Hello everybody,

Everyone has kept in mind the sad announcement Staz made several months
ago. I say sad because I felt sad at that moment. According to the
numerous,great and sometimes moving posts that filled my mail box just a
couple of hours later I knew I was not alone and this very sadness
became suddenly a strength. I just added my shy mee too to the concert
of helping voices. I remember that I wrote in one of my posts trying to
make a joke: "FB is still unknown in France, is it a bug or an hidden
feature?"
You know what? This gave me a clue to figure out how I could try to help
Staz's endeavor.
I asked Chris if I could become a distributor of FB in France. I thought
that putting FB under the spotlights of the French press would bring new
customers, thus more cash to Staz. Of course, I had a bunch of
hesitations. First, I'm not an expert programmer (I love FB because it
makes me feel like I am one of them), second you can notice that my
English spoken is somewhat broken. I can read English but I'm sure you
have no idea on how much time I must take to write the sentence you are
finishing to read right now (and I dare not mention speaking), last but
not least, Pix & Mix is such a tiny company that you would need a
magnifing glass just to see that it is indeed a company. As a matter of
fact, I was not really sure that my proposition was the best thing that
did ever happen to FB.
Anyway, this is a reality since a few months as you may already know if
you have read the post Jonathan (yet another great guy of this list)
sent a few days ago.
I would like to take the opportunity to thank pubicly here Jay Reeve a
fabulous folk that inconditionnaly supported me, even in my worst
moments, providing me invaluable help and advices. THANK YOU Jay.
In fact, all of this I didn't want to say earlier until I have something
new to tell. Well, now time has come. Today, SVM Mac (one of the two
French magazines devoted to Macintosh) has reviewed FB. It is a very
short article on a whole page with a screenshot. Perhaps, for Americans
this is not worth mentioning, but here, in France it is the first time
that it occurs. For us, it is almost a new birth. Let me tell you that a
few months ago no one knew even FB by name at Apple France, considering
that the Mac had its best european sales in France (at least at the
beginning) this will give you an overview of the state of art around
here.
Like Jonathan, I would love to see FB II still alive after FB^3's
release. I was a bit upset when I read Frank Tuvorich telling us that
maybe it is too late for FB, because every word that this guy may say
have a relevant weight. I certainly could not handle a discussion with
him on that topic, but (I'm not sure to say something clever here),
until I have fun with it, until I can learn with it and until I can do
something useful with it, FB won't be in late and I bet there are many
unknown folks who are waiting outdoor to step inside.
For sure, I don't know if all this will grow, maybe it won't, but I
believe that I'm doing something for all of us trying to make the world
just a little better. Perhaps, my experience will bring some new ideas
to others, one never knows.
Sorry for this off topic post, but I think you are the only ones I can
share my excitement with.

Cheers

Alain