Steve Saroff?

Forever starting over, never bored, I love the good communication aspects of the Internet. Never before in all of history has such a strong communication tool been available. Never before has the ideal of equality actually been within reach: the promise of education -- that knowledge alone could make all people equal and erase the class boundaries -- has mostly been a sham: regardless of education and knowledge a person's reach -- how far their ideas could travel and what their ideas could accomplish -- have been bounded by good-ol-boy networks, fraternal control of companies, economic boundaries and all kinds of borders. A.J. Liebling's cynical and observant statement that "The freedom of the press belongs to those who own one ," was accurate. Most of what has been passed off as unique or valuable have been selected by those who have been in financial control: institutions have had monopolistic control on the publication and dispersal of ideas and concepts, and these places, to make their money, have aggregated individuals into masses.

The amount of time and effort it now takes to get an idea out to anyone who may be interested in hearing, seeing or listening to what you have to say is trivial. The loneliness of the world can be breached a bit by sharing what we see, what we think, even what we feel. Our ideas can now be sent, as fast as keystrokes and electrons, to anyone who may be looking for them.

Now, inventors, writers, musicians, artists, politicians, observers and anyone who creates, can sidestep and ignore the critics and the controllers. The emotion and value of our ideas can be judged directly -- taken or left as they are. Don't like something? Ignore it. Find something good? Get more of it. Have an invention that will help? An idea that is unique? An image or story that carries emotion? The Internet can, and does, carry these things across all boundaries. Your idea may reach an audience of only One -- but it may reach the right audience, the absolute right person. Or your idea may reach millions -- if the millions want your idea. The Internet is making the world fair, knocking over many barriers and erasing all boundaries.

We can now start to thumb our noses at the rulers: we can share our worlds of thoughts, observation and knowledge, we can share the abstract and even share the concrete: The location of old-growth forests to protect; ideas on how to limit mosquito populations on the outskirts of cities; practical methods for installing solar heating systems; how to fight the city halls that are trying to enforce illegal subdivision regulations; sharing of music, of painting, of short stories; maps to parties; maps to find comets; the physics of the stars; the mathematics of DNA sequencing; software to translate Norwegian to English; real reviews of consumer items; buying power that will reach from consumer directly to producers and put Walmarts out of business; instant aggregation of medical information that will take doctor's monopoly of hidden truth out of their hands.... Have something to say? Have an idea? Have some beauty to share? Want to change the world? The Internet is here; you are touching it.

Some personal work Thoughts and history: More than just talk about ideas, I develop software which helps ideas reach millions. Have an interesting project? Let me know about it. Ten years ago I started FreeMail, Inc. from a laundry room, closed a one million dollar software deal with Kinko's in the first year of business, and then sold my company to a global corporation (WAM!NET / MCIWorldCom). Since then I have continued to develop and write software and market ideas. I am co-founder (with Glenn Kreisel) of RemoteScan Corporation , and I am involved with several marketing companies.