[OT] Google Drops Windows

[Richard Gaskin]

Klaus wrote:

> Hi Kurt,
>
>> S.R.:
>> "One hundred rubles says an army of Russian virus writers is working in the
>> office next door to Kasparsky, and they all take cigarette breaks together
>> every morning.  :-)"
>>
>> LOL!!!!!   Wasn't there someone who, years ago on the SC list, would occasionally spin fanciful tales of KGB and Stasi intrigue?
>
> Yep, Ivan Aufulish (or whateveritwasspelled)!
> That was my first thought, too :-D

It's "Aufulich", read "Awful Itch" - he was the Third Deputy Assistant 
Undersecretary in the Ministry for Woolen Underwear. :)

The late great Grant Schampel used to read Pravda and other Soviet 
sources for a job he once had which he never went into much detail on. 
The doublespeak he found in much of the Soviet "news" was so amusing to 
him that he created the Ivan character as a way of discussing 
pre-release SuperCard and Apple software without actually divulging any 
details which would violate an NDA.

Over time the Aufulich mythos grew to include a great many other 
characters, many of them party "apparatchiks" as he called them, and it 
became a marvelous snapshot of Soviet-era lingo.

Before he passed away in the late '90s, Grant donated to my site the 
Ivan Aufilich Archives, a collection of 28 profiles of the characters 
from the Aufulish mythos.

It's a shame that I still haven't moved these into my main site since I 
redesigned it some years back, but the archives are still online in an 
old repository:

<http://www.fourthworld.com/_Embassy/Ivan/Ivan.html>

This first entry introduces Mr. Aufulich, well worth the read:
<http://www.fourthworld.com/_Embassy/Ivan/Ivan01.html>

This discussion was a good reminder that I should move those pages into 
my current site.  I'm glad you brought this up.

Grant was a talented writer, an ardent supporter of xTalks, and a loyal 
friend.  And if you like the Aufulich Archives I should see if I can 
turn up some of his limericks - he had quite a gift for those too, many 
a bit off-color, all them really funny.

He is missed, but through these archives and the legacy he left us he's 
not forgotten.

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World
  Rev training and consulting: http://www.fourthworld.com
  Webzine for Rev developers: http://www.revjournal.com
  revJournal blog: http://revjournal.com/blog.irv