1) In a 2004 article for ACM Queue magazine, I couldn't resist excerpting the software archaeology bit as a an introductory section:https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1039532 and of course, as an ancient Unix person, recognized the date.'

2) In 2007, I was Program Co-Chair for the Hot Chips conference, and got Vernor to give a keynote first day. We used keynotes for fun topics. (I had a connection via UC Berkeley Prof Kris Pister (smart dust), whose Dust Networks company I advised.) Second day, I took Vernor around the Computer History Museum in Mountain View for the morning to tour.

He said he was doing a sequel to Deepness in the Sky, about Pham & Anne's battle with the Emergents (obviously winning, given Fire Upon the Deep). Years later, I asked him what happened, as the sequel never appeared. He said it was too depressing(i.e., for those who thought Deepness dark, imagine the portrayal of the Emergents worlds.)