AUGHT ONE

About us

Aught One was registered in June of 1999 by James Bykowski through Network Solutions. However, Aught One has been around much longer than the dawn of the .com era. James started his computer programming and development business sometime in the late 1970's. In the late 1980's or early 1990's James originally registered what was then aughtone.net through the NIC or Network Information Center with the contact email of aughtone@aol.com. In 1998 the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was formed. So in 1998 James moved his domain to Interland and shortly after in 1999 to Network Solutions as aughtone.com. Though this may all sound confusing and irrelevant by today's standards, the history and legacy of the domain James created is very relevant. Though James passed away in 2018, his domain aughtone.com remains, but not in the same format originally created. His heirs have decided to share James body of work and history as a computer programmer and web developer with you, so that you may gain insight as to how far the industry has come since then, and how far before it's time James work actually was. So with a new public facing site we wish to take you back in time, so you may gain understanding of how prevalent it is to recognize the early programmers such as James, whom without, the internet you enjoy today, may have never existed. Lets take a little trip back in time; shall we?

James Bykowski

Owner, Aught One
Born James Andrew Bykowski on February 16, 1947, James grew up in Illinois. In his younger years James worked in many fields from publishing to commercial photography. He briefly attended college at McHenry Community College, Northern Illinois University and Loyola University. He studied as well as instructed in the field of Radiological Defense and Biological Sciences. Apparently, not being challenged enough, James decided to enter computer programming and development as soon as computers were introduced beyond the realm of the government. He was completely self-taught.

The Birth of Aught One

In the early 1970's James joined the NIAUG or the Northern Illinois Apple Users Group. This group met each month to exchange and provide knowledge and support using the very first Apple computers. It was due to this collaboration that James developed Aught One, providing through his website tools and fixes for computer issues from not just Apple, but Mac, Lubuntu, Linux, Windows and early versions of Chrome. Make note to the left of James first business card with two things that just don't exist anymore. An AOL email address that required a codex in front of it, and a pager number. What else might James have done with his domain you might ask? Lets find out.

The Lab

The photo to the left shows James office, or as he called it, his lab. This is where he learned, and more importantly created. You will see that the book shelves are full with every book available in the early 1980's that dealt with computer programming. As I said; he truly was self taught. There are 11 computers visible in the photo with an OSCILLOSCOPE in the center. The oscilloscope was used to measure the voltage signals from that many computers to keep them all running safely. A far cry from just simply opening up a laptop, as we do today, each of these computer systems, tower and screen weighed an average of 72 lbs. In short, networking that many computers in the 80's was no simple task.
First stages of FDC
This article from 1987 gives reference to James creation of his first program, "Front Desk Commander" developed for his brother Ron at Century 21, noting that the work began four years earlier in 1983.
Version 5.5
This disk is the 5th revision, or updated program of FDC, denoting the end of the floppy disk era to the CDrom era.
Change of Venue
Though registered in June of 1999, this letter shows the official correspondence from Interland to the new Domain registrar Network Solutions in October of 1999.

Ahead of His Time

In 1983 when James developed "Front Desk Commander", as noted in the above 1987 article from the Northwest Herald, the program was the first of it's kind making Real Estate tracking and marketing a much simpler task for Real Estate agents throughout the Midwest. Moving them from the old Rolodex filing systems into the computer age. I will note however it was not the only program developed for that purpose, as everyone was leaning to the new computer age. James also developed a "Feed Lot" program for the Shamrock Beef Cattle of McHenry, Illinois sometime in 1999 or 2000. This allowed better tracking of feed times, feed allotments, and a diverse method of tracking cattle weights before going to market. James also developed in the early 1990's a complete graphic arts program for his own secondary business "Laser Print" in McHenry, Illinois. This program was further developed and enhanced for a Chicago graphic arts company. James also developed his own web site for Aught One of which we've included snapshots below from "the Way Back Machine" so you can see how much web sites have developed since the 1990's. He also fully developed the web site "Liquid Blues Bar.com" in 2001 for a Woodstock, Illinois business which still exists today. Through the years James also helped many friends, family and business associates with a complex array of computer issues.
This screen shot is from march 31, 2001 via "The Wayback Machine". It shows the simplicity of web page design from the 1990's as well as the complexity of informational links and downloads to common computer fixes of that era that Aught One provided for it's customers Make note that the copyright for the web site is noted at the bottom for 2000 with the last date the information was modified was October 25, 1999.
This page, as the one to the left, again shows the complexity of the formats provided by Aught One. Make note of the three downloads provided were last updated in August of 1987, and the file formats containing this information are also provided.

SYNOPSIS

So, that's it, albeit in a rather large nutshell so to speak. James Bykowski; a self taught computer programmer and web developer who was on the cutting edge of the age of the Internet. Concerning the programs James wrote, you should know he wrote his own code to develop them. He also created his own "Digital Ruler" to mainstream the speed and function of all his programs, which for that time period was almost unheard of. (That however is a trade secret.) The other thing James did which was very rare for it's time, was to fully integrate "Networking". Linking several computers to allow them to speak and communicate with each other. In regard to "Front Desk Commander" he linked multiple agent computers so that multiple agents could gain access and use the program simultaneously. Remember the mention of the Liquidbluesbar.com website? For that very same business James created a networking system, linking eight computers, thirty two cameras, as well as phones, registers and visual aides for the businesses customers.

Recognition

We've offered you a glimpse into the past. The reasons are twofold. The first is to show you how far the Internet has traveled and expanded in the short time span of forty years. The second is to bring recognition to the unknown programmers and developers of the Internet. Those such as James Bykowski, who though never worked for the big tech companies, bounded out on their own, to provide useful and pertinent programs and information to help guide the common person through the complex world of the Internet and computing. James is what is referred to as an "OG", or old gangster in computing. If you like what you've seen and possibly learned in our journey, let us know. You can contact us any time with the information below. Thank you for your time.

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