Thomas Canfield
After all of our upheaval during the summer, we at ACS were glad to get the new computer set up by Rique Pottenger. The computer was shipped to Molly’s new home in the middle of September. We had no problem in setting it up and preparing charts and reports. After the miscommunication with Mercury Retrograde and its shadow period, we felt our problems were over with the new system. What we did not count on was the interference of a Mars-Pluto square.
This was no ordinary Mars-Pluto square. The Moon had just entered Scorpio and was conjunct Mars, adding an emotional element to the square. Neptune was sextile Uranus, and both of them were quincunx the Moon and Mars, adding a Yod or Finger of God poke to the conjunction and the square. The Libra Sun was trine Pluto, Uranus was trine Pluto, and Neptune was sextile Pluto, easing up on the dark energy. However, with Pluto activated we could expect a blast from the past.
When I started the Chent (Chart Entry) program that morning, I ran into a series of error messages, and I could not get the program to open. I copied down the error messages, and sent them by e-mail to Rique Pottenger. I called him later to find out about the messages. It turned out, the program was being blocked by a lack of a Pervasive Licensing Agreement. This was a system that was set up more than 30 years ago, and the key enabled private software to work with Linux, Windows, and other operating systems.
When ACS moved to Epping, New Hampshire in 2008, we had the computers from the San Diego office, and the Pervasive Licensing Agreement was still on them. Even when the Epping offices closed down, and the computers were moved to Molly’s house, the Pervasive License was still operating. However, when the motherboard got fried on July 10, the Pervasive License got fried with the rest of the ACS programs. When Rique Pottenger installed old ACS software into the new computer, there was a temporary Pervasive License in the program which lasted about a month. The license expired just as the Moon was conjunct Mars, at the focal point of a Yod, and squaring Pluto. Fortunately, the conjunction/square was not entirely negative. Mercury was conjunct the Libra Ascendant of the chart, and with Mercury Rising we had a lot of brain power helping us. Also, Venus was in a wide sextile to the Moon and Mars, and that helped in good feelings for solving the problem. The Libra Sun was trine Uranus in Gemini and Pluto in Aquarius, and the Grand Trine in Air was hopeful for an intellectual project.
Fortunately, the company that sold the Pervasive Licensing Agreement thirty years ago was still in business. Unfortunately, they had no record of ACS purchasing the agreement thirty years ago, Over the years, ACS had thrown away a lot of documents from the San Diego years. So, we had no record of the purchase. (At a time like this, something good can be said about hoarding.) We had to get a new licensing agreement as if we were new customers.
I began a chat with an operative in Canada, and then I made a phone call to a tech guy in Texas. The Texas tech guy began describing the kind of licensing agreement we needed. I had Rique Pottenger give him a call, and Rique was able to determine that this was the kind of software we needed to operate Chent. Also, the Texan tech guy gave us a temporary license so that our computer could continue running orders for two weeks.
Then the Canadian operative switched me over to a Georgia operative, and she directed me to a partnering company that was selling the licensing agreements. She suggested that we should get a comprehensive plan that would cover all maintenance, and that would cost about $5000! I immediately went into my Redd Foxx heart attack routine. (“This is the big one. I’m coming Elizabeth!”) I asked her about a cheaper one-user program which would fit our new computer. At least that program would only cost $290.00, thereby preventing any financial heart attacks. The Georgia operative agreed that the cheaper program would work with our computer. I checked with Rique Pottenger that this was a suitable program for Chent. He said it was the same as the program the Texas tech guy allowed him to sample-test. So, we knew we were set to go with the product.
We should be good to go on October 10 with the new license. On that day, the Moon will be conjunct Uranus in Gemini, sextile Neptune, and trine Pluto. We are hoping for a quiet technological event that will not be like the upheavals of the Summer. However, one never knows if another cursed license may be lurking in the software of another computer, waiting to make demands of more payment and updates, thereby bringing ruin to the budgeting and expectations of the computer users. For such licenses, we give the quote of Edgar Allen Poe’s Raven, “NEVERMORE!”
