July 2011 - boston-lisp - mailman3.common-lisp.net

[boston-lisp] a bit of context
by David O'Toole 22 Jul '11

22 Jul '11

I felt obligated to disclose this email train because other programmers (possibly those on this list whom he may contact privately) should know that: 1. whatever he open-sources (before or after dec 21) may be subject to non-compete issues and patents; 2. Asking pointed questions about both non-compete and patents did not produce satisfying or complete answers, in that: 3. He appears to have danced around the non-compete issue, mentioning the agreement and its expiration date in the first email but then trying to explain why it wasn't going to be relevant to our discussion; 4. I had to find out about the patent from Google, even though it seems pretty reasonable to wonder whether a networked method for calculating newtonian physics interactions in a simulated virtual world could apply to server code for an online game, AND even though I had specifically mentioned patents as a general concern. If anything, my privately negative reaction to the non-compete agreement issue might have kept others from hearing about it later, which could be a problem, since the non-compete issue is what led me to the patent. If Mr. Morrison has violated any agreements in talking to me, that's not my problem.

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[boston-lisp] Fwd: restatement
by David O'Toole 22 Jul '11

22 Jul '11

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: David O'Toole <dto1138(a)gmail.com> Date: Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 3:09 PM Subject: Re: restatement To: John Morrison <john.nmi.morrison(a)gmail.com> Okay John, "Our goal for MAK was to commercialize the technology and make it available to game makers and video arcades." -- taken from this article by your MAK co-founder: http://www.entrepreneurship.org/en/resource-center/using-sbir-to-bootstrap-… Thanks for the lunch offer, but I'm not going to have an off-the-record discussion of any kind with you, I'm not going to look at or discuss code you've been working on that possibly violates a non-compete agreement still in force, and I'm not going to discuss my own future plans with someone who might open source "server side stuff" that involves his patent on networked physics simulations: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2F… http://www.google.com/patents?id=soEoAAAAEBAJ&zoom=4&dq=john%20morrison%20s… Was this patent research funded by public money? "The U.S. Government has a paid-up license in this invention and the right in limited circumstances to require the patent owner to license others on reasonable terms as provided for by the terms of contract no. DAAH01-91-C-R269 awarded by the Small Business Innovation Research agency (SBIR). This contract in no way limits the rights of non-government entities to request and receive licenses under the invention." >From the Katz article: "From an entrepreneur's standpoint, what's most remarkable about the SBIR program is that it essentially provides free venture capital from the federal government. Under the program, the government offers up to $850,000 in seed capital, requires no money back, takes no equity in the company, and retains few intellectual property rights to technologies developed with the funds." I don't think we have anything to discuss. On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 10:20 PM, John Morrison <john.nmi.morrison(a)gmail.com> wrote: > The non-compete does not "cover" any software, including anyd unreleased > software I have written. It precludes me from competing with that company > before that date. Competing means either selling or open sourcing software > into the niche market served by that company. I used the term "releasing " > to mean either selling or open sourcing. > > As to what I want to talk about, I was actually interested in what YOU want > to do with respect to Lisp and games. A hobby? A livelihood? An altruistic > activity to popularize Lisp? Something else? I hoped a discussion would > help both clarify my own thinking and perhaps identify some opportunities > for complementary endeavors. But no sweat if it's not your idea of a good > time. > > -jm > > -- John Morrison > > On Jul 21, 2011 9:47 PM, "David O'Toole" <dto1138(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> I could probably sum all this up by saying: >> >> 1. I don't want to discuss your unreleased work if you can't release >> it until the agreement expires, because that fairly obviously signals >> that it's covered by the agreement. >> >> 2. I really might give better answers if you told me in more detail >> what you want to talk about. > --------------- Hi John, before discussing things further I would want to be sure that our conversation would not in itself cause a legal problem for me in the future. i maintain a "clean room" for my projects, and left the software industry partly in order to be completely free and clear from any form of non-compete agreement, intellectual property/invention assignment agreements, and non-disclosure, as my ethical precepts disallow them. more to the point, I would need unambiguous assurance that the unreleased code you just mentioned, and any ideas we discuss (whether or not involved in the code, and whether or not i even see the code) will NOT be affected in any way by the agreement still in force between yourself and Mak. - Show quoted text - ----------- Hello David, Sorry to be brief. Am on family vacation & using itsy-bitsy phone to reply hopefully only to you. Am working on hopefully industrial strength lisp based simulation/game. Am located in MA. Would love to have a chat about what you're doing & what your goals are. Am under non-compete with simulation company I co-founded & sold (mak.com) - agreement is up 21 Dec this year. Have code in the can - mostly server stuff - but cannot release anything yet. Please reply if interested in chatting - I'll buy. -jm -- John Morrison - Show quoted text - > _______________________________________________ > boston-lisp mailing list > boston-lisp(a)common-lisp.net > http://lists.common-lisp.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/boston-lisp

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[boston-lisp] preparing for "Lisp Games and Visual Programming"
by David O'Toole 19 Jul '11

19 Jul '11

Hello everyone, Thanks for the opportunity to do another presentation. I've been very busy since January 09 and will have a lot to show (including hands-on demos with joysticks and possibly some dance pad stuff.) I've picked up an HD camcorder and will be bringing my friend Dana once again to help out with video recording and with the demos. He's also been working with Scheme in his graduate studies so that will be fun. I will need a projector or something (VGA or HDMI) for the visuals, but I will bring my own speakers. Last I heard there wasn't a venue yet for the meeting, so I thought I should mention it now. As I will be bringing quite a few pieces of equipment to Boston for this, and have a lot of material, I would prefer the same full-hour format as my 09 presentation. I have several topics to cover: 1. Some games I've released in Common Lisp in the last 2 years. Here's a video retrospective: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr3piK3T6a8 2. What the larger Lisp Games community has been doing in terms of various libraries, games, and projects. 3. My current work with Lisp visual programming and discussion of future directions. As I mentioned before, I'd love to give a dry run of my presentation to a few people sometime before the real event, to practice and collect feedback. What do you think?

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[boston-lisp] boston lisp meetings?
by David O'Toole 09 Jul '11

09 Jul '11

Are people still doing the Boston Lisp Meetings? I've been very busy since my January 2009 presentation :) http://lispgamesdev.blogspot.com/2011/06/blockyio-preview-video.html http://lispgamesdev.blogspot.com/2011/06/voronoia.html

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