From: Bob Jacobson <bluefire@well.com>
Subject: Re: INDUSTRY: Worldesign is dead!  Long live Worldesign!
Date: Thu, 03 Oct 1996 03:21:57 -0700
Organization: "NeoWorldesign," Seattle - +1-206-782-8747



[Moderators Note:
"Flaming" is against Sci.virtual-worlds' moderating policy.
However, since Paul Kilbride has his chance to speak, I feel
that we should allow Dr. Jacobson his online time.

Nonetheless, the tenor of this posting is of a
temperature not usually acceptable to the group.

-Toni Emerson]

Paul Kilbride of Virtual Worlds, Inc. wrote:

<...> 

> Virtual Worlds, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is dedicated to bringing
> virtual reality to the common man.  Perhaps because we are not on the
> west coast, but in a suburb of Chicago--do we have this view.  As in
> all technology -- when it becomes common place does it really serve
> the needs of the many.

<...>

Hey, Paul, gimme a break.  You've been doing virtual worlds since 1988
and no one knows about Virtual Reality Inc.?  To how many "common men"
have your brought virtual reality?  I guess I'm just not with it, but
for the entire four years in which I was involved with this newsgroup,
I never herd peep one from you or your well-established company, nor
anything about your accomplishments.  I doubt this had anything to do
with you're being in Chicago.  We heard plenty about the U of
Illionis- Chicago and the remarkable accomplishments of its Electronic
Visualization Lab.  Where were you?  This isn't a political issue,
friend: it's a business proposition.

If you were at all involved with VR, you would know that Worldesign
was set up as a professional company prepared to apply virtual worlds
techniques after spinning off from the HIT Lab in 1992.  We did not
set out to win awards.  We did not make our mission the advancement of
technology, though lord knows it needed it.  We served our clients
well.  We also underpriced our productions, and that's what doomed
Worldesign.

I don't appreciate your criticisms from out in left field when we were
in the heat of it, trying our damn best to wrest a living from a very
tough technology with which to work.  We broke a lot of ground, not
because we wanted to but because we had to.  I didn't see you out
there selling into Corporate America.  Can the criticisms until you
know what you're talking about.

Bob Jacobson
Founder and CEO
Worldesign Inc.
In cutting-edge Seattle