Welcome to Xanadu!

[muse@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Katherine Phelps)]

Welcome to the long-awaited Xanadu mailing list!  Many of you are on
this mailing list because of your attendance at one of the events in
Melbourne or Sydney where Ted Nelson spoke about the Xanadu ideal.  Many
of you have requested information because you have heard about Xanadu
and are interested in using the system.  Some of you are already
actively involved in developing software to further the Xanadu ideals.
We look forward to all of your continuing support.

On the wall over Andrew's computer I have placed a sign which reads,
"Xanadu: the dream is real, the dream is NOW."  Back in the 1960's when
Ted Nelson first conceived of Xanadu many people thought he was mad.
Given the nature of computers at the time and the uses to which they
were put, few people envisioned the scope to which they could be
applied.  Now, more than thirty years later, people all over the world
are independently inventing pieces of Ted's grand dream.  This is
absolutely WONDERFUL.  It means the time is right for all sorts of
people to grasp and make use of the Xanadu system.  The paradigm shift
is no longer so large, the idea no longer seems a vague abstraction.  It
also means we must and have made a commitment to getting a xanalogical
system up and running for public usage in the near future.

A number of companies are in the midst of creating one-way media
delivery systems.  You pay, they deliver.  It is a cable TV solution
whereby only a few large companies can afford to provide their content
and you will be unable to roam around non-sequentially, view only a
piece, jump to other related works nor even make your own contribution.
The divisions between producer and consumer, creator and audience become
enforced even more rigidly, when we have the opportunity to dissolve
them in ways that have never before been possible.  The Xanadu system
creates an electronic free-market.  The Xanadu system acknowledges that
everyone may have something important to contribute to general
knowledge, to general experience.  It is an inclusive system.  It is a
tool for creativity, the free exchange of ideas and posterity.  For this
reason we believe it is important to work cooperatively and
collaboratively with various groups and institutions so that a Xanadu
system finally becomes commercialised and a world standard over the
more limited solutions.  Your enthusiasm and help will not only be
appreciated, but rewarded once you log on to the world of information
freedom.

Katherine Phelps
Xanadu Australia