Two things from Linux and Main today:

One: Software maker Loki — a firm which made ports of popular game titles to Linux — has almost disappeared completely. Loki has been screwed since they stopped paying their employees in December of 2000. Throughout 2001, they gave some employees “advances” on their salaries, not bothering to tell them that the company was not paying taxes on the advances. Thus, the employees were given 1099 tax forms instead of W-2s, effectively making them pay the taxes on their earnings that Loki should have withheld and paid. This is insult to injury, as many of the employees are still owed salary. Lesson learned: if they don’t pay, walk away.

Two: A blast from the past about the ill-fated release of OS/2 Warp, which was supposed to be the “next big thing” in 1995… at least until Microsoft came along, leveraging their mighty marketing machine and the forces of inertia. Microsoft is not the only one to blame for OS/2’s demise; IBM also provided some friendly fire. I was a big OS/2 fan at the time, having had bought and used OS/2 faithfully for a few years. I remember lying in bed in hospital after being diagnosed with viral meningitis (I don’t recommend getting it) on the day that Windows 95 was launched and thinking that OS/2 would destroy it.

Two months later, I saw the light. I bought a copy of Windows 95, and never looked back. Microsoft uber alles!