James Jones

2.  What was the timeframe you worked at Microware? 

August 4, 1986 - November 16, 2001 (if we include post-buyout time)

3.  What was your job title(s) and what did you do at Microware? 

consultant, software engineer, software architect

I mostly worked on compilers--the consulting job was moving the 6809 FORTRAN compiler over to generate 68xxx code, but then I went to doing maintenance and enhancement of the 68xxx C compiler (3.2 in its last incarnation before becoming the Ultra C front end) -- OK, and of the result of the consulting work, too. Eventually I did a bunch of the retargeting of the old C compiler to generate x86 code (including turning the 68xxx assembler into an x86 assembler, in a way that people in the MSDOS/Windows world probably found really horrid...), and then was part of the Ultra C team. I did a bunch of the turning of the 3.2 C compiler into an ANSI-conformant front end, all the syntactic side of the back end generator and a portion of the semantics, and varying  amounts of each of the back ends.

4.  What is your most interesting or vivid memory of Microware? 

Being found by Allan Kirkhart while in a cubicle late at night singing the bass line of "My Shoes" (from the Bobs' _My I'm Large_ CD) along with the CD--listening on headphones, of course.

5.  What were some of your favorite times at Microware?

-- the gatherings for Thanksgiving and Christmas, especially the early ones (though the one featuring The Kabalas as entertainment was great)  -- the "Name the 'Art'" Contest (I _still_ think "Rattlesnake Dissection, Step 2" was good, though "Barf on Burlap" clearly deserved to win)  -- the "Name the TCP/IP Product" Contest (which "Ether Bunny" really should've won)  -- every time that we finished a project that I felt contributed to OS-9. Being able to work on something that I believed in was a true joy, and I don't know whether I'll ever have that privilege again, though what I'm doing now comes close in some ways.

6.  Have any experiences, skills, or habits that you picked up at Microware made an impact on your life?  Please share them with us. 

Programming techniques, of course. One thing that had an impact on my life that I could've done without was being laid off. The other thing I could've done without was living through the gradual decline of OS-9, which I think started when Microware blew off the 6809 users and the hobbyists who had beeen a major source of OS-9 expertise and porting of programs to OS-9. You see all those people out there writing open source software for Linux? A bunch of them used to be doing the same for OS-9.

7.  What was your reason for leaving Microware? 

I was part of the mid-November 2001 layoffs.

8.  What have you been doing career-wise since Microware? 

Until November 2003, looking for work and playing the occasional Renaissance fair. Then I did contract work for RadiSys until late January 2004, at which time I went to work for Bitrouter.

9.  Tell us about your family: spouse, significant others, kids, pets, etc. 

No pets...unless you count the stuffed sheep we take along to performances.  I am married now, to a wonderful and talented woman. No kids (and we don't plan on any; other folks are perpetuating the species, so we don't have to. Besides, I just want to live long enough to get downloaded.)

10.  Please attach up to three pictures of yourself, family, pets, and etc. to appear in the Reunion Highlights DVD.  We prefer .jpg and .gif images. 

Don't have any at hand, alas. Someone still with RadiSys could get the photo from the special Ultra C issue of _Pipelines_, and you might take a look through some of the Iowa Renaissance fair pictures at Allen Huffman's site, http://www.atthefaire.com/.

11.  Do you ever see other former Microware employees and do you have their  email addresses? 

Well...I work with some of them now at Bitrouter, and I see Allen Huffman from time to time. At various times I've seen Mike Burgher and davel.