...what a trip down memory lane. I wrote a program like this in roundabout 2000 for my church when it needed one after replacing their overhead slide projector with a computer-based projector.<p>I was a high schooler back then. After that came 10 years of formal computer science education and another 12 years of a professional computer science career.<p>Ironically, out of all the software I wrote in those 22 years, this one might be the one that got the most use, as they held on to it for a very long time.<p>On one hand, it doesn't exactly speak to how stellar my career has been.<p>On the other, it shows how easy it was back then, compared to how hard it is now, to find profitable and unserved niche applications for computers. If I had dropped out of school and concentrated on improving and marketing my application back then, my career might have turned out very different. Lots of churches were rolling out computer-based projection screens for the first time back then, so there was a real market opportunity, and it was barely served by anyone.<p>When I graduated with a Ph.D. 10 years later, all that economic opportunity that motivated my getting into computer science in the first place was seemingly gone as I graduated right into a recession.<p>Today, I'd give my left nut to be able to carve out an existence reminiscent of a 90s-era indie software developer. Your choices today are pretty much limited to: (1) a pawn in digital platform serfdom (2) a support-function in a corporation (3) meat for the trivial innovation meat grinder.