• Donger (unregistered) in reply to rob_squared

    You never forget your first Digital Donkey show.

  • Achille (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous Reader

    Anonymous:
    It's becoming increasingly apparently that the "donkey" is a metaphor(perhaps a joke used within the company to ridicule the idea of the S*mIndiana/Digital Divide venture?). (I'll accept that you can't admit that publicly, and even that you'll explicitly deny it, but still, I'm going to have to assume it is true: it makes sense, and the converse does not. (Tying expensive equipment to a donkey to introduce a product to remote parts of India(which would be, coincidentally, quite accessible to human employees, and human employees are neither hard to get nor expensive to employ in India, as I'm sure many of you know) is more far-fetched by several orders of magnitude than creating an Office killer using VB. (One is something you could potentially convince someone completely clueless about programming about, the other is not.) I apologize for the impoliteness of just assuming that you're lying and ignoring anything you may claim to the contrary, but it really seems like the sensible option here.) I just want to take this opportunity, on behalf of what I expect is a sizeable part of the readership of this blog, to say that I do not appreciate being told lies as entertainment. I might have bought a T-shirt or a cup or something with something less outrageous as the motive, but I certainly won't buy this knowing that the joke is probably just that -- a joke. (It's not really a funny conversation point if you know it just refers to a joke someone made on a website.) I don't always read the comments on these stories(I expect many readers never do at all); there's a chance I could've read this little piece of science fiction and assumed it to be "strange but true" because I believed this to be a credible site. Some commenters here still seem to take this conclusion seriously. I believe you said at the start of the story that you had worked closely with the submitter to preserve the integrity of the story. You seem to have done the opposite. Much of the humour I used to glean from thedailywtf.com came from knowing that the stories were actually true(though occasionally brutalized by anonymization): as a generic joke site, it would be far less funny. The entire concept of this site assumes that we, the readers, can trust you, the writer, to believe that which you write to be true. Please do something to recover your credibility after this. I appreciate that you won't be able to admit that this story in particular was false, but in lieu of actually admitting that you've lied, you can recover credibility by being trustworthy in the future; giving us WTFs that include code and are anonymized only where it's strictly necessary. Do not ever do this again. If you get your hands on a story that you can't tell for legal reasons, do not tell it as an outrageous joke metaphor. (If you feel a moral obligation to tell these stories anyway, one possible option could be to start a sister site which allows everyone to submit stories anonymously, sorting by quality determined by voting consensus. When you've got a story you need to tell which you can't tell because you fear being sued, you can submit it anonymously on your own site. I assume that a disclaimer could take care of the legal problems here(the submitter could probably theoretically be sued, but of course no logs would be kept). This could also be handy for code snippets that can't be easily anonymized.)

    Amen. I second that. If thedailywtf.com becomes thedailycomputerjoke.com I would loose interest as well.

  • (cs) in reply to Anonymous Reader

    Anonymous:
    That was fairly long-winded and this forum software seems to be... quirky, so I'll post it again formatted for your reading pleasure:

    You forgot the obligatory "The real WTF is the forum software", but maybe you haven't been around since it actually was. ;)

     

    I think it's a cute way to end the story on a merchandisable point. =p After all, it wasn't too long ago when some businesses thought putting satellite dishes on cars was a great idea. (And that rickshaw thing.) The really funny bit was that a company completely unrelated to SimDesk, ThinkFree, also fit a good chunk of the description, and I hope for LA's sake it isn't vaporware. (From http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/70937/index.html )

  • Michael (unregistered)

    We need to tap into unreached markets! So lets take a rabbit and attach....<p>


    no No NO NO!<br>
    Take a microbe and attach...<p>

    Fastforward<p>

    ...<p>


    ...<p>

    lets take a photo copy, put it onto a wooden table...<p>

    Capcha Leet (1337)

  • Antitorgo (unregistered) in reply to Achille

    Donkeys: http://www.ifla.org/V/press/pr0225-02.htm

    Camels: http://www.ifla.org/V/press/pr0228-02.htm

    Motorbikes: http://www.govtech.net/digitalcommunities/story.php?id=99649

    It actually makes some sort of bizarre sense to me in this context though. Of course, I'd think that Google's offering would be better than Virtudyne's.

     

  • (cs) in reply to Digitalbath

    Digitalbath:
    At least the idea wasn't the "HTTP Hippo."  Although that would add more body surface to strap stuff on, then they would have had to water proof everything.  Oh yeah, and probably deal with lawsuits when a hippo ate an end user.

