Not many months ago, many whose electronic
names end in "@shore.intercom.net" gathered together
to share food and conversation, and
Stone Soup. It was a housewarming of sorts, for
the new home of ICNet, in the Computer Village.
"The Village", as it is known by its residents and
visitors, is an experiment, and an interesting one
at that.
Marta and John Ward, who own
the Village, know that effective computing requires
a combination of things: components, software,
expertise.
They also know that consumers is they are often
faced with computer vendors who say "it's a software
problem" while pointing towards the door. Software
vendors say the same thing about hardware, and
both of them say it about connectors.
The average consumer isn't sure he even knows what
the difference is, but he does know he is standing
there with two thousand dollars worth of confusion,
and for most people, two thousand will buy you a
whole LOT of confusion.
The idea behind the Village is to avoid all that.
We're not done until it works, we don't look until
we find a convenient excuse to say that it's simply
someone else's mistake, someone else's problem.
The truth is, it's the customer's problem, and most
people are relieved to find someone who is willing
and able to help them.
But it's not just about problems. It's about enabling
people to get more out of life, to laugh and to learn
and to use their minds and their hands instead of their
remote controls and their cars.
This is important work, and very gratifying to do.
The equipment and how it operates is simply a means
to the end. Performance is required, not optional,
and costs are as low as can be justified by standard
business practice. We sell equipment to do things with,
not to be ornaments, and we expect them to keep them working.
The "coming together" of four companies into one, each
one bringing a special talent to the mix, is what the
Wards intended when they began The Computer Village,
and it really seems to be working.
Folks from ICNet, Stat Computer Repair, QDS Software
and ICNet's sister company, Intercom Computers,
make up the staff of the Village, and each group contributes
their skills and their enthusiasm to the enterprise. The
result is that somebody there can do just about anything
that needs to be done, except for high-wire, (and we
hear John has been talking to the Flying Wallendas.)
We're all getting together during The Salisbury Festival,
this coming Saturday, May 4th, to celebrate our
Grand Opening, and to thank each and every one of
our customers, users and friends who have stuck with all
of us during this transition.
We hope you will stop by during the festivites, and
raise a toast to all who have contributed to this effort,
for that toast is not really raised to us, at all.
That toast is raised to you. Come join us.
Note: The toast is non-alcoholic, and the Village
is located at 1520 South Salisbury Boulevard, in Salisbury
Maryland, about a mile South of Salisbury State University.
We hope to see you there.
April 28, 1996 Charles Paparella The Shore Journal
Yes... a table for two ?