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I found this interesting page from a reddit comment : http://www.esva.net/~thom/philkatz.html http://www.esva.net/~thom/philkatz.html edit : Its about Phil Kat

by vizard 18y ago

I found this interesting page from a reddit comment : http://www.esva.net/~thom/philkatz.html http://www.esva.net/~thom/philkatz.html edit : Its about Phil Katz from the original author of ARC which was the software Katz allegedly modified to produce PKARC.

kirse 18y ago
but it is a fitting demise for a man whose professional reputation is based entirely on a lie. Ouch, I wonder how much this guy still stews about his loss of business to PK?
- cookiecaper 18y ago
  I thought that line was a bit extreme too.
  - t0pj 18y ago
    It's not extreme at all if you base your life on honesty, respect, and moral integrity.
hhm 18y ago
"I can think of no more fitting epitath than the final clause of the original ARC copyright statement: *If you fail to abide by the terms of this license, then your conscience will haunt you for the rest of your life.* " Wow.
- staunch 18y ago
  A programmer's ghost story in the making...
jd 18y ago
This clip (20 mins or so) shows how the authors of Arc feel about it all. It is probably a bit biased, but it looks like Katz really hurt some people. http://www.esva.net/~thom/arczip.wmv http://www.esva.net/~thom/arczip.wmv
- 13ren 18y ago
  "as soon as something turns into a PR war, nobody is ever going to see the facts anyway" (at about 13:30) I had this start to happen to me once with software. It was really, really horrible. The video gets really sad towards the end. The Arc developer says "shareware wasn't really about the money, it was about the mail", meaning fan-mail - that turned to hate-mail. It seems like this guy had the same attitude to software as Phil Katz - that it was emotionally very important to him, as a way of being appreciated.
  - jd 18y ago
    That same sentence stuck a chord with me too. We all know it's true: perception trumps reality. In this case the guy had to chose between fighting a PR war (which he didn't want to do - he wanted to win on merit) or losing everything he worked so hard for. Harsh. Don't get me started on hate-mail. People see it as a joke, as a bit of harmless fun. But vicious letters can do very real damage. Look at what happened to Kathy Sierra and so many others...
    - 13ren 18y ago
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Sierra#Allegations_of_harassment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Sierra#Allegations_of_har...
      - jd 18y ago
        That's her. What happened? She got death threats because she said something about bloggers having the right to moderate/delete comments. From what I gather, somebody posted an anti-Sierra message and then a bunch of people (who didn't even know her) started harassing her. It makes no sense. Quote: It's not clear what provoked such a vitriolic response to Sierra. She attributes it to comments she made a year ago in support of bloggers' rights to delete comments on their own blogs. Reaction to Sierra's announcement was swift and polarizing, with many people remarking on the viciousness of the commentary, and others defending the original posts on meankids.org as non-threatening satire. http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/news/2007/04/kathysierra http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/news/2007/04/kathysierra
pasbesoin 18y ago
Thanks. It's very informative to have the other side, as well. Tragedy, all around, it seems.

by vizard 18y ago

kirse 18y ago

but it is a fitting demise for a man whose professional reputation is based entirely on a lie. Ouch, I wonder how much this guy still stews about his loss of business to PK?

cookiecaper 18y ago
I thought that line was a bit extreme too.
- t0pj 18y ago
  It's not extreme at all if you base your life on honesty, respect, and moral integrity.

hhm 18y ago

"I can think of no more fitting epitath than the final clause of the original ARC copyright statement: *If you fail to abide by the terms of this license, then your conscience will haunt you for the rest of your life.* " Wow.

staunch 18y ago
A programmer's ghost story in the making...

jd 18y ago

This clip (20 mins or so) shows how the authors of Arc feel about it all. It is probably a bit biased, but it looks like Katz really hurt some people. http://www.esva.net/~thom/arczip.wmv http://www.esva.net/~thom/arczip.wmv

13ren 18y ago
"as soon as something turns into a PR war, nobody is ever going to see the facts anyway" (at about 13:30) I had this start to happen to me once with software. It was really, really horrible. The video gets really sad towards the end. The Arc developer says "shareware wasn't really about the money, it was about the mail", meaning fan-mail - that turned to hate-mail. It seems like this guy had the same attitude to software as Phil Katz - that it was emotionally very important to him, as a way of being appreciated.
- jd 18y ago
  That same sentence stuck a chord with me too. We all know it's true: perception trumps reality. In this case the guy had to chose between fighting a PR war (which he didn't want to do - he wanted to win on merit) or losing everything he worked so hard for. Harsh. Don't get me started on hate-mail. People see it as a joke, as a bit of harmless fun. But vicious letters can do very real damage. Look at what happened to Kathy Sierra and so many others...
  - 13ren 18y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Sierra#Allegations_of_harassment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathy_Sierra#Allegations_of_har...
    - jd 18y ago
      That's her. What happened? She got death threats because she said something about bloggers having the right to moderate/delete comments. From what I gather, somebody posted an anti-Sierra message and then a bunch of people (who didn't even know her) started harassing her. It makes no sense. Quote: It's not clear what provoked such a vitriolic response to Sierra. She attributes it to comments she made a year ago in support of bloggers' rights to delete comments on their own blogs. Reaction to Sierra's announcement was swift and polarizing, with many people remarking on the viciousness of the commentary, and others defending the original posts on meankids.org as non-threatening satire. http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/news/2007/04/kathysierra http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/news/2007/04/kathysierra

pasbesoin 18y ago

Thanks. It's very informative to have the other side, as well. Tragedy, all around, it seems.