    I know you are kidding but... hippos are herbivores. Of course the fact that it doesn't plan to eat you doesn't really matter much when an angry hippo runs you through with its one and a half feet long tusks.
     

  • (cs) in reply to ssprencel

    Anonymous:
    Right, no technical intelligence outside of Austin. . .because NASA isn't technical at all!

    NASA? Those who can't even get insulation right? Challenger, Discovery? The ones who introduced the Space Shuttle which ironically turned out to be a huge money sink?

    Yes, NASA has some achievements to show for but I certainly wouldn't call it a beacon of technical competence.
     

  • (cs) in reply to Pap

    Pap:
    Oh, speaking of WTFs, did you guys know that gullible isn't in the dictionary?

    Indeed. I looked it up in my German-Japanese dictionary, and there's no mention of "gullible".

  • (cs) in reply to Disgruntled DBA
    Disgruntled DBA:
    CodeReaper:

    I'll tell you what really scares me about this... the potential military applications.

    Think about it... hundreds... thousands of roving donkeys fanning out along the countryside, each armed with a small Nuclear warhead... going places where even a missle can't get... self-sustaining, limitless in range, proximity-triggered detonators... this could be the end of the world as we know it.

     

    Don't worry.  The army uses only basselopes for nuclear weapons

    http://www.caerleon.us/hb/pics.php3?file_id=4 


    Chicken powered atomic weapon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peacock
  • (cs) in reply to Anon
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:

    Please everyone, let's stop this.  I have worked for "Virtudyne" for almost five years now.  "Junior" is a good and descent man that is working hard to make the product and everyone here successful.  He stays late often and in many cases is the last person out of the building at night.  He doesn't deserve this. 

    It was cute at first, but these postings are crossing the line and I have spent more time than I care in tears about this bull*hit.  The company may not be what it used to, people may not be as friendly and don't stop by my desk to say hello anymore, but it still has a chance if we all come together as a team.  The last thing we need is to fight off rumors and my Christian faith still has confidence that people will do the right thing when push comes to shove.        

    WHATEVER!!!  You're a emotional, two-faced wreck of a woman that is a Christian by name only and loves shoving your assistant pseudo-title in people's faces.  You were almost as bad as that 80's presidential skank they fired in Client Services.  But, i suppose I have to give you credit.  At least you have half a brain, didn't sleep with members of the Server Team, a few of the Project Managers or threatened to charge one of your neighbors with sexual harassment via email.  The truth is coming out and you can't stop it!!!!!!!

     
    What in the hell did they do to you poor bastards to have you turn against each other like this??? There is no job or money in the world worth harboring this kind of hatred for other people.

    I hope to god this is just B.S.


    Forced them to write a distributed office suite in Visual Basic. Clearly.
  • risk (unregistered) in reply to Alexis de Torquemada
    Alexis de Torquemada:

    Pap:
    Oh, speaking of WTFs, did you guys know that gullible isn't in the dictionary?

    Indeed. I looked it up in my German-Japanese dictionary, and there's no mention of "gullible".

    Actually, gullible is a german word. It's pronounced differently and it means something else, but it is a german word.

  • (cs) in reply to rsynnott

    rsynnott:
    Chicken powered atomic weapon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peacock

    The project was cancelled when they found out the Soviets had hawks.

  • (cs) in reply to risk

    Anonymous:
    Actually, gullible is a german word. It's pronounced differently and it means something else, but it is a german word.

    You don't know much German, do you? The German word for gullible is "leichtgläubig" and there is no other word called "gullible", at least none that anyone uses.

    There is "Gulli", which means "manpersonhole", though.

  • Scapple (unregistered) in reply to Trurl
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:
    Wanting to know who was behind this foolishness, I clicked the "Contact Us" link on the SimIndiana site and realized that it was Indiana the city, not Indiana the state.  I calmed down.

    I thought you were joking, but then I checked: 
    <font face="Arial"></font>

    <font face="Arial">3. By Mail :
    </font>    <font face="Arial">Corporate Headquarters
    Simdesk Technologies, Inc.
    6510 West Sam Indiana Pkwy N. Suite 100
    Indiana, Texas 77041
    1-866-SIMDESK</font>

    Dear god. They created simindiana.com by just doing find-and-replace on simhouston.com. LOL!! HAHA!!


