Software is a 1982 cyberpunk science fiction novel written by Rudy Rucker. It won the first Philip K. Dick Award in 1983. The novel is the first book in Rucker's Ware Tetralogy, and was followed by a sequel, Wetware, in 1988.
Plot summary
Software introduces Cobb Anderson as a retired computer scientist who was once tried for treason for figuring out how to give robots artificial intelligence and free will, creating the race of boppers. By 2020, they have created a complex society on the Moon, where the boppers developed because they depend on super-cooled superconducting circuits. In that year, Anderson is a pheezer — a freaky geezer, Rucker's depiction of elderly Baby Boomers — living in poverty in Florida and terrified because he lacks the money to buy a new artificial heart to replace his failing, secondhand one.
As the story begins, Anderson is approached by a robot duplicate of himself who invites him to the Moon to be given immortality. Meanwhile, the series' other main character, Sta-Hi Mooney the 1st — born Stanley Hilary Mooney Jr. — a 25-year-old cab driver and "brainsurfer", is kidnapped by a gang of serial killers known as the Little Kidders who almost eat his brain. When Anderson and Mooney travel to the Moon together at the boppers' expense, they find that these events are closely related: the "immortality" given to Anderson turns out to be having his mind transferred into software via the same brain-destroying technique used by the Little Kidders.
Software was a German electronic duo active between 1984 and 2000, comprising Peter Mergener (born 1951) and Michael Weisser (born 1948). Formerly the duo used the name Mergener&Weisser.
History
The group released their records under the IC (Innovative Communication) label, which also released a number of other electronic musicians, including Klaus Schulze and the Neue Deutsche Welle group Ideal.
From 1990 to 1992 Weisser produced, during a temporary break with Mergener, four albums under the Software name with a different group composition: Fragrance with Klaus Schulze and Georg Stettner (born 1970), and Modesty-Blaze I / II and Cave with Billy Byte (Stephan Töteberg).
After the dissolution of Software in 1999, the two musicians went their separate ways: Peter Mergener continues to compose and play electronic music, while Michael Weisser first founded the group G.E.N.E. (Grooving Electronic Natural Environments), and is currently, among other things, active as a media artist.
Software 2000 was a video game developer and publisher based in Germany.
The company was formed in 1987 in Eutin, Schleswig-Holstein, by brothers Andreas and Marc Wardenga. They produced and published games for various formats, originally the Atari ST and Amiga platforms, and later for the PC, Game Boy Color and a few titles for the PlayStation.
Perhaps their most successful venture was the Bundesliga Manager series, based on the German soccer premier league. They also produced a series of "Artventure" interactive fiction games, in the German language. In the mid-1990s they produced other spinoff manager games, including Eishockey Manager (Ice Hockey Manager) and the Pizza Syndicate series for the PC. They also developed the puzzle game Swing, released for the PlayStation in 1998.
The company produced several titles with small development teams. This proved fatal with the rising standards of full priced games. With falling sales and important figures leaving the company, Software 2000 filed for bankruptcy in 2002.
Visions is the second studio album of progressive metal band Haken. The album was released mostly for the attention of people at ProgPower USA on 17 September 2011, with an official release date set for 24 October 2011.
Track listing
All lyrics written by Ross Jennings, all music composed by Richard Henshall, except where noted.
Reception
Visions received high praise from Sea of Tranquility webzine. It was described as "a staggeringly brilliant example of progressive metal" by Pete Pardo and "probably the final progressive masterpiece of 2011" by Murat Batmaz.
Personnel
Notes
Visions is a progressive rock album by Clearlight, released in 1978 on Celluloid / LTM Records in France. (LTM Records is specified on the cover, but the label says Celluloid Records.)
Clearlight's final album set off in yet another new direction: while previous albums incorporated a new age element blended with other styles, this one is primarily a new age album, reflecting the emergence of new age music as a popular genre. The album is mostly instrumental, but has one song with lyrics and another with spoken word, both in French. Indian instruments such as sitar and tablas are prominent. "Fullmoon Raga" expands upon musical themes from "Master Builder" from Gong's You album, blending Indian music with rock music. The album also incorporates Clearlight's usual psychedelic jazz fusion jamming.
This edition of Clearlight played only one concert (the first since its UK tour in late 1975), at the Olympia in Paris on April 8, 1978, with a variation of the album's line-up: Verdeaux, Malherbe, Lockwood, Mandin, Melkonian and Bouladoux plus Jean-Michel Kajdan (guitar) and Mico Nissim (keyboards). It was badly attended, putting a premature end to the project. This would be the last manifestation of Clearlight until a one-off performance in 1988.
Visions of Dennis Brown (also known as Visions) is a 1978 reggae album by Dennis Brown.
Recording
The album was the first to come out of Brown's second stint with producer Joe Gibbs, with whom he would have his breakthrough international success, and the album played a major part in establishing the dominant position of both Brown and Gibbs in late 1970s reggae. The album mixes roots reggae themes such as economic hardship, African oppression, religion, and politics, with lovers rock material ("Love Me Always") and a cover version of Ray Charles' "This Little Girl of Mine". The album was engineered by Errol Thompson and features veteran musicians Bobby Ellis (trumpet), Vin Gordon (trombone), Herman Marquis (alto saxophone), and Tommy McCook (tenor saxophone).
Release history
The album was originally released in 1978 on the Lightning, Laser, and Joe Gibbs labels. It was reissued on JGML in 1980 and issued for the first time on compact disc in 1989 by Shanachie Records. It was reissued in expanded form in 2006 on the Joe Gibbs Europe label, and reissued again in 2007 on the VP Records subsidiary 17 North Parade.