They were contracted to design the (edit: low-level coin op hardware, etc) API for our new Internet-enabled touchscreen gaming network kiosks (world first at the time) and they were fucking useless. And then had the gall to present the piece of shit at the CGDG 1997, as a half-finished completely non-functional, but presented it like it was their own product and not a massive NDA violation. Presented like their own product which could be generically extended to other platforms. Fuck you Matt. Fuck you Monolith you fucking cunts.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 7 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

It sounds like your company could have sued them into oblivion. It's a violated a non-disclosure agreement that should be the end of their company.

[–] Krudler@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago

Such naïvety Sorry bro

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world -1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I'm still not getting why the level of hate here?

[–] msage@programming.dev 17 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

You pay someone to do X with a contract; they

take your money
not do X
instead show the idea of X, which is yours, as THEIR product, which doesn't even work
- voliating non-disclosure agreements in your contract
- doing untold damage to your business plans

Yeah, I don't know about anything else, but fuck Matt with a cactus.

[–] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 7 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Stories like these sound wild to most people but sadly they happen all the time. It‘s literally how Google got this big. Still makes me mad how they robbed and trolled Terravision out of their code now known as Google Earth. Not like it‘s a flagship for Google or money maker but they still literally stole the code via hard drive like they stole from so many others. The tech world is full of absolute asshats leeching off of the most talented. It‘s very evident in today‘s tech culture full of crypto, AI and whatnot.

[–] Krudler@lemmy.world 11 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

I'll tell you a secret. And this is coming from somebody that was at the top-top Top of the gaming world for 2 decades... 95% of tech people are complete frauds and charlatans. Its a miracle anything ever gets made. Look at today's coders... they don't even know what a computer does, they just download other people's modules, cobble them together and pray. The vast majority of people who self-identify as being in "comp sci" don't even understand the very basics.

[–] msage@programming.dev 5 points 14 hours ago

Can I subscribe to more of your experiences and insights?

[–] Lesrid@lemm.ee 1 points 13 hours ago

If you have a blog or memoir, I would love to peruse it