Somehow, I have always had an interest in computers - even before I really came to know what they do. In 1978, at the age of nine, youthful imagined interest boiling over from immersion in the recently released Star Wars epic, my always supportive mother signed me up for a kids introduction to computer class at the local community college. My first experience with a real computer, I wasted no time doing what seemed "natural". I pecked a question in through the keyboard - it echoed on the monochrome screen. "What is the tallest building in the world?" Much to my dissatisfaction, the computer returned an error - it looked cool, but didn't even know as much as me, a kid! By the end of the class, we had all learned that computers don't know anything someone hasn't told them; and we had all written simple programs that would accept an input, and return a predetermined output - an answer. So, it seemed, whoever programmed the computer on the Starship Enterprise, must have entered every answer to every question in the world - maybe the universe! That, I was certain, must have taken forever - if it was possible at all.
A little more than a decade later, after programming lots of computers, to return all sorts of predetermined responses, from untold types and numbers of inputs, a friend introduced me to something very different. He called it "The Internet". There were "Newsgroups" that one could not only read, but also participate in, on almost any subject imaginable. You could send an "Email" to someone anywhere in the world. The result of doing either of these things was anything but predetermined. Finally, I could type a question into a computer, and get an answer I didn't know beforehand! Having the input of all of these people, from all over, would make finding every answer to every question in the world - maybe the universe, much easier - maybe even feasible. This was going to change the everything. I was hooked.
I wasn't the only one. During the next ten years, the Internet exploded, "Web Browsers", and HTML ushered in a new era of media rich, user friendly "Web Sites". The Internet had truly become the World Wide Web. People from everywhere shared experiences with everyone. The world had become so much smaller for each of us, and so much wider for us all. Things happened fast. "Search Engines" began to pop up to try to index the ever expanding sea of information that the Internet had become. The ways we buy and sell things, hear about things, learn about things, talk about things, and even think about things all changed. The world was hooked.
In 1999, somewhat disillusioned by the hype and jargon driven corporate depersonalization of the Internet, I left my job with a national broadband ISP technical support department, and founded One Drop Web. I wanted to get back to what I feel is the original intent of the World Wide Web - to get the world on the web. After all, it is the people that have made the Internet the worlds greatest resource, without us, computers know nothing. By offering solutions, not just loosely supported products, One Drop Web unleashes the power of the Internet to help real people with real world scenarios. Well rounded developers, with interpersonal, as well as development skills; provide a direct-to-developer dialog, virtually eliminating miscommunication, and disposing of unnecessary overhead. No endless sales calls, no new departments, no new machines, no new software - just your ideas, world wide, on the web.
The One Drop Philosophy is to promote the original intent of the Internet, to keep it everybody's and not anyone's. Guided by this principle, we select and develop the solutions we offer. One Drop Web is proud to develop and support open source software solutions. Free from the traditionally restrictive software license, and corporate profit model, these solutions are not only platform independent, a phenomenal value, and infinitely extensible, but also help ensure and protect equal access for all people to share their ideas on the worlds greatest resource.
One Drop Web strives not only to be a steward of the World Wide Web, but also of the world. The IT industry is expected to surpass the airline industry's carbon footprint in 2010. One Drop Web is invested in a more sustainable future for the world and the World Wide Web. Our web servers are 100% wind powered - by energy credit purchase, and our offices are 100% powered by roof mounted solar arrays.
One Drop Web has been providing real world web solutions for over a decade. Solutions that are secure, robust, affordable, and work for real people, in the real world. Contact One Drop Web, and get started working directly with a developer to create the perfect solution for you. Keep it simple, keep it real, One Drop is all it takes.
Grant Foster
Founder/Developer
One Drop Web