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Admin
From today's Wall Street Journal article Google's Free Web Services
Will Vie With Microsoft Office
Hmm, where have we heard that one before?
Admin
Yes it has been updated, I still had the img.thedailywtf version in cache but when I reloaded the page I got the new one.
Admin
Though English is not my native language I have no problem with longer articles such is this one. In fact I enjoy this story very much and hope one day we will know the real name of Virtudyne.
Admin
Yes, of course you have heard it before, it's a truism in the office software. "Virtudyne" and Google are quoting the same well-known rule of thumb.
Admin
You are overclaiming. How the hell do you know what he does or doesn't know? You even asserted he should have checked his facts -- but it's only if he did check his facts, and then posted false claims, that he's lying. Otherwise he's just mistaken.
Calling people liars because you disagree with them is stupid. Even if they are wrong, you haven't shown that they were lying, or that the untruth was "deliberate".
Admin
I think this is it.
Check It
http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/70937/index.html
Admin
That's what could have been said about Enron, too; but it happened.
captcha=hotdog
Admin
Well glad mr high and mighty showed up. For the record I read this everyday and:
my paycheck > your paycheck
People here are not liabling anyone, it is called speculation. We are theorizing who we could be reading about. Go back to your cubical and bore yourself to death and leave us out of it.
Admin
post the 4th one already!!!
what does captcha mean again?
captcha: pacman
Admin
Besides the fact I know TOI is privately held, the above person at least did his homework prior to making a claim which is more than what you did. Unless you can provide clear evidence to demonstrate otherwise, I suggest you stick with what you know and stop demonstrating your own ingnorance.
While calling Alex Papadimoulis a liar may not be a technically accurate, he is clearly pushing the term 'libel' to the limit. There are many eyes watching right now (more than you may know) and all that is needed is one slip-up by Mr. Papadimoulis to link his fictional company with the real one we all know he's talking about. And when that happens, rest assured Junior's attorneys will be all over him like white on rice.
Admin
Isn't that called spyware? Is that what you are a vendor of?
captcha=error
Admin
He's gone to great lengths to ensure that the company's anonymity is preserved and that he never mentions or confirms/denies the company's true identity. In fact, I wouldn't even be surprised if the submitter of the story ("Rob Graves") didn't even give Alex the name of the company in question, either giving him a pseudonym or just calling it "the company." Would that be libel, then, if even Alex didn't know what company the story was about?
Admin
Hmmm. Since Alex is the publisher of this website...looks like he'd be liable, if it was judged to be libel, since he has content control.
In the Cards Inc. v. IT'S IN THE CARDS, INC. v. Fuschetto 193 Wis.2d 429, 535 N.W.2d 11 (C.A.).
Owners and/or operators of networked computers are liable for defamatory material which they write and publish on the network, or receive from third parties and cause to be published on the network. Consequently, a corporation could be vicariously liable for statements published by employees.
Publishers, such as newspapers, magazines, websites, and broadcasters, are responsible and liable for everything that they produce, post and broadcast. Their liability is grounded in the fact that they can edit what they wish to include and exclude from their publication, be it a newspaper, magazine, television broadcast, website or newsgroup.Admin
Posters on this site *may* have, but Alex hasn't even come close. You are obviously a misinformed idiot, or a troll. If you knew what libel meant, you'd know how stupid your post appears.
Furthermore, to preempt any more stupidity from you (and the rest of the kids who think they know what they are talking about), you should also know that I can call you a misinformed idiot, troll, and even an inbred moron. Verbal or in print, anonymous or not, there's no legal recourse for you.
Admin
Is he talking about the real company ? Is he ? Is he ?
I'd rather plead with Alex to drop part 4, than have someone discover a new revenue stream.
Admin
If you know for certain which company "Virtudyne" is, then the story must be basically accurate. In which case there is no libel.
Reactions like this remind me how glad I am not to live in the US. Running to your lawyers every time someone says something you don't like is so childish.
Admin
The OBVIOUS reason is that the company fell apart and reorganized with some competence at the helm. Re-envisioned their product and actually now deliver something.
