Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92 14:47:36 From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333 To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111 Subj: Next six messages ^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 29789268 I am forwarding you the next six messages because I was a little concerned with Bill's warning about documents authored by JoHo and published using your marks by me. I have no idea if there's any reason to worry about getting involved in senseless bullshit, but when lawyers (I pronounce it as "liars" myself ) are involved, you have to be careful. Maybe you want to make check with check with your lawyer and make sure that nothing I do can get you tangled up in legallistic red tape. I have absolutely no reason to believe or disbelieve the "facts" presented in these messages. As far as I'm concerned, JoHo is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and even then I may still not believe he is guilty. I really don't know enough first hand to make a judgement. I'm not trying to spread gossip (the messages have obviously received wide distribution in zone 3 already and will probably be here in zone 1 soon). It's just I take our agreement seriously and don't want to cause you any legal problems. I intend to go on publishing anything I receive that I feel has some connection to FTSC's charter. The only exceptions are documents that encourage or aid illegal conduct, documents that I do not receive directly from the author, documents that are obviously copyrighted by other entities, or documents that contain obscenity (and I'm no prude) or personal attacks that could be considered libel. To date, I have published every word I have received. On another topic: would you like me to submit documents I publish to you as FidoNews articles? It might carry the discussion of new proposals to more people around the world. I hope you and your loved ones had a good holiday season. Rick Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92 15:06:04 From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333 To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111 Subj: Memo (1 of 6) ^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 297896bc * Original From: Bill Bolton (3:711/403) * Original To : Rick Moore (1:1/20) Rick, I am passing on the message below (and in the following five parts) for your information. This involves commercial rather than technical issues and so you can make of it what you will. I thought you might want to be aware of it as it potentially effects the distribution in Zone 3 (possibly elsewhere as well) of items JoHo provided to FTSC during his period in Australia. Both FSC-0046.A02 and FSC-0053.A01 fall into this category. Cheers, Bill ===== * Crossposted in Region 50 Sysop Conference * Crossposted in Front Door Conference * Crossposted in Zone 3 Sysop Conference * Crossposted in INTLnet - Int'l Sysop's Echo * Crossposted in INTLnet - Zone 58 Sysop's Only MEMO INTRODUCTION From what I can understand, people that are involved in the Fidonet community and particularly those involved with and using the Front Door and Tosscan products have been over the past year getting conflicting and contradictory reports about Front Door (FD), its ownership ,its distribution and the rights to sell Front Door. To date I have refrained from entering into or disclosing any details about FD , about Joaquim (JH) and my involvement with the Front Door project . I had been counselled by my lawyers that such a delicate and legal matter was best disclosed and thrashed out in the court rooms and that the Fidonet network was not the correct forum for disclosing information. I have always been aware of the fact that large sections of the people involved in the Fidonet network thrive on gossip and innuendo and generally have nothing better to do than to fabricate and spread false , malicious, slanderous and damaging information about other people. Because of this, I have also refrained, not wanting to be seen to have stooped to this level. Furthermore being largely involved in the commercial world I am also aware of the potential for libel . Having said all of the above then why have I now decided that the TRUE facts about Front Door, Joaquim and myself need to be spelled out. The reason is simple. Having already lost a fortune to Joaquim I have nothing left to lose but my name and reputation and it is THIS very thing above ALL else that has prompted me to finally disclose the facts about the Front Door Project and Joaquim. In the business world THE most important asset a person has is not his money but his name and his reputation. Therefore rather than have my name and reputation maligned, sullied and misconstrued because people are not aware of or not in possesion of the true and full facts , I have decided to provide it. They say that the beginning of wisdom is to call a thing by its right name so in this case let me present the facts to you and then you can arrive at an informed opinion about the matter on your own. > continue next message < --- InterMail 2.01b * Origin: Canyen Software - Not Just A Big Hole! (3:632/313) Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92 15:06:38 From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333 To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111 Subj: Memo (2 of 6) ^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 297896de * Original From: Bill Bolton (3:711/403) * Original To : Rick Moore (1:1/20) * Crossposted in Region 50 Sysop Conference * Crossposted in Front Door Conference * Crossposted in Zone 3 Sysop Conference * Crossposted in INTLnet - Int'l Sysop's Echo * Crossposted in INTLnet - Zone 58 Sysop's Only THE BACKGROUND About 3 or more years ago a Mr. Peter Stewart was approached by Joaquim to be involved in developing an E-Mail system. Peter was involved as a full partner and they jointly developed the Front Door package up to the release of ver 1.99c. The development of FD was along the following lines. Peter Stewart developed The Interface the Mailer the Nodelist compiler and the Editor Joaquim developed Front Doors Setup program and some of the Protocols. The FUNDING for this development came from a number of sources. It was not funded by Joaquim. At the end of the 1.99c development JH proceeded too end the partnership with Peter Stewart. Through David Nugent I invited Joaquim to Australia to do some software development. At this stage I had other projects I was interested in doing . When Joaquim came to Australia he convinced me into funding the next version of Front Door. His convincing arguments were that he or at least James had about 600 orders ready to be fulfilled IF ONLY WE HAD VER 2.00. We felt that Front Door should be developed along commercial lines with a lot more commercial features and requirements than it had at the time. I had at this stage already PAID for Joaquims airfare to come to Australia. For the next 12 months I PAID Joaquim a weekly WAGE while he developed what became to be called Front Door ver 2.00. > continue next page < --- InterMail 2.01b * Origin: Canyen Software - Not Just A Big Hole! (3:632/313) Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92 