Unfortunately, my pages have seen few updates since 1996 or so. There are plenty of reasons for this. Sure, there are the usual excuses--not enough time, desire to have a life, etc :)--but I've also experienced a bigger problem. To be blunt, I think the Web is simply a far less interesting place than it used to be.
I guess I'm sort of bitter, because I've watched the Web (like countless other innovations) devolve from a cool and intriguing new world into, basically, a big marketing venture. Things just aren't the same anymore. My CGIs, once proud hacks, now seem trite and commonplace in this era of Java and countless new scripting standards. HTML itself, once magical and uncharted, has been rendered superfluous by a glut of WYSIWYG editors and "instant web page" services. Personal Web pages are ubiquitous these days, and, in the name of progress, the venerable lynx browser has been replaced with bloated, 15-meg monstrosities. (I can already see the indignant replies: "Yeah, but can lynx handle 5-dimentional virtual reality pages with multiple independent layers containing floating draggable ActiveX widgets running off a dynamically-compiled Java operating system? Ha, I bet it can't even do !")
I could probably write an extensive essay on this topic, but I hope I've made my point by now. Also, I suspect generations of geeks before me have also dealt with various forms of this problem. Time to put on my asbestos underwear and get back to work...
[Update--May 2000:] It's a real sign of the times when even this rant has gone way out of date. Looking back, I'm amused to see myself complaining about WYSIWYG editors when today, peoples' electronic freedoms are being steadily eroded by overzealous legislators and powerful corporate interests. For more information on these topics, check out the home page of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. If you care at all about your civil liberties in this brave new (electronic) world, I urge you to consider becoming an EFF member.
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