Wizard at large.

Tom Podnar, three years NeXT experience at Allegheny College. One year as  
the NeXT campus representative, one year as sysadmin of a 250-station NeXT  
campus network with a sophisticated three-level domain.

With these aggregate resources, we can answer questions about the main  
appkit and common classes, palette-building, large-scale application  
development strategies (object hierarchies), DBKit adaptors, general  
system administration, and Sun-to-NeXT porting issues. We are rapidly  
coming up to speed on DBKit and distributed objects. We are not so strong  
in PostScript drawing, although we have done a fair amount. We can offer  
almost no advice on Sound Kit, Indexing Kit, Phone Kit, and the 3DKIt for  
now. I hope others will help build the FAQ sections and volunteer their  
services in these areas.

That's the offer. Could I have a general show of hands? And if favorable,  
could you include suggestions for FAQ categories and organization? Digital  
Librarian-compatible, perhaps?

--
Gregory H. Anderson          | "We're very tolerant around here,
Benevolent Dictator-for-Life |  being only amateurs ourselves."
Anderson Financial Systems   | - Tortoise (Godel, Escher, Bach)
greg@afs.com  (Nextmail OK)  |