15:07:06 From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333 To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111 Subj: Memo (3 of 6) ^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 297896fa * Original From: Bill Bolton (3:711/403) * Original To : Rick Moore (1:1/20) * Crossposted in Region 50 Sysop Conference * Crossposted in Front Door Conference * Crossposted in Zone 3 Sysop Conference * Crossposted in INTLnet - Int'l Sysop's Echo * Crossposted in INTLnet - Zone 58 Sysop's Only The other major components that I paid to have developed for ver 2.00 was 1. All programming work done between 1.99c and 2.0 2. FDCD ( The Communications Driver) 3. The Install program 4. The Documentation The total cost to date was around $140,000.00. This figure does not include Opportunity costs or Interest rates. If these were considered then the figure would be closer to $250,000.00 It may come as a surprise to some of you that a large part of the commercial ideas that went into ver 2.0 came from David Nugent. Any of you who have known David well , know that he is a fountain of ideas both conceptually and technically. The balance came from a group of well known beta testers. Some time in July of 1990 JH and myself signed some preliminary legal documents . When version 2.00 was officially released I had some additional legal documents prepared. These documents detailed the amount of monies spent on the ver 2.00 project by myself. It also detailed a royalty scheme that Joquim had to comply to. The Agreement ensured that I retained OWNERSHIP of all the components that I paid for until Joaquim had paid IN FULL the amounts outstanding. To date and almost one year later I have not received ONE CENT in royalty payments from Joaquim as per our agreement. I have tried everything possible outside the legal channels to ensure that he repays the money but to no avail. It has therefore become obvious that I have been taken as a sucker and for a ride and that Joaquim never ever did intend to repay back any of the moneys that were lent to him or used to fund the project. > continue next message < --- InterMail 2.01b * Origin: Canyen Software - Not Just A Big Hole! (3:632/313) Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92 15:08:28 From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333 To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111 Subj: Memo (4 of 6) ^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 2978974c * Original From: Bill Bolton (3:711/403) * Original To : Rick Moore (1:1/20) * Crossposted in Region 50 Sysop Conference * Crossposted in Front Door Conference * Crossposted in Zone 3 Sysop Conference * Crossposted in INTLnet - Int'l Sysop's Echo * Crossposted in INTLnet - Zone 58 Sysop's Only My buisness relationships with people have always been above board and done with the gentlemans handshake. It should be pointed out that as a direct result of my investing in the Front Door ver 2.00 and because the completion of the project took 6 months longer than it should , I eventually lost my family home and other assets. Over the past 5 months I have since discovered that there are at least FIVE other people and companies that have been in my situation with Joaquim. These people and companies have over the past 3 to 4 years lent him money or funded the development of Front Door. On every occassion legal documents were signed and verbal promises made and on EVERY occassion Joaquim has broken his promise. Why does He now live in Luxembourg ? Because the legal jurisdiction makes it a very expensive exercise for anyone chasing him to recover monies. THE CURRENT LEGAL POSITION So what is the current situation with front Door and myself? . Well the answer is as follows a. Joaquim has been stopped from using the following components in Front Door 1. FDCD (the communications driver) 2. The Install programme 3. The manual/documentation or any derivation of the manual b. I currently own the name Front Door for the area of Australia. As a result no one will be allowed to use the name in a product or in any literature , advertising etc. > continue next message < --- InterMail 2.01b * Origin: Canyen Software - Not Just A Big Hole! (3:632/313) Original Message Date: 18 Jan 92 15:09:38 From: Rick Moore on 1:115/333 To: Tom Jennings on 1:125/111 Subj: Memo (5 of 6) ^AMSGID: 1:115/333.0 29789792 * Original From: Bill Bolton (3:711/403) * Original To : Rick Moore (1:1/20) * Crossposted in Region 50 Sysop Conference * Crossposted in Front Door Conference * Crossposted in Zone 3 Sysop Conference * Crossposted in INTLnet - Int'l Sysop's Echo * Crossposted in INTLnet - Zone 58 Sysop's Only c. I retain , pursuant to signed documents and due to a legally enforceable agreement between Joaquim and myself the exclusive distribution and liscenscee of the Front Door packaging. At this point in time we are in dispute with Joaquim and are currently enforcing our rights in the Australian Courts. Joaquim has elected NOT to come within the jurisdiction of the Australian Courts. Given the amount of expenditure and investment made by myself we herby give notice that Joaquim is NOT entitled to give licenses or sell Front Door in Australia, New Zealand or anywhere else in the world without my express consent. In the event that any person purports to hold such a license or attempts to distribute , market or sell Front Door , legal proceedings will be issued against them and this letter or Electronic mail will be used as proof of PRIOR knowledge. d. As far as we can tell it is unclear as to WHO REALLY OWNS the rights to Front Door. It would appear that the rights are held by more than one person and company that aided in the development and funding of the product. THE ALTERNATIVE As a result of all of the above, I no longer sell or support Front Door . This decision was VOLUNTARY and not enforced on me by JH since I still have the legal rights to duplicate and manufacture Front Door. I have however chosen to market a product called INTERMAIL. Intermail is a package written and developed by Mr. Peter Stewart who as you recall was the joint developer of Front Door up to version 1.99c. In my brief association with Peter over the past 4 months I have found him to be an absolute gentleman and honourable in all his dealings. For those who have not seen Intermail it looks and feels exactly like Front Door. Intermail has many advantages over Front Door. But one of the main advantages is that it is jointly owned and supported by a company called Scandinavian PC who is a $30 million dollar company and the largest software publisher in Scandinavia. Their commitment to the product will ensure that it will develop faster and be a more commercially viable product than Front Door ever will. Front Door is NOT well funded and if all the people that it owes money to win their legal case then Front Door will be even poorer for it. We estimate that Joaquim owes about $500,000.00 to people that have helped him and the Front Door project and this does not include the accuring interest. > continue next message < --- InterMail 2.01b * Origin: Canyen Software - Not Just A Big Hole! (3:632/313)