Throughout this web area and in my work and 'free time' activities I generally use two pseudonyms: Monicsoft and MoonSteer. In general, I use the Monicsoft name in technical contexts and the MoonSteer name in artistic contexts.
Radu Luchian is the name I should 'wear' in reality. My father's family (Luchian) fled Chishinãu just before the Russians took over Basarabia after WWII. During the Allied bombardments of Bucharest, all his documents were destroyed and they had to appeal to the freshly changed authorities in the Moldavian Republic for duplicates. The appeal followed bureaucratic channels to Moscow, and when the papers were sent over, the slavic possessive suffix, 'ov' was attached to the name. I'm in the process of rectifying that error, so for the time being I keep the (ov) after my surname. I have here a copy of a diploma of my Dad's with the right name on it.
Monicsoft (Mon Icarien Soft - French-English breed), came into existence in 1984 because I needed a working pseudonym for my first BASIC programs. All I had then in mind was flying (like Amelia Erhart), reading science-fiction, and how to make an electronic security system for my home. On the Romanian TV they were running a science popularization series; the main attraction was "Your Future House": a complete computerized home system. So I started researching on it... Some brochure whispered to me on a very convincing tone that people who want to learn about computers should start with BASIC. That I did... Got a thick book on the BASIC implementation for a Romanian Home Computer and started writing... GAMES. With cats and mice, with canons and "Invaders", imitating the video games I had seen in game halls... All on paper, with a pencil. No coding, no flow-chart or top-down design, NO COMPUTER. I got into highschool and that same year, the school purchased some Home Computers. And I got in the Computer Club. The professor asked me to implement my "games", and (with a few syntax changes) they worked! (more programming stuff here) The closest Monicsoft got to becoming official was when I finished highschool and decided to start a small business (Monicsoft C&L SRL) together with a friend and classmate (hi, Silviu!). We were offering consulting services and hardware and software solutions. Some LED-panels for ads, some wind-pressure sensors for the monitoring environmental data on some tall buildings, and the software to use them (Z80 Assembler drivers and Basic programs for the user interfaces. But then I went to AUBG and the firm dissolved... I'm about to start a new venture, offering Internet and Intranet services this time. More on that later :)
Moon Steer appeared in the Multiverse in 1994 while I was exploring the expanding Net and I stumbled over an RPG discussion list. There were some PBeM threads interwoven in 'serious' discussions, so I jumped in with my first player character, shaped from fresh impressions of Ursula K.LeGuin's Ged (wizard of Earthsea). Since then, it is my main RPG name, and I sign with it any literature I write or translate and any drawing, painting, photography and music I produce.
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