🚀 go-pugleaf

Below is John Gossman's posting at comp.software.licensing. Very 
interesting post. Unfortunately, it is a pack of lies. 

Don't believe? Do a litmus test: Send an e-mail to John Gossman 
<JohnGo@asymetrix.com> to request that he should send you a copy of what 
he has written below (if he is even prepared to admit that he made the 
posting) plus all the necessary documents which he has mentioned to your 
postal address. Once you have received the documents (properly signed and 
endorsed by Asymetrix to make sure that they are authentic), please send 
them to the author of KaiZenWare. 

In return the author of KaiZenWare will send you a 6-part document on the 
whole conflict. To find the author of KaiZenWare's postal address, use 
Excite and HotBot and use "kaizenware" as the keyword.

Please try to understand that the author of KaiZenWare is a one-man show 
working from home. If Asymetrix is not guilty, they can simply sue and 
end the issue. But, they have chosen to pretend that they are the good 
guys. Why believe them? Subject them to the above litmus test. If they 
fail the test or are not prepared to take the test, then you know they 
are guilty like hell.

The author of KaiZenWare has expressed his view that he is prepared to 
give up his KaiZenWare software if he should lose a court battle against 
Asymetrix. But, unfortunately, Asymetrix will have to initiate legal 
action because the author of KaiZenWare is broke.

Why is Asymetrix against KaiZenWare? The main reason is that it sees 
KaiZenWare as a threat to the interests of its business partners. The 
author of KaiZenWare has been extremely generous. This is how KaiZenWare 
is distributed:

1. KaiZenWare is absolutely free. All versions will be available free.

2. You are free to use KaiZenWare in any manner you please inclusive of 
giving it away freely. Say you use KaiZenWare to create a tutorial, you 
could give your tutorial plus KaiZenWare to your students because (1) you 
may want them to learn multimedia authoring and (2) you may want them to 
draw pictures, add sound, etc.

3. Registration is based on only one consideration: Your desire to 
protect your intellectual property. This registration fee is paid only 
once and is valid for all versions. If you feel that your intellectual 
property is not worth protecting, use KaiZenWare freely.

4. The one-time registration fee for individual is S$28.80 and for 
organisations it is S$888.00.

If you were to compare KaiZenWare with Express Author from IAT (Express 
Author is one of the products which Asymetrix is protecting from the 
competition of KaiZenWare), you will find that not only is KaiZenWare 
distributed on a very generous basis, KaiZenWare is much more powerful 
and sophisticated than Express Author. Does it make sense that Express 
Author is legal and KaiZenWare is illegal? What about the interests of 
consumers?

The help of the Internet community is needed. The case is simple: 
Asymetrix ought to resolve the whole mess immediately with the author of 
KaiZenWare. Asymetrix cannot use lies and dirty tactics like saying 
Express Author is legal because IAT is Asymetrix's business partner cum 
authorized training centre. 

Thank you.
P.S. We will assist the author of KaiZenWare and will continue to post 
anonymously as long as this matter is not resolved. Who to blame? Our 
view is that you should blame Asymetrix.


John Gossman wrote:
> 
>         "Whistle Blower", otherwise known as Jeffrey Tay, is wrong about his
> claims.  Toolbook is an authoring environment, with a powerful, extensive
> and free runtime.  The Toolbook licensing agreement does not allow, and has
> never allowed users to build their own authoring systems on top of the
> Toolbook runtime, without special permission from Asymetrix.  The reasons
> for this are clear.  Since the runtime has almost the full capabilities of
> the authoring version, it would be possible for people to re-write the code
> editor and a few other items, and then sell a product that would compete
> directly with Toolbook,  almost exclusively built from Asymetrix code,
> without paying any royalties to Asymetrix.
>         Mr. Tay received a one-time exception to the Toolbook licensing agreement
> for version 1.53 of Toolbook to sell his software--free of charge.  IAT
> received a similar agreement.  Both products are authoring tools, but were
> restricted enough that it was felt they enhanced, but did not compete with
> Toolbook.  As later versions of Toolbook came out, IAT negotiated new
> license agreements.  Jeffrey Tay did nothing to contact Asymetrix for 3
> years, and then suddenly demanded full rights to the latest runtime.  If
> Mr. Tay had been patient and reasonable Asymetrix would probably have
> negotiated with him.  Mr. Tay has expressed to me that he is financially
> strapped--unfortunately, his desperation led him to make poor business
> decisions (including spamming USENET using the e-mail alias of an Asymetrix
> employee).
> 
>         John Gossman
>         Asymetrix
> 
> P.S.  This statement is not official, or sanctioned by Asymetrix.   It is
> based on my personal understanding of the issues. I am not a lawyer, or
> business-man.  I am the technical lead on Toolbook, and as an engineer
> tried to mediate in good faith between Mr. Tay and our business people.  I
> failed.
> 
> Whistle Blower <whistle@blower.com.sg> wrote in article
> <329E1E7E.3F47@blower.com.sg>...
> > Raffi Nizamian wrote:
> > > There are several issues that might come up in such a hypothetical
> which
> > > I have not mentioned. Any additional thoughts?
> > > In fact, this is a real-life case. The company involved is Asymetrix
> and the product
> > involved is ToolBook. Asymetrix claimed that they have changed their
> licensing agreement
> > such that a software called KaiZenWare created in 1993 is deeemed
> illegal.
> >
> > They recognise KaiZenWare as legal in so far as the 1993 version is
> concerned. The 1993
> > version refers to Asymetrix ToolBook Runtime version 1.53. Asymetrix says
> that
> > KaiZenWare is legal only if it runs under runtime 1.53. KaiZenWare is
> illegal the
> > moment it is run outside of runtime 1.53.
> >