MikeTrader
2009-09-07 10:11:41 UTC
While a lot of the PowerBasic scandals could be categorized as a storm
in a teacup, the financial ruin of a developer cannot. First the
facts:
Tom Hanlin used to work for powerbasic
In 2005 Tom Hanlin purchased IBasic
Tom Hanlin recruited others including Michael H to develop for him
Tom Hanlin mysteriously and suddenly disappeared one day leaving
developers unpaid
The IBasic user group called the police to see if he was OK ( he was)
Finally IBasic ceased to be, and the website http://www.pyxia.com/
vanished.
Some people were left unpaid and posted in community forums:
Tom has reappeared on another forum. I am only posting this because I
know there are still many of you he owes money or product to...
Brice Manuel May 16, 2008, 08:01:22 PM
http://www.codingmonkeys.com/index.php?topic=1692.0
Mr Hanlins response on May 16th, 2008, 11:44 PM was:
I do not have a company site, nor do I do distribution.
http://www.powerbasic.com/support/pbforums/showthread.php?p=285273#post285273
So It seems that powerbasic might in fact own IBasic as rumored
especially since Mr Zale went to the trouble of announcing that Mr
Hanlin has returned to powerbasic:
http://www.powerbasic.com/support/pbforums/showthread.php?t=33262
The thread proved something of an embarrassment and is now deleted it
seems, but quoted here:
http://www.allbasic.info/forum/index.php?topic=748.msg2527
along with some heavy handed attempts to suppress the mere mention of
it.
So why all the fuss?
Well it seems some good people got badly hurt, like for example
Michael H, who was upset enough to protest that Mr Hanlin will not
return messages. The powerbasic Forum Admin (Mr Zale) deleted this
thread.
This did not go un-noticed in the community and a thread was begun on
the ThinBasic forum simply titled "IBasic" that begun: "Michael, Looks
like your post has been promptly removed, however i get a copy of it
by e-mail..."
http://community.thinbasic.com/index.php?topic=2861.0
This thread was closed by the ThinBasic forum Admin Eros Olmi. In
another thread I petitioned Eros to reopen the thread arguing that the
effects of getting ripped off by un-scroupulous developers can be as
devastating as compiler bug that sinks your project. The community
should be informed and the reputation of these individuals tracked as
any online venue like ebay does.
Eros reopened the thread and I asked Michael H to clearly state what
had happened.
Re: IBasic
Reply #13 Aug 31st at 10:30:40 pm
Hi Mike,
I was talking about Tom Hanlin III. My post was on the PowerBasic
support forum but was quickly deleted by Bob Zale, like nothing
happened.
T.H. was an important part of PowerBasic I think before. I'm not sure
if he worked for them but I think he did. He bought Pyxia around 2005
when its former owner sold it. After the former owner left the PYXIA
community, T.H. asked me if I wanted to maintain and develop the 2D
game pack of IBasic Pro. We made an agreement and I was promised to be
payed for it. I did my job, enhanced the command pak by 100%,
delivered and supported it. Then out of the blue, T.H. disappeared
from the PYXIA site. Then the support forum got hacked, and we thought
it was an inside job. Never the less, some others and me did our best
to keep the PYXIA community alive in a new place now called
codingmonkeys.com , hoping T.H. would come back soon. But he didn't.
Someone even asked the police at the time to help, because we thought
something happened to him. We got told, that he was very fine, just
denied to have anything to do with PYXIA. So he dumped the whole PYXIA
stuff and he never dared to contact me or others that were helping
him. And now I saw a "Please welcome T.H. back at PYXIA" topic in the
PB forums. And there I had my say.
We were joking around before, if PB was behind PYXIA case, as it was a
competitor to PB at the time. It was just joking. But now T.H. is back
at PB, you can certainly think twice about everything. Neverless, he
didn't fullfill his part of the agreement, that's why I hate him. He
screwed me, point blank.
