THE EVOLUTION OF A COMPUTER CONFERENCING SYSTEM
from his "State of the Unison" address
by Fred Dudden

Unison. A name selected through collective contributions.

The name of the system I first used was RCONS (Remote Console Operated NorthStar), after the name of the software. We were ten users, each paying $20-$40 a month for the use of the system. Then we were 15 and then 25, and we were out of room. So in July '83 I started looking for a better machine. And found a used VAX 730 (which came almost a year later).

And we called the system Mile High Mail. Somehow, though, I wanted the name of the system to indicate the philosophy behind why I was in this business. I had been using Delphi and The Source heavily. I recognized that there was something happening that was as yet not fully understood. I could see that a "rapport" among people could be established that could not happen as easily in the "analog world."

The term analog world (somewhat equivalent to "face to face" and "real world") in itself refers in part to what I was reaching for. All terms used by the computer naively try to describe an occurrence that is really imaginary, illusionary. Think of the half-hidden snickers when you say, "I met the most interesting person last night on the computer."

Despite the snickers, an entirely new social group is forming. A group that is bounded not by streets and ethnic origins but by intellect and openness. The driving force behind what I wanted to do was to try to reflect this. And we needed a name. To me, the name would eventually be as important as the services, because it would serve as a reminder to us all of what it was we were trying to do.

So we ran a contest here and on The Source (the prize: a teeshirt with the selected name on it.) It was the HOT conference of the week on The Source. When ALEXIA entered the name UNISON, everyone immediately knew that was the image and the name we wanted.

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So we had a name. Then what? Unison grew. 50 users for a long time. Then 75. And suddenly almost 500. And we're still signing up users at the rate of one or two day. Not just users though. Friends. Green-screened companions. Some of the staff I have never met. Some I may never meet.

But we are in Unison. In unison about wanting to provide quality services to our friends. In unison in wanting not to be the biggest service but the most consistent and friendly. In unison in seeing this as the future of communication. In unison about building futures for all of us. Because that is what we are doing.

Unison is not providing electronic mail as such. Nor a place to escape reality. We are providing an electronic community center to gather and share our hopes and our fears and our loves and anguishes. We are building a family with its assorted cousins and old-maid aunts and brothers and sisters.

We are creating a new way to make it easier for us to react to a world that is changing almost faster than we can realize changes have happened. And we are doing it in the way that allows us to do it best--immediately. We are doing it in an arena where intensity rules. Where a day passing is an eternity. Because we are coming to accept that no matter where in the world an event happens, it can affect one or more of us and somehow, we know it almost as it happens.

We are coming to accept that if we can do things in unison, we are all much stronger. That is the concept and the magic. That is what I have seen happen in this medium. And that is why I am here.

August 2, 1985 was the anniversary of the first year of operation as well as the day we installed Parti 4.5. From the vantage point of this anniversary, I see Unison as a tool, one that will be replaced someday by another, better tool. A friend once told me that a toolmaker is doomed to forever seeing the flaws in his tools. That if it were otherwise, he would never strive to build better tools. We are still building the tool called Unison. But already my thoughts turn to the next version. And already anticipation builds at what could be done. But the tool exists. And in Unison the community is using the tool to build the reality of the future.
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Author's note: Fred Dudden is the founder of the UNISON networking
system based in Denver, Colorado. He is known to many networkers as FTF
("Fred The Fish"), his handle from the early days of electronic bulletin
boards and conferencing on the Source. This material is from a forthcoming
article by Harry Goodman.