Admin
Why isn't it. My last job had Copywriters. The people who put together ads and such.
Admin
Hint: use the QUOTE function so you don't seem to be ranting aimlessly at no-one and nothing.
Admin
Interesting article about how Microsoft paranoia at SimDesk:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_27/b3890117_mz063.htm
Admin
You'll be hearing from my lawyers this afternoon. Consider yourself warned. :)
Admin
Interesting that those who claim to be employees of this mysterious company don't argue with the main point of the story. Instead, they get angry about techialities--er--technicalities, and suggest that legal action might be taken. Is this an admission that the story is essentially true? Maybe this is a good thing...after all, the first step towards solving a problem is admitting that you have one...
Admin
Listen to me you large, bearded troglodyte. As you do not seem to know the definition of the word libel, allow me to give it to you:
LIBEL - A false publication, as in writing, print, signs, or pictures, that damages a person's reputation. Or. The act of presenting such material to the public.
Also, I wrote "if" IF Papadimoulis slips up. If he can keep the publication sanitized as he has so far, then there is no need for him to worry. However, should he make a reference that clearly links the fictional and real companies, then there is enough misinformation to go after him legally.
Stick to conducting bands poindexter as your PhD is obvioulsy not in law.
Admin
What exactly was the original "untruth" again? That someone said you have an outside investor when in fact you don't? Is that your actionable libel?
Everyone here, including yourself, knows you will never win that case. Your threats of frivolous, unwinnable lawsuits as a form of harrassment speak more poorly of you than any post on this site has. It is behavior one expects of the Church of Sci******gy.
If you go forward with it, I promise I will personally contribute money to Alex's legal defense. My contributions may not match your legal budget, but you should at least be aware that you won't be bullying a single person.
Saddest of all is that your reaction seems to be borne of a bruised ego. There is no shame in admitting past mistakes. In fact, I have always found that the best software designers are those who have made mistakes and learned from them. The most damage to software quality is done by those who refuse to admit mistakes have been made.
Admin
If hope your talent as a developer exceeds your naivety as a student of mankind. Don't know what planet you are from, but here on Earth, having a high-budget legal team is all you need to make the truth whatever you want it to be 9 times-out-of 10. And even if we don't win, we'll put a severe strain on Papadimoulis income reserves. It's not a pleasant truth, but it IS a truth.
So, by all means. Please contribute to his fund should we seek legal recourse. You'll be keeping in theme with this publication, "People giving money for dumb ideas".
Admin
North Carolina did an evaluation in 2003.
http://www.ncsta.gov/docs%5CWhite%20papers%5Cgeneral%5CSimDesk%20Evaluation%20-%20May%202003.pdf
Admin
http://product.thinkfree.com/company.asp?method=viewCompany&bbsno=11
uses java technology - actual working address http://product.thinkfree.com/company.tfo?method=viewCompany&bbsno=11
Admin
Don't feed the troll... don't feed the... ugh, final post on this issue...
Copying a definition doesn't tell me that you understand what it means. It just tells me that someone did an Internet search for you so you could look informed. Let's review, shall we?
1. You said the the "libel limit" was being pushed.
2. I said it was not, and that you didn't know what you were talking about.
3. So, you defined libel for me. Erm... thanks and all, but you still are wrong about the "limit".
I'm not saying someone can't go lawyer up and make an issue out of it. In the states, nothing stops an idiot from hiring a starving, second-rate attorney and suing anyone for anything. However, most halfway intelligent people know that is a bad PR move and ultimately hurts your credibility from a legal perspective. In some cases, it can even backfire.
Finally, as other posters have pointed out, you have yet to address any "misinformation" in the original post. Of course, you and I both know it is because this whole little act of yours is made up, and you have about as much inside info as I do.
While I do happen to know a little about what I am saying, I am certainly not a lawyer, and have never claimed to be one. That said, you clearly aren't either, and thus far, I certainly don't feel intellectually outmatched by you. Feel free to continue your little act. FWIW, you've relieved me of a few minutes of boredom today.