    Oh my. That is perhaps the funniest thing I've ever seen. Sam Indiana Parkway, eh? Right next to the Indiana Astrodome. "Indiana, we have a problem." :-D   I especially like the generic clip-art people who act as though not buying four copies of Office for <$1000 is saving their small business millions of dollars and letting them compete with Merrill Lynch. That must be very convincing if you don't have any clue.

    To the OP, it seems like you didn't realize... it is Indiana the state.  There is no Indiana, Texas.

  • Gsquared (unregistered) in reply to rob_squared

    Old joke.

    (It's in dictionaries.)

  • Dazed (unregistered) in reply to Trurl
    Anonymous:
    I thought you were joking, but then I checked:

     

    <font face="Arial">3. By Mail :
    </font>    <font face="Arial">Corporate Headquarters
    Simdesk Technologies, Inc.
    6510 West Sam Indiana Pkwy N. Suite 100
    Indiana, Texas 77041
    1-866-SIMDESK</font>

    Not being familiar with that neck of the woods it took me a while to see what you meant. But indeed - that is hysterically funny! Even if Simdesk has nothing whatever to do with Virtudyne, it is certainly responsible for a five-star WTF.

    To anyone who hasn't got it yet: Google on "West Sam Indiana Pkwy" and "West Sam Houston Pkwy" (with the quotation marks).

  • Raelshark (unregistered) in reply to Dazed

    )

    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:
    I thought you were joking, but then I checked:

     

    <font face="Arial">3. By Mail :
    </font>    <font face="Arial">Corporate Headquarters
    Simdesk Technologies, Inc.
    6510 West Sam Indiana Pkwy N. Suite 100
    Indiana, Texas 77041
    1-866-SIMDESK</font>

    Not being familiar with that neck of the woods it took me a while to see what you meant. But indeed - that is hysterically funny! Even if Simdesk has nothing whatever to do with Virtudyne, it is certainly responsible for a five-star WTF.

    To anyone who hasn't got it yet: Google on "West Sam Indiana Pkwy" and "West Sam Houston Pkwy" (with the quotation marks).

    The find/replace is as funny as anything else in the story, and perfectly fitting... although sure, it is possible that the idiocy is completely unrelated.

    It gets even better if you go to the SimIndiana Testimonials page, where they list all the same testimonials on both sites, and again just replaced all occurrences of Houston with Indiana, even though some of the testimonial sources are quite clearly in Houston (like the Manager of the "Freed-Montrose Branch").

  • GenA (unregistered)

    I can't possibly believe the digital donkey. But it's good fun. Oh yeah guys, Alex probably isn't talking about an office killer, that's just a result of anonymization. He's probably talking about a 'windows killer'. So the whole SimDesk link is based on nothing.

  • n00bcoder (unregistered) in reply to Raelshark
  • anonymous (unregistered) in reply to Achille

    Yeah, I'm with you on this.  I think this whole 4 part "story" speaks a lot towards the individual perpetrating it.  If is just a fabrication, then they are just liars.  If this is based on truths, well, you have wonder what kind of person would throw people he knows under the bus.  Revenge maybe?  Personally, I think anyone who would write something like this lacks honor and integrity and would not be someone I would want to associate with.  Legal problems?  The least of this persons worries.  Secrets identities never stay secret for long.  It will become known and I imagine once it does they will find they didn't just burn one bridge.  They probably burned many.  Again, only if there is truth to the story.  If not, well, then they are just liars.

  • (cs)

    Oh come on, India is as much a third world country as China.
    i.e it isn't one.

  • Evdawg (unregistered) in reply to mercurysquad
  • RH (unregistered) in reply to Scapple
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:
    Anonymous:
    Wanting to know who was behind this foolishness, I clicked the "Contact Us" link on the SimIndiana site and realized that it was Indiana the city, not Indiana the state.  I calmed down.

    I thought you were joking, but then I checked: 
    <font face="Arial"></font>

    <font face="Arial">3. By Mail :
    </font>    <font face="Arial">Corporate Headquarters
    Simdesk Technologies, Inc.
    6510 West Sam Indiana Pkwy N. Suite 100
    Indiana, Texas 77041
    1-866-SIMDESK</font>

    Dear god. They created simindiana.com by just doing find-and-replace on simhouston.com. LOL!! HAHA!!


