This reminds me of this...
The Story of the CISC King and Appendix H -- by Robert R. Collins
In the beginning there was the CISC King and a pile of sand. The pile of sand was formless and empty. And the CISC King hovered over the pile of sand and saw that it was good. The CISC King saw that it was good, and thus ended the first day.
And the CISC King said "Let there be a huge expanse between our kingdom and the kingdoms of our competitors." So the CISC King created the expanse and raised itself above all other kingdoms. His kingdom was to be the only kingdom, and all others would be made into martyrs. The CISC King saw that this was good, and thus ended the second day.
And the CISC King said "Let me separate the pile of sand into transistors." And it was so that the CISC King separated the pile of sand into transistors. The CISC King said "Let the pile of sand produce offspring and bear fruit unto the land." So the pile of sand began to produce offspring and thus was born many generations of this pile of sand. The CISC King saw that this was good, and thus ended the third day.
And the CISC King said "Let us separate the different piles of sand by generations, and categorize them as numbers." And the CISC King began to separate the piles of sand by generation, calling all newer generations by higher numbers, and all lower generations by lower numbers. The CISC King found that he could not do this work alone, and he asked the other kingdoms if they could help separate the piles of sand by generation. Like usual, the CISC King was pleased with his work, and thus ended the fourth day.
And the CISC King saw that letting other kingdoms help separate the piles of sand might threaten his future kingdom. So the CISC King said "Let us withhold information from the other kingdoms so they can no longer help separate the piles of sand into future generations." Then the CISC King went to war with the other kingdoms to prevent them from separating the piles of sand into future generations. Thus ended the fifth day (the CISC King was happier with himself than at any other time).
While the war was raging between the kingdoms, the CISC King said to himself, "I shall create even mightier and more powerful things out of this pile of sand. It shall contain one-and-many zeros of transistors and shall be made to do many wonderful things. I shall call it Pentagram and it shall be formed in my likeness." So the CISC King said to his subjects, "Go and create me a book, and we shall call it a Design Specification." The CISC King created the book, and distributed it to those calling themselves his trusted and loyal court jesters. Those who had been given the book saw that it was good, and they were pleased.
They said to the CISC King "it is good that you give us this book. It will make our lives more productive." Shortly thereafter, the CISC King gave these subjects a newer book which he called "revision two." But it wasn't until revision three that his trusted subjects were pleased with the book's contents. They said to the CISC King "it is good that you gave us this information. In the past, you withheld this from us, so we are pleased with your new book." The CISC King said "yea, this is a wonderful day, I am pleased with myself." Thus ended the sixth day.
Now most kingdoms take the seventh day to rest, but not the CISC King's kingdom. All of his subjects and advisors always work on the seventh day. So on the seventh day, the serpent came to the CISC King masquerading as one of his trusted lawyers, and said "you shall not give your subjects as much information as is contained in revision three. They could use it, and become as powerful as we are." Because the CISC King was unholy by working on the seventh day, he believed the serpent. And the CISC King decided to take back all of revision three, and created two new books: revision four, and Appendix H. Revision four was weak and narrow minded and would be distributed to all of the king's subjects. Appendix H was broad and powerful but required its recipients to worship the CISC King for fifteen years. Some of the kings subjects rebelled and refused to worship the CISC King. Many bent over in worship and remain there to this day. Others rebelled, but bent over in worship, as their livelihood depended upon the CISC King.
The CISC King's workers did a poor job creating Appendix H from revision three. They accidentally forgot to remove scores of references to the forbidden knowledge of the pile of sand. Many of the CISC King's subjects scoffed at his vein attempt to hide information. Others justified the CISC King's actions and remained bent over in worship. When the Pentagram was finished, the CISC King saw that it was created in his likeness, and he was pleased.
As word spread of the CISC King's actions, his subjects were disturbed that they couldn't learn of all of the Pentagram's behavior. The CISC King said "I will not withhold the information from those who need it. I only require them to bend over in worship for fifteen years." As complaints of the CISC King's actions began to spread, the CISC King said "I will not withhold the information from those who need it." And the CISC King told his subjects that compiler writers, and BIOS programmers were the only people who needed it. Many people screamed at the CISC King, and said " I want to make my programs run faster, give me the information." The CISC King said "No, you are not a compiler writer or BIOS programmer, you don't need it." Now it was obvious that the CISC King was under the influence of the serpent and his spell. But the CISC King couldn't break the spell of the serpent, as he was too powerful.
