docdwarf@panix.com () writes:

(Such folks didn't like 'You have to give us the money for it. This code was written in 1976 and has been running, flawlessly, ever since. The JPG format became a standard in 1992 and budget for mods was requested in '94 and turned down in '96... and again requested in '97 and turned down for Y2K... and again requested in '06 and turned down because 'we're moving to Novell, like everyone else'... and other times. This takes time, money and work.'

Back in the late 1970s, when I was in the Financial Systems group at the UChicago Computation Center--we supported the university's Comptroller's Office --someone from said office asked the senior systems analyst in our group whether he "could do" something unusual. His response, and I took it to heart and have kept it in mind always, was

I can do anything. How much do you want to spend?

The requester reconsidered the idea.

--
Rich Alderson news@alderson.users.panix.com
Audendum est, et veritas investiganda; quam etiamsi non assequamur,
omnino tamen proprius, quam nunc sumus, ad eam perveniemus.
--Galen

--- MBSE BBS v1.1.7.2 (Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC (2:250/1@fidonet)

On 26 Jun 2026 20:23:10 -0400, Rich Alderson <news@alderson.users.panix.com> wrote:

docdwarf@panix.com () writes:

(Such folks didn't like 'You have to give us the money for it. This code was
written in 1976 and has been running, flawlessly, ever since. The JPG format
became a standard in 1992 and budget for mods was requested in '94 and turned
down in '96... and again requested in '97 and turned down for Y2K... and
again requested in '06 and turned down because 'we're moving to Novell, like >> everyone else'... and other times. This takes time, money and work.'

Back in the late 1970s, when I was in the Financial Systems group at the >UChicago Computation Center--we supported the university's Comptroller's Office
--someone from said office asked the senior systems analyst in our group >whether he "could do" something unusual. His response, and I took it to heart >and have kept it in mind always, was

I can do anything. How much do you want to spend?

The requester reconsidered the idea.

My response was always:
"Yep, anything is possible given time and money - especially time.".

--- MBSE BBS v1.1.7.2 (Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: A noiseless patient Spider (2:250/1@fidonet)

Joe <none@nowhere.whereo> writes:

On 26 Jun 2026 20:23:10 -0400, Rich Alderson <news@alderson.users.panix.com> wrote:

docdwarf@panix.com () writes:

(Such folks didn't like 'You have to give us the money for it. This code was
written in 1976 and has been running, flawlessly, ever since. The JPG format
became a standard in 1992 and budget for mods was requested in '94 and turned
down in '96... and again requested in '97 and turned down for Y2K... and >>> again requested in '06 and turned down because 'we're moving to Novell, like
everyone else'... and other times. This takes time, money and work.'

Back in the late 1970s, when I was in the Financial Systems group at the
UChicago Computation Center--we supported the university's Comptroller's Office
--someone from said office asked the senior systems analyst in our group
whether he "could do" something unusual. His response, and I took it to heart
and have kept it in mind always, was

I can do anything. How much do you want to spend?

The requester reconsidered the idea.

My response was always:
"Yep, anything is possible given time and money - especially time.".

Good, fast, cheap: Pick any two.

--
Rich Alderson news@alderson.users.panix.com
Audendum est, et veritas investiganda; quam etiamsi non assequamur,
omnino tamen proprius, quam nunc sumus, ad eam perveniemus.
--Galen

--- MBSE BBS v1.1.7.2 (Linux-x86_64)
* Origin: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC (2:250/1@fidonet)