    Oh my. That is perhaps the funniest thing I've ever seen. Sam Indiana Parkway, eh? Right next to the Indiana Astrodome. "Indiana, we have a problem." :-D   I especially like the generic clip-art people who act as though not buying four copies of Office for <$1000 is saving their small business millions of dollars and letting them compete with Merrill Lynch. That must be very convincing if you don't have any clue.

    To the OP, it seems like you didn't realize... it is Indiana the state.  There is no Indiana, Texas.


    Oh Jesus H. Christ, you're right!  Well, my original comments about Texas still stand, but apparently I'll have to be composing that letter to the IN govenor now.  

    As for the person who called me out on the "no intelligence outside of Austin" comment with the reference to NASA, let me say that you're right and you're wrong.  Your'e right.  I'm sure there are some very intelligent people who work there.  I know a few of them.   You're Wrong.  Nobody who WORKS for NASA actually is FROM Texas.  They're all imports.  The fact that they hang their hats in Texas is simply a consequence of their chosen profession.  I didn't consider them in the original statement because they're not Texans, they're prisoners.  
  • (cs) in reply to RH

    For those not paying close enough attention:  yes, it's Indiana the state.  The "Indiana, Texas" is just a result of the search and replace they did on "Houston" throughout the whole site.

  • (cs)

    Firstably, I just want to say that I'm a newbie.  After reading the whole 4 part storyline.  I agreed with the comments most of you posted, WTF.  But I actually think the new Saviour executive did pull off some amazing shit, if the story is actually true.  They managed to convince the city to purchase an "non-existing" software for $8,500,000 as a three-year contract.  That's amazing shit.  They might not be technically competence, but they definitely competence in BS.  I, for one, would be definitely be interested in hiring some sales people like this (if I can afford them).

  • ac (unregistered) in reply to yrag

    I've just installed the program

    http://download.simdesk.com/conx/SimdeskSetup3.4.exe

    and looking at the content of the installed files, I see that a lot is based on Mozilla Thunderbird, looks that they use (old?) Thunderbird code. Somebody who worked on Thunderbird can certainly recognize more.

    Yes, there is also Visual Basic 6 runtime installed but I don't think that VB code makes most of the package.

    Here is par of the info provided in Simdesk Organizer:

    Portions of this software are proprietary, are not subject to the Mozilla Public License version 1.1 (“MPL”) described below, and are copyright © 2006 Simdesk Technologies, Inc, all rights reserved. This software also uses original code of Mozilla Thunderbird™ and Sunbird™ modified in part by Simdesk Technologies. The original source code for certain Mozilla Thunderbird™ and Sunbird™ functionality is available under the terms of the MPL from the Mozilla Organization (http://www.mozilla.org). Source code for the modifications made by Simdesk Technologies, Inc. to the Mozilla code are subject to the MPL and are available from Simdesk (ftp://opensource.simdesk.com). As respects the Mozilla Thunderbird™ and Sunbird™ software, portions are copyrighted by various contributors to the Mozilla code base and are licensed according to terms set out in the Mozilla Public License and Netscape Public License (“NPL”). Some of the contributors impose licensing terms in addition to the terms of the MPL and NPL.
    Portions of the Sunbird™ code base are Copyright © 2001 OEone Corporation.


  • ac (unregistered) in reply to ac

    SimDesk DesktopConnects has the following licence info:

    JCommandBar Beans and JDocking Beans (c) 2005 TROYER Information Systems GmbH, http://www.troyer-is.com. All rights reserved. JDOM (c) 2000-2002 Brett McLaughlin && Jason Hunter. www.jdom.org. All rights reserved. Sentry Spelling-Checker Engine Copyright (c) 2000 Wintertree Software Inc. The ThesDB Thesaurus Engine (c) 1993-1997 Wintertree Software Inc.

    And here's what's in the whole SimDesk DesktopConnects package:

    File Sync --to sync your files with the storage on the server
    Groups -- here you can configure who can access your files on their servers
    Login -- just to login to their server
    Logout -- to logout from their server
    Organizer -- Mozilla based mail and calendar
    S-Drive -- I guess remote disk, visible from Windows
    Tray -- the tray software to access again what's in Start menu under SimDisk


  • hore (unregistered)

    HiddenNetwork.com ads annoy everyone! The service it self is crap!

    And please, digg and reddit buttons!

    You are so lame!

