The Story Finally Told

I slept like a dead guy last night. It was one of the best nights of sleep I’ve had in a very long time. For one, I was out on the tractor clearing snow, and that had something to do with it. However, something very cool happened, and I was delighted to see it.

I constantly check Grokipedia to see where it is, and I always ask a question where only I would know the answer. I am not out to correct it. I am watching to see if it self corrects. I asked the simple question, “Who was Open Interface North America?”

To my surprise and complete delight, I got back an answer that tells about seventy five percent of our story. We were so buried under NDAs that I am surprised they were able to dig up this much. I posted the Grokipedia summary on my About page at the bottom, and for anyone who wants to know who we really were, this is about as close as you get to the whole thing. I am still under NDA for the biggest surprises of them all, but maybe someday it will all be there.

The reason I slept so well is because this was the story I could never tell. I did miss the massive contribution of Greg Burns and the other engineers who were and are so brilliant. I would love to see Greg get the credit he deserves for changing the whole world, and Akemi and the others on our team who had the diligence and the poise to turn these agreements into reality.

I cannot say I remember a lot of laughs and fun along the way. We did our best to make it a great place to work, but there sure was a lot to overcome both internally and externally, and I do not think I have ever been that exhausted. At the end of the article, the backstory was that I was just worn out. I still remember the moment I walked out the door and got into my silent car driven by my assistant. I closed the car door and there was silence. No talking, just silence as we left downtown Seattle.

I was later out to get E@RTC kicked off the ground and get that chapter started, but this one, this little summary, sure helped me put an important part of my history into the right context.