Interview
Handle: Tiger / Spreadpoint - Homepage
How did you come up with your alias ?
Well, long before i got in contact with my first computer, i already got this nickname from some friends which i used to hang around in the local bars with. I told every female barkeeper the stupid joke about the tiger's tale. Ya don't know it ? ok, here it is :
- Me: : how long is a normal tiger's tale ??
- Girlies Answer : about 1 meter
- Me: : Call me Tiger
Stupid ?? You asked for it ...
City / Country:
Heinsberg / Germany (Remember the RADWAR paddys ?? )
Born year:
1966 (i was always too old, only IRATA is older , ;-) )
What was your first computer, and when did you get it?
Short version: In 1985 i got my C64
For the big version: check my BOoom Page for it !
How did you get into the scene and what groups have you been a member of ?
Hard to say, i suddenly was in , like most of us. I met some ppl here and there, started swapping games, got more contacts and so on ...
On the C64 i've been a member of the biggest scenegroup :
INDEPENDENT (is it still the biggest ??)
After i got my Amiga 1000 in january 87 i joined a little swapping group called Odie 41 Crew and became member of a mailwriter (not mailtrader) group called ROTTR (Raiders Of The Thin Rips)
and finally i got good friends in SPREADPOINT which i joined in 1991 after a longer time of being associated with.
So, since 1991 i'm in SPREADPOINT and will stay with this cool guys until i will be burried next to my amiga ...
During my scene time i was a swapper, mailtrader, mailwriter, modemtrader, sysop, cosysop, supplier and party organizer.
What was the proudest moment in your career ?
Proud ??? I don't even know why i received this questionnaire ....
But as i am filling out this sheet, i would say it could have been the moment when i got back my full computer equipment from the police (with 2 gbyte of pirated copies !!! still !!! on it)
After the cops busted my BBS, it took me only 3 weeks of negotiation, preparing some fake tapes, patching the backup software etc, bringing all the prepared stuff with me to the hearing , and i cheated them like hell, smile.
(70 german scene ppl got busted that day, broadcasted on tv. some of the busted ppl are still waiting for their equipment)
And the other proud moment was when THE RAINBOW PARTY was such a success where RADWAR and SPREADPOINT did all the work.
It was great to see all the old swapping friends and the new friends from so many phone conferences, bbs calls and partyline chats together in perfect party harmony.
For what specific reason(s) do you think that you are remembered ?
As i already said, i don't know who was the fool who mentioned me to Zike!, he must have mistaken me for someone else ...
What would you like to be remembered for ?
Just for being a very little part of the first worldwide computer underground.
for being loyal to my friends and for all the pizza i prepared for our user-copy-meetings ...
and maybe for my jokes ... i was never too serious about anything ;-)
What made you stop the scene activity ? (and do you remember when?)
After my bust in 1994. In this 3 weeks i got to know it is hard to live without my computer, but also it was pretty new for me to sleep a whole night through, without getting called to release/spread something or just calling for fun. I enjoyed it ... And as BB died anyways ... well, not really but it was a pain sitting 1 hour at the dialer until you got a connection, coz of the fucking filters ... CC was never my business. Phone Conferences wasn't held anymore ... So i stopped it and closed The Armoury BBS.
But i kept in touch with the scene ... Real pirates never quit ... how true ...
Thinking back on the good old days, is there anything you regret?
Hmm, only that i never met KIMBLE, i would have cut his balls off. and that i never kept a logbook of my activities, so i could answer this questions easier ...
What was your favorite
GAME(S)
On C64:All time #1: The Way Of The Exploding Fist, IK +, Elite, Green Beret, Commando, Rambo, Lightforce, M.U.L.E, Decathlon, Track and Field
On Amiga: Defender of the Crown, Dungeon Master, Firepower, Archon II, Battle Isle, Vikings, Warlords AD&D, Dune II,
DEMO(S)
Radwar Helicopter Intro and all the Textwriter Scrollers Spreadpoint's KNACK ... coz it's too funny and very short !
I know: It is a shame, i never watched one longer than a minute .... Sorry Democoders, you may do a quite good job, but at least others with more coding knowledge really care ...
CRACKER(S) (OR CRACKING GROUP(S))
as i never learned to crack, just some reset cracking on c64 :
ALL of the guys who did it for us earn my respect !
thanx folks !!
Just some dudes i remember :
on C64 : Mr.Zeropage, Gollum, Janitor
on Amiga: Nomad, Mnemotron, Kontrasoft(WOW) (for the only working ELITE Crack i ever got)
OVERALL GROUPS :
We are all members of the same group called : SCENE
COMPOSER(S)
Rub Hubbard and Martin Galway, Chris Huelsbeck
BEST COMPOSED TRACK(S)
The way of the exploding fist, Green Beret, Commando, Thing on a spring, The last Ninja II, Turrican
BEST GRAPHICS
AngelDawn (thanx for the SP Logo mate)
EVENT(S) (E.G. COPYPARTY)
THE RAINBOW PARTY 1994
all the copyparties in germany/netherlands/belgium i've been to all the usermeetings/copyparties i've held from 1986 to 1994
MEMORY(S)
When i went to the supermarket in january 1985 to purchase a VC 20 and the salesman laughed into my face while saying: This machine is no longer produced ...take a C64 !!
when i encountered the sca virus the first time on my amiga and reset the amiga to get rid of it ... ;-()
when i sent my first BB trunk into the phoneline i was so nervoes that i hung up the phone before i dialed the BBS number
DRINK ?
Coke , what else
What are you doing nowadays ?
working as an armourer and logistics specialist
What are you doing on your spare time?
- collecting everything about startrek
- watching every series of startrek on tv daily
- playing paintball (member of the gotcha turtles)
- watching movies in english language,
- spending my vacation in the usa every year ... (last year i even got married in Las Vegas)
And on computer :
- irritating lame FIDO NET bourgeois, with my scene language
- playing strategy games
- running old games on the c64 emulator for PC
- raytracing with Lightwave 5.0 on my P200,
- learning HMTL and working on my Homepage ... poooh, what a work ....
Hey, why don't you check it : http://warthole.rz-berlin.mpg.de/~tiger
Is there anything you'd like to say to the public (read: admires)
We did it right !
Always remember that we had the honor to be a part of ... or better wrote ... computer history.
Some would call us gangsters ... but : Nobody who hasn't been with us at that time will ever understand what we are talking about ... who carez ...
We had a very special kind of fun , sometimes it was a quite good competition but mostly fair, keep this in mind forever, it will never return ...
Try to stay in contact with your old scene friends ... if it is just to say : hello
Greetings to all the ppl i met during the years !!
live long and prosper, folks
And last but not least :
Kimble ! : if i ever meet you, i cut your balls off !!!!
What is the meaning of life?
live fast - die young
no risk - no fun