  • ananamus (unregistered) in reply to ac

    You missed a few,

     Simword - Wordprossecing

    Simcalc - Spreadsheet

    Simpresent - Powerpoint in flash

    Simmessager - IM/Text to desktop and phones

     We purchased Simdesk when the SMB site went online.  I do not work for Simdesk and have never seen their code.  I do know that it has worked well for us ( a few workarounds needed with each new release but that's prity standard.)

    It's not so much an Office killer as an Office manager.  You can still use MS Office if you want to.  We use all of simdesk except the email (we use exchange because it hard to get off at this time and we paid a lot for it).

    If Simdesk is VD then they have finally done something right,

    If Simdesk is NOT VD then they finally did something right.

    cheers

     

  • (cs) in reply to Raelshark
    Anonymous:

    The find/replace is as funny as anything else in the story, and perfectly fitting... although sure, it is possible that the idiocy is completely unrelated.

    It gets even better if you go to the SimIndiana Testimonials page, where they list all the same testimonials on both sites, and again just replaced all occurrences of Houston with Indiana, even though some of the testimonial sources are quite clearly in Houston (like the Manager of the "Freed-Montrose Branch").


    Surely this is some sort of fraud?
  • anon (unregistered) in reply to Trurl
    Anonymous:
    [

    I thought you were joking, but then I checked:

     

    <font face="Arial">3. By Mail :
    </font>    <font face="Arial">Corporate Headquarters
    Simdesk Technologies, Inc.
    6510 West Sam Indiana Pkwy N. Suite 100
    Indiana, Texas 77041
    1-866-SIMDESK</font>

     

    Dear god. They created simindiana.com by just doing find-and-replace on simhouston.com. LOL!! HAHA!!

    I live in Indiana, and I am going to find out who is responsible for this and sue them.
     

     

    Don't forget http://www.simchicago.com/

    Corporate Headquarters Simdesk Technologies, Inc. 6510 West Sam Chicago Pkwy N. Suite 100 Chicago, Texas 77041 1-866-SIMDESK

  • BAReFOOt (unregistered) in reply to ParkinT

    ParkinT:
    You should pool your talents and find all those America's Most Wanted.  And, maybe, locate Osma Bin Laden while you are at it!

     That will be hard... Remember he's payed and protected by the CIA. ;P
     

  • BAReFOOt (unregistered) in reply to Ciaran
    Ciaran:
    Guys, guys. Please stop with the references to this other company who I won't name here.

    I believe just as much as any of you that it's probably the same company. But if it is the case, then "Rob Graves" is going to be discovered, and he is not going to like the consequences. This blog itself might be shut down for posting company secrets. It is not a good idea to continue posting these things, guys. Please listen to me.

    And what's more, if you're wrong and Virtudyne is not this other company, then the blog could still be shut down for libel.

    In short, trying to work out the company isn't going to be a good idea either way. Please, stop trying to get this blog shut down. I, for one, enjoy this blog and I would loved to be able to see it carry on.

    Ahhh... good american... i'm proud of you! All the FUD works so great on youx I guess you'd also say stop when someone wanted to kill hitler in 1940? This time it'n not hitler but corporate feudalism, but it's not any better. And it could end even worse... (Halliburton builds huge jails (or "KZ" in german) right now. For all those poeple jailed by the detention bill.)

    Oh forget that... Most americans don't even know he's deat. lol. A friend of mine still makes cash by driving hotel guests to "where hitler lives". No kidding!

  • Tekniklee Enklined Tekson (unregistered) in reply to RH
    Anonymous:
    As for the person who called me out on the "no intelligence outside of Austin" comment with the reference to NASA, let me say that you're right and you're wrong.  Your'e right.  I'm sure there are some very intelligent people who work there.  I know a few of them.   You're Wrong.  Nobody who WORKS for NASA actually is FROM Texas.  They're all imports.  The fact that they hang their hats in Texas is simply a consequence of their chosen profession.  I didn't consider them in the original statement because they're not Texans, they're prisoners.
     
    And you know this how?  Have you asked every single person in NASA if they're from Texas?  And, honestly, how does that even factor into your asinine "no technical intelligence outside of Austin" comment?  I guarantee you the majority of technical people out in California are not from California.  However, I wouldn't make such a blanket statement as to say "There's on technical intelligence outside of Silicon Valley" and then go on to deride the fact that any technical smarts outside of that area are based on imports.
     