Admin
<font face="Times New Roman">LOU, GIVE IT UP</font>
<font face="Times New Roman">NOBODY’S BUYING IT!*</font>
<font face="Times New Roman">*That’s a more profound and prophetic comment than you may realize.</font>
Admin
Holy cow! -- I've been in NYC for the week and away from my daily WTF access while at a large Wall Street firm, just got back.
Someone excitedly forwarded me the WTF site saying something like "didn't you use to work there"?
The name is Virtudyne, but I the way the company is run, the way folks are hired, the amounts of completely lost money involved, the tinfoil hat security, it all sure sounds like SimDesk.
And it was not a happy place to work.
Admin
The 'ø' key is just to the right of the 'æ' key, in the ASDFGHJKLÆØ row.
Just get a Danish keyboard...
-Lasse Hillerøe Petersen
(Captcha: perfection - yes, I am a perfectionist...)
Admin
The American Heritage Dictionary, Merriam-Webster's, and the OED all disagree. "Copywriter" is in the first two, but even it doesn't appear in the OED.
Nevertheless, I have heard that term before, so I'm willing to concede the point. Dictionaries don't necessarily have every domain-specific word. Though the overall point that the poster was wrong stands.
Admin
Admin
Admin
Luckily both of these words are compound words with fairly logical etymologies:
Copywriter is a position at a newspaper, or a publishing house, etc. That person writes copy. Copy, (among other things), is slang for text that goes into articles, press releases, etc.
Copyright is a legal right. It gives you the right to copy.
You don't copywrite. You may copy-write if you're a copywriter, but that hyphen's important and even then you're on tenuous grammatical ground.
To "copyright" something is to assert your exclusive right to copy something (only non-exclusive if you license it out or release it otherwise). The word the OP is looking for is Copyright.
Damn those homonyms.
That being said, I'm allergic to freshly mowed artifical turf and am getting the hell out of this thread.
Admin
Wow - if you really are a Virtudyne employee, your obnoxiousness is certainly consistent with the content of the post. I certainly wouldn't expect anything better based on what I've read. Of course, since only Alex and his contact really know who Virtudyne is, even you don't know if you're an actual Virtudyne employee or not. Anyway, it would seem that you are concerned that what's being said about a fictional company is true about your company as well. In which case it's not false. In which case it's not libel.
Admin
Oops - dazed already said it ;-)
Admin
Looks like the SimDesk people went on to form Big Brother Inc...
Admin
Also check out the Hovers lisintg for the company http://www.hoovers.com/free/co/factsheet.xhtml?COID=133506&cm_ven=PAID&cm_cat=BUS&cm_pla=CO1&cm_ite=SimDesk
Father and son
Admin
You do realize that in some countries outside the US, falsehood is not an absolute defense against a libel claim? At one time, even here (pre-Revolution, granted), it was an aggravating circumstance, not a mitigating one. Publishing something defamatory against the Crown was worse if it was true, because it was more believable and more likely to cause harm. I suppose that may have been specific to sedition, though. In any case, libel cases have been won recently in other countries where the accuser only has to prove specific malice, not truth.
Admin
Then that is the true WTF here.
captcha: wtf - Why yes it is.
Admin
Like any programmer will at some point, I've got my booleans backward. I meant of course, that truth is not an absolute defense; that a person bringing a civil case of slander or libel need not necessarily prove that the statements made were false. This is not the case in the US, though. Here, that the statements were true is an absolute defense.
Admin
Admin
actually the gnats were actual insects, just a little more blood thirsty
Admin
Bahaaaaha Not even close
Admin
Update - the SVP of Sales and Marketing resigned a month ago.
The EVP resigned about 2 months ago.
The founder resigned from company about 3 months ago .... still a stockholder but certainly not a majority owner.
Technology partner Unisys????????
Admin
Don't fool yourself.
It is key to note some things here. The download you got is missing all the "Microsoft Killer" apps of the past. This includes the word processor, spreadsheet, instant messenger and some other misc. apps. So, $180M dollars later and they have.... a file storage tool and an online calendar and file storage tool. OMFG. NOW THAT IS HOW YOU DO IT!!! Young MBA types, take a lesson from these guys.
