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Checking the WHOIS record for zws.com flagellates my tired memory into recalling (years all seem the same, don't they?) that I registered it on July 12, 1996. It represented my first real public presence on the Internet; you might have found me in various Usenet newsgroups as early as 1991 (as lae@mullauna.cs.mu.oz.au) but in those days there was no World Wide Web of much consequence. At the time I opened shop on the Internet, my BBS (ZWSBBS) was at its peak; I had two 24-hour telephone lines (one 28.8k, subscribers only, and one 14.4k, free access) and one part-time line, all experiencing medium to heavy incoming call volumes. Back then, Fidonet was still alive and kicking vigorously (my Fidonet address was 3:634/396, for the nostalgia buffs), but there was a definite wave of Internet fever in Australia and the mass exodus from direct dial-up services to general-purpose ISPs was clearly in progress. I haven't kept abreast with Fidonet developments since then, but I suspect that it does still live on, albeit with decimated participation levels.

I chose the name zws.com for the same historical reasons that led to my BBS being named ZWSBBS. Back in my demo-crew days on the Commodore Amiga, I worked under several noms de guerre, and the last of those names was ZWS. At the time, it stood for Zero Wait State. Today, it is no longer an acronym, and "ZWS" by itself means nothing; "zws.com" is the name to my online business dealings.

zws.com was initially hosted by a company called Digiweb, which in mid-1996 was the most reasonably-priced provider I could find (US$19.95/month for 20Mbytes). Remember, in 1996 it was very expensive to host a web site; by comparison to the other deals I was being offered (especially Australian-hosted deals), this was dirt cheap. I don't know how much good that did Digiweb though; they went through at least one acquisition while I was using them to host zws.com, and interestingly when I go to check their vital statistics today (June 27, 2001), the site seems to be semi-nonexistent.

In the period from 1994 to 1998, I was heavily invested (emotionally and time-wise) in IBM's OS/2 operating system, and as such I was a vigorous member of Team OS/2. So zws.com reflected that religion... erm, operating system preference; I even hosted the Team OS/2-Esp Spanish-language sub-site for a while. Since those idealistic days, I have found so many other things to occupy my energies that I simply don't have time for OS advocacy. Basically, any OS is the right OS for the job, at least to an observer who isn't equipped to analyze the inadequacies/inefficiencies of that OS when used in a particular setting. Since I now work pretty much exclusively in embedded systems, I am usually free to choose whatever OS fits my hardware and application the best, even if that means writing my own OS. But I digress...

In roughly the same timeframe, I was quite active on the Classic Macs mailing list maintained by Bill Hitz. (These were the halcyon days when Guy Kawasaki was in charge of the EvangeList, evangelizing the Macintosh; that's where Bill's mailing list was first publicized). I hosted the web archives for the list for quite a while, even writing a custom OS/2 utility to convert the text postings into HTML. I passed the baton for that to someone else a long time ago, although I'm not sure where the archive has moved.

In November of 1998, the president of Pragmatic Designs, Inc. in New York was browsing zws.com (I really should have kept the logs...) and contacted me about possibly joining his team, working on exciting electronic toy design. So I spent my Christmas vaction that year in New York - my first voyage outside Australia - and in December I was excited to learn that the job was mine. Five months of visa paperwork later, on May 1, 1999, I arrived at the John F. Kennedy airport in New York to begin my new career. I still get regular (sometimes weekly) job offers from companies that have browsed my websites and resume. It seems that realtime programmers with a hardware bent are in short supply despite the economic gloom pervading America in 2001.

Since hiring me, Pragmatic Designs has changed its name to Digi-Frame Inc. and shifted its focus off toys and entirely towards making digital picture frames. I'm still working for that company, designing the hardware, writing the firmware and otherwise enjoying myself. (Are there secret features in the Digi-Frame firmware? Certainly. The only interesting Easter egg is a hidden photo-collage of myself, my fiancee, my fiancee's parents' poodle, and a snow angel. For all you Digi-Frame 390 and 560 owners out there, turn the frame on and wait for it to start showing pictures, then click the wheel to get into the main menu. Keep turning the wheel clockwise until you hear a strange double chord sound. Then press the '>' button. There, it's out. I feel better).

In June of 2000, I moved zws.com to its current provider, Interland. The main reason I moved was high packet loss and an increasing lack of responsiveness from Digiweb's support staff, coupled with an attractive prepaid yearly rate from Interland (with much more available storage space). At roughly the same time, I opened my personal site, larwe.com, and began the slow process of sieving data into the new site; the problem being, I barely have time to administer one web site, let alone two! When the version of zws.com containing this page goes live, the sieving process should be complete. It's only been a year!

In February 2001, I proposed to my girlfriend Cristen, and we'll be married in October, 2002. I met Cristen only as a result of moving to New York, which itself was a direct result of zws.com's existence.

So zws.com got me my new job (and indirectly my new home), trips overseas and even my wife-to-be.

What more could you ask of a three-letter domain name?