Profile for Will!

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Email: Private ICQ: AOL: Yahoo:	Username: Will! Realname: William Wetherell About me: Homepage: Face/Logo: Comments posted: 35 (show all)

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On Why so much infighting?:

It's been pointed out to me that of course at the time of the incident with Castle and the GPL Peter Wild was not involved in the management of Castle/Tematic. Apologies to Peter Wild. Will! on 6/7/06 8:54PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

On Why so much infighting?:

"Considering ROL and Castle are businesses, it's suprising how unbusinesslike the behaviour of their managers sometimes is. One example would be Paul Middleton not bothering to hire a solicitor specialising in contract law when drawing up ROL's licensing agreement with Pace or later on when ROL were initially in dispute with Castle because he thought he was smart enough not to need one." Paul Middleton has requested that I apologise for this and I am happy to do so. Will! on 5/7/06 2:05PM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

On Why so much infighting?:

markee174: "Hindsight is always a wonderful thing...." And you can't make progress if you don't understand what's gone before. "We need positive ideas to go forward, not endless bickering on who is to blaim for where we are." Many have previously been offered, I've explained why they won't be accepted. "Given that ROL, Castle (and indeed Qercus and lots of others) depend on the RISCOS market for their livelihood at least in part, they all have a vested in terest in its survival are presumably trying to ensure that in their own way." As I said, you have to understand the motivations of ROL and Castle. Will! on 3/7/06 11:00AM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

On Why so much infighting?:

nw: "How does Will! know that Peter Wild thought no one would notice if the GPL was violated?" A little penguin told me. In reply to VirtualAcorn: "RISCOS Ltd's head licence was negotiated with Acorn/E14, before Pace acquired their rights to RISC OS." My mistake, it momentarily slipped my mind. Will! on 3/7/06 10:45AM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

On Why so much infighting?:

To understand the rift between RISC OS Ltd and Castle you have to understand the motivations and personalities of the individuals involved. In his book 'Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition and Still Can't Get a Date' [link] (well worth a read), Robert X Cringely writes about the how the pioneers of personal computing (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Nolan Bushnell at Atari etc) were driven by a need to have absolute control of their respective platforms. In much the same way, there are people at ROL and Castle to whom it is very important to be at the centre of the RISC OS universe, regardless of how small that universe actually is. To them the RISC OS codebase is an immensely valuable asset and to share any part of it is unthinkable. Considering ROL and Castle are businesses, it's suprising how unbusinesslike the behaviour of their managers sometimes is. One example would be Paul Middleton not bothering to hire a solicitor specialising in contract law when drawing up ROL's licensing agreement with Pace or later on when ROL were initially in dispute with Castle because he thought he was smart enough not to need one. Another would be Peter Wild's belief that no-one would notice if Castle violated the GPL. Understanding this, it is very unlikely that ROL and Castle will ever be able to co-operate, even if it is what their users want (which it is) and their survival depends on it (which it does). Will! on 2/7/06 12:14AM [ Reply | Permalink | Report ]

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