I'm not sure if IBasic Pro is still sold, but I heard that it is.
Btw. aren't you working for PB? I got the imagination somehow.
Michael
He went on to inform the community that he was on the verge of
personal bankruptcy, so I asked why Mr Zale delete the thread and if
he had been banned. The next day,Monday Morning Sept 1st, the thread
was gone and the forum had a new member:
[IMG]Loading Image...
[/IMG]
Coincidence perhaps?
Next I get a terse email from Eros informing me "we have spent a lot
of time creating this place and I cannot permit you to destroy it" and
then Michael H "I don't want to talk about this PYXIA and PB thing
anymore"!
Mr Zale, since you deleted the IBasic thread on your forum, it is
abundantly apparent that you are behind the deletion of the thread on
the ThinBasic forum and the sudden change of heart of Eros Olmi and
his friend Michael H (I hope you are not going to try to deny this)
As a member of the development community, I would expect you be as
outraged as we are, and rapidly distance yourself, and powerbasic,
from these kinds of people. Perhaps you would also care to explain WHY
you have hired someone that has such a questionable reputation and
feel compelled to go to such lengths to cover it up? How can consumers
expect fair treatment when you hire people that operate with this kind
of deception and dishonesty?
4 years ago IBasic sold for $50k:
http://www.purebasic.fr/english/viewtopic.php?p=94746&highlight=&sid=6da425f3fd3a19ac3262018b2b6363a2
an inflation adjusted figure would be around $70k, so don’t you think
you could send a little to the guys that actually did the work on this
product?
Do you screen your employees at all? Since IBasic appears to have been
swallowed by powerbasic, perhaps you should step up to the plate and
get Michael paid. That's what a responsible member of the development
community would do.
Why are you not more concerned about the actions of one of your
employees? We are left to draw our own conclusions about why you are
not concerned about being victimized yourself by such a person... and
since his actions reflect directly on the reputation of powerbasic,
perhaps you could explain why you find it necesary to delete the
IBasic thread that Michael H posted to in the powerbasic forum?
in a teacup, the financial ruin of a developer cannot. First the
facts:
Tom Hanlin used to work for powerbasic
In 2005 Tom Hanlin purchased IBasic
Tom Hanlin recruited others including Michael H to develop for him
Tom Hanlin mysteriously and suddenly disappeared one day leaving
developers unpaid
The IBasic user group called the police to see if he was OK ( he was)
Finally IBasic ceased to be, and the website http://www.pyxia.com/
vanished.
Some people were left unpaid and posted in community forums:
Tom has reappeared on another forum. I am only posting this because I
know there are still many of you he owes money or product to...
Brice Manuel May 16, 2008, 08:01:22 PM
http://www.codingmonkeys.com/index.php?topic=1692.0
Mr Hanlins response on May 16th, 2008, 11:44 PM was:
I do not have a company site, nor do I do distribution.
http://www.powerbasic.com/support/pbforums/showthread.php?p=285273#post285273
So It seems that powerbasic might in fact own IBasic as rumored
especially since Mr Zale went to the trouble of announcing that Mr
Hanlin has returned to powerbasic:
http://www.powerbasic.com/support/pbforums/showthread.php?t=33262
The thread proved something of an embarrassment and is now deleted it
seems, but quoted here:
http://www.allbasic.info/forum/index.php?topic=748.msg2527
along with some heavy handed attempts to suppress the mere mention of
it.
So why all the fuss?
Well it seems some good people got badly hurt, like for example
Michael H, who was upset enough to protest that Mr Hanlin will not
return messages. The powerbasic Forum Admin (Mr Zale) deleted this
thread.