Now, the CISC King wasn't telling the truth about whom he gave Appendix H. The CISC King said BIOS programmers would never be withheld from receiving the Appendix H. But one BIOS programmer tried many times to get the CISC King to give him Appendix H, but the CISC King refused. At first, the CISC King agreed, but then the serpent spoke to the CISC King, and forced the CISC King to go back on his word. None of the CISC King's other subjects knew the CISC King was lying about Appendix H, because the CISC King was powerful and could cover up his lies. If the other subjects had known about the CISC King's lies, they could have organized themselves, and brought war against the CISC King for anti-competitive practices. But the CISC King was too powerful, and with the aid of the serpent, could promote any false story; and it would become known as the truth.
Then one day, in the eastern city of Bar-Chemnitz, a savior was born. The savior said he was a Christian, and would wage a war against the CISC King and his serpent for hiding Appendix H. The savior began to write and tell all of the King's subjects about Appendix H. And the CISC King fought back. The CISC King brought the serpent to the town square where the savior was parading his knowledge. The serpent told the people in the square if they would follow the CISC King, he would give them knowledge about new generations of piles of sand before any of the other people in the surrounding towns. All the townspeople had to do, was to prohibit the Savior from coming into the town square to tell all of the people of his great knowledge. The people in this town listened to the serpent, and agreed that what he said was good. So the people followed the CISC King, and rejected the Savior.
So the savior went to another city that had much greater wealth than Bar-Chemnitz. The new city was known world-wide and could influence as many people as the CISC King. The new city was known as "Internet." The savior began to tell his story to the people of Internet; and the people listened. He began to tell them of his knowledge and all that the CISC King was hiding in Appendix H. The CISC King grew furious, but realized that the people of Internet were a powerful people. The CISC King consulted with his serpent. The serpent told him to release all of the information in Appendix H, that the savior had already disclosed. The serpent told the CISC King that his subjects were dumb, and wouldn't realize that he was reacting to the Savior's message. The serpent told the CISC King that he could still keep his 4M pages and VME a secret, as all of the king's subjects were too dumb to figure them out.
But many of the CISC King's subjects began to follow the Savior. They had grown tired and weary of the CISC King's lies and believed that this was the Savior who was foretold in the beginning. Some who had been bent over in worship realized they could break loose from the CISC King and follow the Savior.
The Savior learned about many people who were just like him, and had great knowledge of Appendix H. The Savior choose these people as his disciples, and they followed him to Internet. The Savior's disciples erected distribution sites in Internet, and linked themselves like a spider's web. One such site dedicated itself to disclosing secrets of the CISC King, and could be found at the corner of
http://www.x86.org and
ftp://ftp.x86.org [and another one, you are actually visiting]. The CISC King sent his spies to watch these distribution sites and report to him all of their actions. But the disciples were undaunted by the evil actions of the CISC King.
The disciples started investigating Appendix H to see how much information the CISC King was still hiding. One disciple concentrated on 4M pages, and the another disciple on VME. The disciple investigating 4M pages discovered that it was completely documented in another one of the CISC King's books. This book told the story about an unrelated pile of sand which was named by a completely different set of numbers. The people who played with this pile of sand didn't need to bend over in worship for fifteen years to be told the secrets of 4M pages. The CISC King gave the information freely to these people. Then this disciple wondered why the CISC King would require some subjects to bend over in worship for fifteen years to be told of 4M pages, when the people who played in a different pile of sand could read about it freely. Then this disciple realized that the CISC King was getting bad advise from the serpent. But the King's subjects pretty dumb, and didn't know where to look to learn of 4M pages without bending over for the CISC King.
The other disciple who was investigating VME made remarkable progress. He was under tremendous pressure. The CISC King was threatening to tell everybody about 4M pages and VME when he spawned a new generation from his piles of sand. But the disciples wanted to tell the King's subjects about these secrets before the King did. So they told the people of Internet that they were going to disclose all of the secrets of Appendix H as a war trophy, demonstrating their defeat of the CISC King. The people of Internet were thankful to the Savior and his disciples. So on a specified date at a specified time, the Savior and his disciples disclosed all of the secrets of Appendix H. Good had triumphed over evil -- the weak over the strong. But the CISC King didn't learn, and continued to be influenced by the serpent, all the days of his life. Eventually the CISC King died, and was laid to rest whence he came, in a large pile of sand.
The End.