    You obviously dislike Texas - congrats - but you may want to stop posting before you jam your foot any further down your throat.  Have fun hopping to the midwest on one leg - none of us here in Texas will miss your "intelligence".
     
     
    captcha: genius.  or lack thereof. 
  • Hans Horror (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:
    Please everyone, let's stop this.  I have worked for "Virtudyne" for almost five years now.  "Junior" is a good and descent man that is working hard to make the product and everyone here successful.  He stays late often and in many cases is the last person out of the building at night.  He doesn't deserve this. 

    It was cute at first, but these postings are crossing the line and I have spent more time than I care in tears about this bull*hit.  The company may not be what it used to, people may not be as friendly and don't stop by my desk to say hello anymore, but it still has a chance if we all come together as a team.  The last thing we need is to fight off rumors and my Christian faith still has confidence that people will do the right thing when push comes to shove.

    BWAHAHAHAHA. Good one... really! *grin*

    Why did i expect the last scentence? LOL.

    I'm sorry "Anonymous". You're another reason your company is doomed.

    And btw: Working that long has *nothing* to do with doing good work. Maybe he's still just playing magic the gathering all day long. Can you prove he's doing actual useful stuff?
     

  • anonymous (unregistered) in reply to ananamus

    Yeah, I can probably believe that.  Based on what I've read (i.e. apparent backstabbing by ex-employees, along with deep cuts in workforce), they finally corrected their biggest flaw.  It has been my experience that those who trash a previous work place the most were the most guilty in its flaws.

  • anonymous (unregistered) in reply to Hans Horror

    There was no need for that reply.  Too.........narcissistic.  And not warranted.  I suspect, and I could be wrong, that you might have been associated with "Virtudyne".  Well, if so, it is probably good that you are out of it.  If this company is doomed, I'm sure our "capitalist" society will deal with it in the same manner as other "doomed" companies.  Which means you should probably direct your efforts toward solving "global warming" or the rain forests in South America.

     You just sound too much like..................well, a loser.  And a petty one at that. 

  • Hans Horror (unregistered) in reply to risk
    Anonymous:
    Alexis de Torquemada:
    Indeed. I looked it up in my German-Japanese dictionary, and there's no mention of "gullible".

    Actually, gullible is a german word. It's pronounced differently and it means something else, but it is a german word.

     NO, in's NOT! I'm german and if it were a german word, it were in here:

    http://dict.leo.org/?search=gullible&lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed&relink=on&sectHdr=on&spellToler=std

    But maybe you meant this:

    http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed&sectHdr=on&spellToler=std&search=gully&relink=on
     

  • Hans Horror (unregistered) in reply to risk
    Anonymous:
    Alexis de Torquemada:
    Indeed. I looked it up in my German-Japanese dictionary, and there's no mention of "gullible".

    Actually, gullible is a german word. It's pronounced differently and it means something else, but it is a german word.

     NO, in's NOT! I'm german and if it were a german word, it were in here:

    http://dict.leo.org/?search=gullible&lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed&relink=on&sectHdr=on&spellToler=std

    But maybe you meant this:

    http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&lang=de&searchLoc=0&cmpType=relaxed&sectHdr=on&spellToler=std&search=gully&relink=on
     

  • Anonymous (unregistered) in reply to anonymous

    Anonymous:
    Yeah, I can probably believe that.  Based on what I've read (i.e. apparent backstabbing by ex-employees, along with deep cuts in workforce), they finally corrected their biggest flaw.  It has been my experience that those who trash a previous work place the most were the most guilty in its flaws.

     

    That is a fairly disingenuous statement.  If any of this is true at all, Rob Graves should be commended for having the balls to expose it to the world.  The corporate culture in the USA is one of, "Nobody is at fault because we work as a team."  Bullshit.  Pure bullshit at that.

    Think of what other good things those investors could have used their money to do had they not been technologically too stupid to realize the limitations of what these snake-oil salespeople were proposing to do.

    They won a contract to the city that only they were allowed to bid on?  Hello, this doesn't sound like fraud to anyone? The people involved all resigned before the ink was dry on the contract. There are numerous newspaper articles linked here that prove it didn't sound like a fraud to just me alone. If they had honest people involved, the city could have had $8M+ to put towards other important issues (like, oh I don't know, EDUCATION?!?!)  Instead it looks like it was a deal put together between a couple wealthy guys chatting on the golf green.

