Sid Lives! The Sowder Utility Homepage

The SSowder utils (later called the Sowder utils) is a VMS utility package used by thousands at Indiana University from 1991 to present. Written by Sid Sowder and a small group of other hackers, crackers, and lackeys, the often-imitated package has been maintained and modified over the years by others, and still runs on IU's last remaining VMS machine.

Thousands ran and loved the SSowder utilities, and many others, including all of IU's administration and UCS's management hated the package with a vengence. There were many scandals and controversies along the way. As the saga unfolded over the years, thousands and thousands of lives were somewhow touched by this collection of scripts and executables, until the demise of the VMS cluster and the rise of error-prone Windows machines with clunky Microsoft software tore apart this tightly-knit community.

This page is a tribute to the SSowder utilities, to the people who wrote, developed, and administered everything and to the people who used it. Read about its history, learn what happened to its authors, and maybe even download some code for that VAX 6400 you've got gathering dust in the kitchen.

Select one of the following:

What was it? - A brief explanation of the utils
CREDITS.TXT - The file from the util telling of its history, by Sid Sowder and Jeff Morris.
The Machines - A brief overview of IU's computing environment
The History - The complete history of the utils, by Jon Konrath
Where are they now? - What happened to the key players
Essays - Essays from those who knew and loved (or hated) the utils - Coming soon!
Archives - Mail messages and other text having to do with the utils or authors
Source code The ugliest DCL you'll ever see

Please email any suggestions, corrections, stories, or further info. Thanks!

Last Updated: 3/23/99