I began delivering the software manifesto of hope in so many words on 9 Nov. 1998, though alluding to the that theme even longer. As a road warrior, evangelist and futurist for Sun Microsystems for six years, I was called to speak to audiences of software developers all around our world. The one message that transcends all interface or implementation matters is the message of hope...in software, ultimately grounded in our collective humanity, which was a constant and true theme for me through out the mission.

During those six years of evangelism for Sun, I traveled the equivalent of 25+ times around the globe (I stopped counting during the fifth year), addressed scores of audiences; thousands of software developers and industry professionals. And I have truly come to believe...not only in hope itself, but also in software as the mechanism for its instantiation; long term hope for humankind.

I choose to believe there is hope for our species. The very technologies that imprison us in bleak cells of unintended consequences also promise hope for the future, for the very survival of our species during these most interesting times. If there's hope for humanity, it is in software. And it is equally true that if there's hope for software, it's in our humanity.

UPDATE: I no longer work for Sun Microsystems. After a total of nine years, six of which were spent serving as a technology evangelist, I have decided to pursue other adventures. Details here.