Quiet thoughts

```
Debt, economic decline, immigration; hippies, anti-government, freedom.
At the end of the 1980s, a wave of change encompassed a country boy from the Rust Belt.
As the gate for upward mobility was on the verge of closing, he struggled to move forward.
College, Silicon Valley, entrepreneurship; HP, Apple, Microsoft.
To become part of the 1%, or even 0.1%, he sacrificed a lot, but also gained a lot.
```

American History 1988

In May, three major events occurred in Silicon Valley. Well, perhaps they could also be considered significant events in the computing world.


The first was the tentative step taken by the National Science Foundation office regarding the long-debated privatization of the NSFNET.


The office director, Stephen, announced that a phased privatization pilot experiment would be initiated within the next year.


The first to try out this new initiative was SPI, an online network service provider in New York, who would take over the maintenance of the local NSFNET.


In fact, this statement was superfluous, as SPI had already reached an agreement with the local government of New York last year.


The National Science Foundation office had played dumb for over half a year before finally formally acknowledging the legality of SPI.


However, this was ultimately a positive development, as at least the privatization process of the NSFNET was no longer just in the discussion phase.


Chapter 147 Earning Money with Tears