Free the Internet! Free the Seniors!

Welcome, Computer Club members (and others who stumble across this new blog). Everyone inHeritage Village is welcome.

Isn't it amazing how the recent generations have turned generosity into great wealth? Here is this wonderful technology of "blogging", and it is offered free to the public through the giant corporation Google, now a world-wide money-machine. Before them came the Internet, a free network of inter-connected computers that grew through volunteers that shared a vision for connecting academia. Now it connects over a billion people, and has become priceless.

I first got interested in on-line computer communication when the Internet was for geeks. My first website was posted on a university-based server in Toronto, free of charge, including free e-mail. Everyone just paid for their own computers and phone lines. The rest was done by cooperation. Now we don't even need phone lines, with "WiFi hotspots" mushrooming everywhere.

Before the World-Wide-Web (WWW), there were "Bulletin Boards" (BBS's). They were an early invention using the concept of on-line collaboration to creat value. I ran such a BBS for 6 years out of my home. On-line visitors would contribute information, images, articles, etc. which were edited by a SysOp (System Operator). In turn, they got access to the growing archive on the BBS by dial-up modem. The job of SysOp was usually volunteer work - there was no serious money to be made in those early days of the 1990's. Web sites of today follow in the same footsteps - volunteer slaves called "Webmasters" build hobby sites. When the concept has proven value, investors will finance commercial portals. But "free" is the best way to experiment. Some aspects of the Internet will always be free.

One product that fed the growth of BBS's, was the concept of "Freeware" (guilt free) or "shareware" (donations please). Software programmers with more time than money, would develop neat little software programs and let people have them for free. The developer had a vested interest in building a "free" product that the public could enjoy, or find useful. Feedback from users would help him or her to remove software errors or build new features. Freeware made a hobby BBS possible and still adds fuel to the Internet growth today.

"Free" allowed the shareware product to circulate world-wide electronically in a matter of days - no advertising necessary. Once the program became useful to thousands of on-line people, it was time to shrink-wrap a package for sale to the general public. The developer who gave so freely in the early stages of development, became an overnight success story and another dot.com company was born on the stock exchange.

Computer Bulletin Boards are dinosaurs that died when the World-Wide-Web arrived, like an asteroid from space. Yet Blogs, Search Engines and Web Sites are a continuation of the "free" marketing concept. The next billion people will be on-line soon . So contribute to the public good for free - and you will be rewarded by the future value of what you have built - be it an article, or archive; a store front or product; a brand name or reputation.

Our new website, under construction at http://www.inheritage.ca/ , can also be such a vehicle of wealth creation. A wealth of knowledge about and for Heritage Village can benefit all residents in our community: including distant snowbirds and vacationers. It can become the archive of our achievements, and the place to seed new ideas and new friendships. It will allow us to reach out to our neighbourhood and link up to other adult lifestyle communities to share our retirement experience.

Anyone that thinks they are too old to participate, should get guidance from bloggers such as Mariaamelia of Spain (born 1911) or Donald Cowdis of Canada (born 1913). Visit the following websites to get inspired by what seniors are doing with Blogs, Websites and the World Wide Web:

http://jenett.org/ageless/

http://dontoearth.blogspot.com/

So start blogging, and contribute to the wonders of the World Wide Web. If we build it, they will come. Comments and ideas are most welcome, if they are "free" for all seniors.