Sunday, February 27, 2000

Carmack on Zoid departure -- 12:46 pm CST, Update by The Master

John Carmack made a Slashdot post concerning Zoid's departure from id. Check it:

I had talked with Zoid about it a few times over the years, and I think he is making a pretty good decision.

It wasn't always clear from the outside, but Zoid was a remote contractor, not an employee. It was a low key relationship that worked out well for all of us. He stayed in canada and basically worked on whatever he liked, because I thought he had pretty good judgement. He had responsibility for the linux ports and the CTF code, but much of his time was his to allocate as he wanted.

With Loki now picking up the maintenance of the linux port (as well as my steadily increasing involvement with linux), and a new game design starting at Id, his choice was basically to either go develop a brand new Q3 mod by himself, or go work for one of the many gaming companies that had been trying to hire him.

We weren't interested in bringin on another core programmer at id, especially another one with immigration hassles (we have had enough issues with that for a small company). We would have been happy to continue the current arrangement indefinately, but he wanted to get out of the holding pattern.

Another thing he mentioned that I am sympathetic to is the desire to get a bit out of the community limelight. Being a public figure of some note isn't always all it is cracked up to be.

We are parting on the best of terms (leaving right AFTER a project completes is the considerate way to go). He is going to finish up the Quake2 linux updates (better X/GLX support), even if he has to complete the work from his new job.

Saturday, February 26, 2000

New Webdog and Webpuppy -- 9:14 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

New versions of the Webdog and Webpuppy news and .plan file programs have been released. You can snag them on Webdog's download page.

Domination Winners -- 3:16 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

The top three Domination maps in the Make Something Unreal contest have been chosen. They are:

1. DOM-Reliquary by ruineR
2. DOM-Hysteria by Entropy
3. DOM-Syncronicity ][ by No ReMoRsE

Congratulations to one and all! Next up is the category I'm really looking forward to: Assault maps.

Further Reason to Boycott Amazon.com -- 9:58 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Amazon.com managed to paint a great big DoS target on itself. According to this article on CNet, the trained monkeys at the U.S. Patent Office have issued Amazon a patent for affiliate programs. Affiliate programs are where a website will display a portion of an online retailers catalog and gets a cut of the sales from referrals. Expect another round of lawsuits, just like with their "one-click" patent fiasco.

I urge everyone to Barnes and Noble, Buy.Com's Book section, or any other online bookseller, but NOT Amazon. The only way these people will learn is to hit them where it hurts--the pocketbook. It'd also be nice if someone would buy the Patent Office a clue. Thanks Slashdot.

Now that I think about it, this is a great time to visit noamazon.com.

Zoid Leaves id -- 9:45 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

id's David "Zoid" Kirsch, the father of Capture-the-Flag, updated his .plan with the news that he will soon be leaving id. Here's a snip:

I feel that I have learned a lot in my time with id, but I find myself looking for new challenges. I have decided that in order to pursue them, I must leave my association with id Software. Having done so, I plan on exploring new opportunities.
. . .
In March, I will begin a new position at Retro Studios, http://www.retrostudios.com/. I look forward to joining the team there and working on some exciting new projects.

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