This did not go un-noticed in the community and a thread was begun on
the ThinBasic forum simply titled "IBasic" that begun: "Michael, Looks
like your post has been promptly removed, however i get a copy of it
by e-mail..."
http://community.thinbasic.com/index.php?topic=2861.0
This thread was closed by the ThinBasic forum Admin Eros Olmi. In
another thread I petitioned Eros to reopen the thread arguing that the
effects of getting ripped off by un-scroupulous developers can be as
devastating as compiler bug that sinks your project. The community
should be informed and the reputation of these individuals tracked as
any online venue like ebay does.
Eros reopened the thread and I asked Michael H to clearly state what
had happened.
Re: IBasic
Reply #13 Aug 31st at 10:30:40 pm
Hi Mike,
I was talking about Tom Hanlin III. My post was on the PowerBasic
support forum but was quickly deleted by Bob Zale, like nothing
happened.
T.H. was an important part of PowerBasic I think before. I'm not sure
if he worked for them but I think he did. He bought Pyxia around 2005
when its former owner sold it. After the former owner left the PYXIA
community, T.H. asked me if I wanted to maintain and develop the 2D
game pack of IBasic Pro. We made an agreement and I was promised to be
payed for it. I did my job, enhanced the command pak by 100%,
delivered and supported it. Then out of the blue, T.H. disappeared
from the PYXIA site. Then the support forum got hacked, and we thought
it was an inside job. Never the less, some others and me did our best
to keep the PYXIA community alive in a new place now called
codingmonkeys.com , hoping T.H. would come back soon. But he didn't.
Someone even asked the police at the time to help, because we thought
something happened to him. We got told, that he was very fine, just
denied to have anything to do with PYXIA. So he dumped the whole PYXIA
stuff and he never dared to contact me or others that were helping
him. And now I saw a "Please welcome T.H. back at PYXIA" topic in the
PB forums. And there I had my say.
We were joking around before, if PB was behind PYXIA case, as it was a
competitor to PB at the time. It was just joking. But now T.H. is back
at PB, you can certainly think twice about everything. Neverless, he
didn't fullfill his part of the agreement, that's why I hate him. He
screwed me, point blank.
I'm not sure if IBasic Pro is still sold, but I heard that it is.
Btw. aren't you working for PB? I got the imagination somehow.
Michael
He went on to inform the community that he was on the verge of
personal bankruptcy, so I asked why Mr Zale delete the thread and if
he had been banned. The next day,Monday Morning Sept 1st, the thread
was gone and the forum had a new member:
[IMG]Loading Image...
[/IMG]Coincidence perhaps?
Next I get a terse email from Eros informing me "we have spent a lot
of time creating this place and I cannot permit you to destroy it" and
then Michael H "I don't want to talk about this PYXIA and PB thing
anymore"!
Mr Zale, since you deleted the IBasic thread on your forum, it is
abundantly apparent that you are behind the deletion of the thread on
the ThinBasic forum and the sudden change of heart of Eros Olmi and
his friend Michael H (I hope you are not going to try to deny this)
As a member of the development community, I would expect you be as
outraged as we are, and rapidly distance yourself, and powerbasic,
from these kinds of people. Perhaps you would also care to explain WHY
you have hired someone that has such a questionable reputation and
feel compelled to go to such lengths to cover it up? How can consumers
expect fair treatment when you hire people that operate with this kind
of deception and dishonesty?
4 years ago IBasic sold for $50k:
http://www.purebasic.fr/english/viewtopic.php?p=94746&highlight=&sid=6da425f3fd3a19ac3262018b2b6363a2
an inflation adjusted figure would be around $70k, so don’t you think
you could send a little to the guys that actually did the work on this
product?
Do you screen your employees at all? Since IBasic appears to have been
swallowed by powerbasic, perhaps you should step up to the plate and
get Michael paid. That's what a responsible member of the development
community would do.
Why are you not more concerned about the actions of one of your
employees? We are left to draw our own conclusions about why you are
not concerned about being victimized yourself by such a person... and
since his actions reflect directly on the reputation of powerbasic,
perhaps you could explain why you find it necesary to delete the
IBasic thread that Michael H posted to in the powerbasic forum?