Mission

My mission is to empower people through technology.

I've come to this mission by observing what I value over a long period of time.

I've written what I mean in more detail in my Untitled Manifesto About Computers.

Over my history using computers and creating web sites and software, some of the things that have influenced me in this direction include:

• Smalltalk, a historical computing platform that focused on making software maximally malleable and preventing barriers to modifying the software you use. This flexibility allowed it to be the origin of the graphical user interface.
• The personal computer movement, which focused on giving people direct access to use and modify computers instead of keeping them locked up in large corporations.
• The Macintosh, the "computer for the rest of us," with a user interface intended to make computers welcoming instead of obscure.
• HyperCard, an authoring environment for creating interactive software without requiring any programming to start.
• The World Wide Web, an open platform allowing anyone to create and share content with any tools they prefer.
• The Free Software and Open Source movements, allowing people to have software at no charge that they can modify and redistribute however they like.
• Ruby on Rails, a development framework focused on equipping individuals and small teams with tools to create feature-rich web applications that can compete with the offerings of much larger organizations.
• The iPhone, which when it was announced increased the power and user interface that people have in their pockets tremendously.

I've written more about HyperCard and Smalltalk at User-Modifiable Software.