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Ooh. I found the original email from him. From: VoicePro@aol.com Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 22:16:04 -0500 Subject: Your files :) Hi, John. T

Ooh. I found the original email from him. From: VoicePro@aol.com Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 22:16:04 -0500 Subject: Your files :) Hi, John. Thanks for your order. Here are your files... and I included a "You've got mail, John" file, too. Enjoy!! El Edwards So, now I can upload "Use the source, Luke!" (https://soundcloud.com/john-graham-cumming/use-the-source-luke https://soundcloud.com/john-graham-cumming/use-the-source-lu...) and "You've got mail, John!" (https://soundcloud.com/john-graham-cumming/youve-got-mail-john https://soundcloud.com/john-graham-cumming/youve-got-mail-jo...).

atonse 2y ago
What a cool piece of internet history. (And awesome that he was a good sport) JGC, you seem to be one of those people that always has a finger in many little internet trivia things. I'd be bold to say, almost like a Forrest Gump of the internet.
- jgrahamc 2y ago
  I just have a high-degree of curiosity and a tendency to email random people and see if they'll respond. And I got on the Internet in 1986 so I've been around a while. Fun story about that. Back in 1996 Nicholas Negroponte wrote a column in Wired lamenting the fact that laptop batteries didn't show their charge state. This mattered because all of us who travelled a lot carried multiple batteries to switch them in our laptops (some laptops could have two batteries at once allowing hot swapping without a shutdown). See: https://web.media.mit.edu/~nicholas/Wired/WIRED4-12.html https://web.media.mit.edu/~nicholas/Wired/WIRED4-12.html: "I now carry eight to ten battery packs during long trips. I won't even consider a laptop design that includes unstackable batteries. The fact that most batteries don't indicate their charge state is pathetic." I emailed Negroponte with my solution: before a trip I'd charge all my batteries up (I think I had five) and I had numbered them by writing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 on them with a sharpie. Then, I'd simply use them in numerical order. He graciously replied something along the lines of "Sometimes the best solution is the simplest".
  - AznHisoka 2y ago
    I miss those days when you could email someone serendipitously and expect a response. Now its all filled with spam and nobody responds to anything
    - jgrahamc 2y ago
      Maybe. I emailed this guy and it went well: https://blog.jgc.org/2024/09/cracking-old-zip-file-to-help-open.html https://blog.jgc.org/2024/09/cracking-old-zip-file-to-help-o...
    - dotancohen 2y ago
      RMS would reply to most on topic emails, I think I emailed him just a few years ago and got a reply. And in place of email, some people have had similar success with Twitter. Tim Dodd comes to mind, his Twitter communications with Elon Musk, always on topic and well researched, helped propel his career.
  - smm11 2y ago
    I emailed a suggestion to, and received a response from Steve Jobs in the late-90s. Didn't think a thing about it, changed jobs a time or two, business I was at closed. Yeah.

atonse 2y ago

What a cool piece of internet history. (And awesome that he was a good sport) JGC, you seem to be one of those people that always has a finger in many little internet trivia things. I'd be bold to say, almost like a Forrest Gump of the internet.

jgrahamc 2y ago
I just have a high-degree of curiosity and a tendency to email random people and see if they'll respond. And I got on the Internet in 1986 so I've been around a while. Fun story about that. Back in 1996 Nicholas Negroponte wrote a column in Wired lamenting the fact that laptop batteries didn't show their charge state. This mattered because all of us who travelled a lot carried multiple batteries to switch them in our laptops (some laptops could have two batteries at once allowing hot swapping without a shutdown). See: https://web.media.mit.edu/~nicholas/Wired/WIRED4-12.html https://web.media.mit.edu/~nicholas/Wired/WIRED4-12.html: "I now carry eight to ten battery packs during long trips. I won't even consider a laptop design that includes unstackable batteries. The fact that most batteries don't indicate their charge state is pathetic." I emailed Negroponte with my solution: before a trip I'd charge all my batteries up (I think I had five) and I had numbered them by writing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 on them with a sharpie. Then, I'd simply use them in numerical order. He graciously replied something along the lines of "Sometimes the best solution is the simplest".
- AznHisoka 2y ago
  I miss those days when you could email someone serendipitously and expect a response. Now its all filled with spam and nobody responds to anything
  - jgrahamc 2y ago
    Maybe. I emailed this guy and it went well: https://blog.jgc.org/2024/09/cracking-old-zip-file-to-help-open.html https://blog.jgc.org/2024/09/cracking-old-zip-file-to-help-o...
  - dotancohen 2y ago
    RMS would reply to most on topic emails, I think I emailed him just a few years ago and got a reply. And in place of email, some people have had similar success with Twitter. Tim Dodd comes to mind, his Twitter communications with Elon Musk, always on topic and well researched, helped propel his career.
- smm11 2y ago
  I emailed a suggestion to, and received a response from Steve Jobs in the late-90s. Didn't think a thing about it, changed jobs a time or two, business I was at closed. Yeah.