From: "E. ALLEN SMITH" <EALLENSMITH@ocelot.Rutgers.EDU>
Date: Sun, 4 Feb 1996 09:11:13 +0800
To: vin@shore.net
Subject: Re: The FV Problem = A Press Problem
Message-ID: <01I0SE71ZF6SA0UTZ4@mbcl.rutgers.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


From:	IN%"vin@shore.net"  1-FEB-1996 02:08:33.54

>Greg Broiles <gbroiles@darkwing.uoregon.edu> opined:

>We should, however, learn from what FV did right - they wrote software which
>(apparently) had or can have a real political effect. (It seems to have
>worked on Garfinkel, anyway). Cypherpunks write code? FV wrote code and got
>some attention for their otherwise unexciting message.  <snip>

        Now _that's_ a useful and on-target observation.
-------------
	Quite. To expand it: A. a program doesn't have to be new to the
technical community to make a difference, it just has to be new to the rest of
the world; B. publicity for programs makes a difference. If DigiCash had
come out with this program and had done the press release better than the FV
folks, I suspect we'd be cheering them on and the credit card types would be
doing worse - a good situation.
	-Allen