There was no big change or "reorganizing" in the way the company works. They did sack over 50+ people in the last year, mainly to get rid of people that really know what is going on or did not carry the party line. The product is now written in C++, for the most part. BUT, it is very unreliable and finnicky to use. Try, on a modest connection (dialup, DSL and cable), over a period of days and times, to upload and download larger (100+MB) files. Good luck. And keep in mind, despite claiming that they have "thousands of users" and "millions under contract", there are almost no real, day-to-day users. Anywhere. Period. Their work in the Latin and African countries (to wit the Digital Donkey) was a joke and NEVER amounted to anything of importance. The systems there are just way to unreliable and the software has little, if any, error handling. This was all very well hidden from investors and the public in general in the later years.
They had constant problems with data loss. They also don't delete ANY accounts, even test and temporary accounts, but also count those as "active accounts" in the reports. The person posting the previous article in the thread created 2 accounts to "test" the system. Well, they effective doubled the signup, right? Hundreds of thousands of them. It is all make believe.
There were people there, probably still are, who knew what to do to make it work (like, scrap the old model and start fresh), but the glorious Development leader, who just whines about "living with the sins of our fathers", really does not get it nor can he lead in a way that would make it really happen. But he WILL take home a fat paycheck (some investor is helping support him).
There are good people there, but the leadership is greatly lacking, way overpaid and way, way overrated.
(VP of Development mentioned above) www.garyallison.com
Admin
I P Freely:
I couldn't have said it better myself. I saw it all. Smoke and mirrors come to mind.
Admin
I am also surprised by the talk of defamation and libel. The LAST thing Simdesk would want to do is have to expose, in a court of law, what has really happened there. It will NEVER, EVER happen. There is this silly little thing, that, despite attempts from our own government, is still in place in America.
We call it the B U R D E N of proof.
Simdesk is in a real pickle these days. I cannot blame them for trying to survive. I cannot imagine the letter that you would have to send to all the investors, but here is stab:
"Dear Virtudyne (Simdesk) Investor:
Over the last 6 years I (Junior) have tried to save this company in which you originally invested your money (no, you will not be seeing it again). That money was well spent, though. It paid for a very talented development staff, highly ineffective upper level management and a middle management team constantly constrained by the lack of my, and my teams, leadership ability. While bullying people around in my former role worked, here, it only caused friction and dissention, but I have never let that bother me or slow me down.
When I arrived at the company, it was clear to me that it had lost its way and I wanted fix the problem. I did this by ignoring standard industry best practices and pursued doing what has failed in so many other companies. This is not my fault, I heard voices in head and they directed me. (Authors note: at this point, there appears to be scribbling on the paper, doodling and very aggressive scratching vertically).
I hired a top notch team of leaders to fix the problems and paid them top, TOP dollar to say things like, "we have to live with the sins of our ancestors" and other great lines for explaining why they cannot adequately do their jobs. I admire this ability to lay blame on the staff and let it roll off the executive management - I groom it in my people. If you can go to Japan, schmooze some executives, get drunk and then come home with nothing and claim Victory! - well, that is the type of people we promote. We let those people run the various groups that are often seen as checks and balances with in an organization - the ones that call bullshit on the other ones that are perpetrating bullshit. That way we remove "friction" and we all know friction is a bad thing, right? Now, we have a well oiled machine, like the Nazi party, efficient and organized, with our OWN set of checks and balances.
The sales team is, and has always, been at fault. By this I mean the people who brought all these deals to the table, who got into more opportunities than you could shake a stick at and would make other little companies quiver to see, and who ultimately could not make our great, glorious software work in the real world. Sales let us down. Not Development and poorly designed software with no product plan. In fact, let's put Sales INTO Development.
So, while we have spent over $160M, I don't want you to think it was wasted. Think of it as an OPPORTUNITY to learn and grow."
Now that would be about what I would expect.
I. P. Freely
dictated to: Hu F. Lungdo
Admin
As a former member of the Virtudyne team, I'll call your call and raise you a "oh yeah, this is real buddy, too real"