[Leica] LUG archives online again, and search works

[datamaster at northcoastphotos.com (Gary Todoroff)]

>For the technically inclined, the problem was that the new server 
>used v4.6 of Berkeley DB, and the LUG archives had been using v1.8 
>since the beginning. The file format compatibility finally broke, 
>and I had to regenerate all of the BDB indexes, but I kept on 
>finding version skew under musty old rocks, as this or that 
>auxiliary program needed to be re-linked or upgraded to be 
>compatible with BDB 4.6.

When Hewlett-Packard stopped making the HP3000 just a couple years 
ago, you could still take a program stored on a 1976 HP tape drive, 
load it to the newest HP3000 and it would run! Computer professionals 
and the companies they worked for used to treat programming 
seriously. Backwards compatibility was an important issue because of 
the immense investment of time and money in older programs. When the 
kids took over with DOS and PC's, we lost the professional approach. 
Windows is now the Taj Mahal built on a foundation of toothpicks. 
Having lived all their lives on such shaky ground, most programmers 
today seem to have equally shaky standards.

Thanks, Brian, for all your efforts and for making up the difference 
where the last generation or two of computer "professionals" have let 
us down. I am thankful for a career as a programmer/analyst during 
the era of solid mid-range computer systems. That golden age is 
long-gone now, and am equally thankful to no longer be programming. 
When I found myself spending more time UNDER the desk fixing the 
computer than AT the desk writing useful programs, I knew it was time 
to move on.

Gary Todoroff