     

     

  • anonymous (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous

    Interesting.  Responding to a so-called disingenuous statement with another disingenuous statement.  Fraud has not been proven and thus YOUR statement is not credible.  And the statement is not disingenuous if one truly observes that those who do trash a previous organization were the most guilty of its flaws.  Unless you can directly contradict someone elses experience, then you are just speculating.  For every legitimate whistle blower there are 100's of hack jobs for a variety of reasons.  Revenge, narcissism, boredom, mommy didn't love them enough when they were children  What's the old saying?  Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.  It could just as easily read Hell hath no fury like an ex-employee scorned.

    Let's see.  Rob Graves has balls by exposing this to the world by..........................anonymously dictating some story thru a 3rd party to THIS WEBSITE!!  If there was any truth to your statement, wouldn't a more influential medium have looked at this?  Hell, there are local stories by the local paper about scandals with the city officials driving while drunk daughter.  You would think they would salivate at a legitimate corruption story.  And if he truly had balls we wouldn't hide.  What a coward. 

  • SimBrillant (unregistered) in reply to n00bcoder
    Anonymous:

    I can see only a minor mistake in those texts. Instead of "<font face="Arial" size="2">Here are some quotes pulled from those letters"</font>, they should read "<font face="Arial" size="2">Here are some quotes we pulled out of our asses</font>".

    Captcha: wtf
     

  • anonymous (unregistered) in reply to anonymous

    Who is this anonymous and why am i fighting with myself?

  • jpmsi (unregistered)

    Did anyone notice that their SimOrganizer product is a rip off from Thunderbird?

    See here -> http://www.simdesk.com/default.asp?ID=183#section1

  • anonymous (unregistered) in reply to anonymous

    Because you are a psychotic schizophrenic with a Napoleonic complex????

  • Evdawg (unregistered) in reply to anonymous

    So it seems like the email and calendar components are based off of thunderbird/sunbird... so shouldn't we be able to download source code somewhere?

  • Bill (unregistered)

    I agree with some others here. The real story has been mangled so beyond recognition and has consequently lost it's outrageous humor. I want real companies screwing up in the real world. On the flip side, it's obvious that SimDesk is a complete and total wtf even if it has nothing to do with them, so all is not lost.

    I sense this site is on the cusp of changing focus from being about a programmers empathising with each other over the insane conditions in which a lot of us work, to being about making money.  If it turns into the latter, it would be a terrible loss.

  • Olddog (unregistered)

    I'm still laughing.  Well done Alex.

    This is a lesson in "How to piss away a fortune re-engineering water".

  • NancyBoy (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:

    Please everyone, let's stop this.  I have worked for "Virtudyne" for almost five years now.  "Junior" is a good and descent man that is working hard to make the product and everyone here successful.  He stays late often and in many cases is the last person out of the building at night.  He doesn't deserve this. 

    It was cute at first, but these postings are crossing the line and I have spent more time than I care in tears about this bull*hit.  The company may not be what it used to, people may not be as friendly and don't stop by my desk to say hello anymore, but it still has a chance if we all come together as a team.  The last thing we need is to fight off rumors and my Christian faith still has confidence that people will do the right thing when push comes to shove.        

    Absolutely the BEST part of this series are all the "Virtudyne" employees who have turned up here to weep and act cross about the "injustice" done to their worthless, palm-greasing, backroom-dealing, incompetent-hiring company.  God, how I love the smell of wounded dev ego!  "Unskilled and slowly becoming aware of it"

  • NancyBoy (unregistered) in reply to Anonymous
    Anonymous:

    Please everyone, let's stop this.  I have worked for "Virtudyne" for almost five years now.  "Junior" is a good and descent man that is working hard to make the product and everyone here successful.  He stays late often and in many cases is the last person out of the building at night.  He doesn't deserve this. 

    It was cute at first, but these postings are crossing the line and I have spent more time than I care in tears about this bull*hit.  The company may not be what it used to, people may not be as friendly and don't stop by my desk to say hello anymore, but it still has a chance if we all come together as a team.  The last thing we need is to fight off rumors and my Christian faith still has confidence that people will do the right thing when push comes to shove.        

    Absolutely the BEST part of this series are all the "Virtudyne" employees who have turned up here to weep and act cross about the "injustice" done to their worthless, palm-greasing, backroom-dealing, incompetent-hiring company.  God, how I love the smell of wounded dev ego!  "Unskilled and slowly becoming aware of it"

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