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Thus spake the master programmer:
``Without the wind, the grass does not move. Without software, hardware is
useless.''
8.1
A novice asked the master: ``I perceive that one computer company is much
larger than all others. It towers above its competition like a giant among
dwarfs. Any one of its divisions could comprise an entire business. Why is this
so?''
The master replied, ``Why do you ask such foolish questions? That company is
large because it is large. If it only made hardware, nobody would buy it. If it
only made software, nobody would use it. If it only maintained systems, people
would treat it like a servant. But because it combines all of these things,
people think it one of the gods! By not seeking to strive, it conquers without
effort.''
8.2
A master programmer passed a novice programmer one day. The master noted the
novice's preoccupation with a hand-held computer game. ``Excuse me,'' he said,
``may I examine it?''
The novice bolted to attention and handed the device to the master. ``I see
that the device claims to have three levels of play: Easy, Medium, and Hard,''
said the master. ``Yet every such device has another level of play, where the
device seeks not to conquer the human, nor to be conquered by the human.''
``Pray, great master,'' implored the novice, ``how does one find this
mysterious setting?''
The master dropped the device to the ground and crushed it underfoot. And
suddenly the novice was enlightened.
8.3
There was once a programmer who worked upon microprocessors. ``Look at how well
off I am here,'' he said to a mainframe programmer who came to visit, ``I have
my own operating system and file storage device. I do not have to share my
resources with anyone. The software is self- consistent and easy-to-use. Why do
you not quit your present job and join me here?''
The mainframe programmer then began to describe his system to his friend,
saying ``The mainframe sits like an ancient sage meditating in the midst of the
data center. Its disk drives lie end-to-end like a great ocean of machinery.
The software is as multifaceted as a diamond, and as convoluted as a primeval
jungle. The programs, each unique, move through the system like a swift-flowing
river. That is why I am happy where I am.''
The microcomputer programmer, upon hearing this, fell silent. But the two
programmers remained friends until the end of their days.
8.4
Hardware met Software on the road to Changtse. Software said: ``You are Yin and
I am Yang. If we travel together we will become famous and earn vast sums of
money.'' And so the set forth together, thinking to conquer the world.
Presently they met Firmware, who was dressed in tattered rags and hobbled along
propped on a thorny stick. Firmware said to them: ``The Tao lies beyond Yin and
Yang. It is silent and still as a pool of water. It does not seek fame,
therefore nobody knows its presence. It does not seek fortune, for it is
complete within itself. It exists beyond space and time.''
Software and Hardware, ashamed, returned to their homes.