I used to make fun/hate the guy, but nowadays I can tell her really cares about games, he just bit more then he could chew and was too inexperienced to properly deal with it.
The bit about being non-confrontational (and this being a hindrance during the Ion Storm days) also hits home. I would have spiraled out of control myself in that position I'm sure.
I 100% believe the story about how he was goaded into doing this, rather than beating the sorry of jerk that think that's hilarious.
Romero was impulsive and a bit naive (go read his IRC logs from the day!), and this is the shirt of stuff I can see someone who acts like an overstimulated 14yo doing.
I can't find it right now, but there was a collection of crazy stuff he said on IRC while Quake was in development. Basically promising the world (e.g. the dragon). Very energetic, but clearly not well thought out.
This has been mentioned extensively before, and corroborated by other people. I think it's true. He had an old podcast he'd ask old time Apple II/PC developers about stuff they developed, and they'd be struggling to remember stuff that Romero knew every detail of. It's remarkable, and even a bit frustrating to listen.
Also, about some stuff not mentioned in the book... I do think it gets light in details the further it goes, but you also need to read the disclaimer: there are people who asked not to be covered in the book and he respected that. There's one particular storyline that is never mentioned at all... to me it's very clear the person involved likely asked not to be mentioned because they've moved on.
When one's writing from the first person, about friends and acquaintances, they have to be more polite than someone who's acting like a neutral observer, like in "Masters of Doom".
>There's one particular storyline that is never mentioned at all... to me it's very clear the person involved likely asked not to be mentioned because they've moved on.
From reading their reaction online, the author is certainly not concerned with some people feeling hurt by the example video. Rather amused, it seems to me in fact.
Another concern for him is the controversy it generates.
When hiring for a job or a project, managers are going to search for Sam Lavigne and see this. Although depending on the business and project, that might be good or bad.
They are questions that have gotten some coherent response from about five out of six people, but generally only get a good, clear, robust response from one out of six people.
Usually they touch on different areas - I don't ask three questions about function parameters, I ask about very different topics, as theoretically they may be weak on one area and strong on another (although usually people have the same level of strength over all areas in my experience).
I don't really worry about asking the same questions to each candidate, since if they hit the ones I always ask out of the park but then struggle on ones I only sometimes, or rarely, or never ask, I would find that odd.
I might adopt questions to what they have on their resume, but generally it takes a while to adapt to a newer question. If we start using a new language more and an old language less, I probably will adapt questions to the new language and so on.
Ugh, same. Bought a Brother laser scanner/printer that has been a delight. I don't print much, but it does its job stashed away in my closet through wifi. I can even print from my phone. I've used maybe 3 toners in about 10 years and it still works perfectly.
Would also buy a new Brother without even considering other brands. Sad to hear it might be going downhill as well.
Everybody starts making zero (or negative) dollars.
I have no positive view of Bolt myself, but in a situation like this VCs are putting money on future prospects/growth potential, not the early revenue.
The intro story soured me on the guy. Millions of dollars to move a few trees for a party feels like a maybe waste of resources. That's not the sort of mentality I expect from design leadership on any company, even Apple.
And tbqh Ive always represented the worst of form over function to me. The puck mouse was ridiculous, as was a bunch of stuff he created or sponsored.
The bit about being non-confrontational (and this being a hindrance during the Ion Storm days) also hits home. I would have spiraled out of control myself in that position I'm sure.