Rant about iBasic (Pyxia) being sold... Felt wronged.....

mlwhitt · Post by **mlwhitt** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 9:15 pm

As mentioned in this viewtopic.php?t=15021 thread Pyxia is selling their company (they are the makers of iBasic).

I am kinda upset with the way Paul (the owner) did things recently. While I am a proud PureBasic owner, I had followed iBasic's development as well. Recently he posted a thread about losing his house and put up copies of iBasic at a reduced rate on ebay. The rate was fair and Paul seems like a good guy so I purchased a copy.

Well the thread ended up turning into nothing short of (please donate money.... blah blah blah) to which many of the iBasic community did for him. And after he sells a dozen or so copies (at least) of iBasic Gold and other stuff, he turns around and puts the company up for sale on Ebay.

I am glad that I know the PureBasic team will not do something like this to us. It is very upsetting to help someone out and then have that happen. I feel like Paul was planning on selling the company all along and thought he would milk some sales before he listed the company.

Maybe I am just being picky or snotty about the deal, what do you guys think?

By the way some of you I am sure saw the thread in question, well it has since been removed. I wonder why?

theNerd · Post by **theNerd** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 10:00 pm

mlwhitt, I gave you a response over at the other forum but did not say everything I wanted to say (I didn't want the message deleted and I really do hope Paul does well and I was honest in my assesment of the IBasic language.) I also don't want to make a negative impact on the community or on his potential sale of Pyxia.

Here are my other thoughts:

I am very soft on this issue with him because I have several children myself and have been through tough times. Without the help of others in the past I would not be where I am. So, yes, I am a pushover. Although I owned the Standard version for several weeks (I payed $14.99 but I neverly really used it) I talked my wife into allowing me to buy the Ebay IB Pro CD. My reasoning was mostly charity. I also figured that the IBasic Pro language was not so bad so I figured the deal was okay. My wife had suspicions that he was milking his very kind forum members but I assured her, he really needs the help and he had children. I really did not want him to end up on the street.

On his EBay page where he has the business for sale he states it makes approx. $2,000 a month (which is not much.) A fair amount of that money, I believe, was made through the generousity of his long time forum members. *If* someone buys Pyxia, I do not believe it will make as much unless the new owner is very talented as a programer and takes the business in a slightly different direction. The truth is, I believe the business is dead. However, I am still holding out hope that he will not leave those generous long time members in the dark. I at least hope he will allow them to continue the development of it through open source or something - not so much for my sake but for the sake of his dedicated old timers who he really owes a lot to.

One last comment. If the business goes under, IBasic newbies like you and I will probably never use IBasic again because there will be little motivation to do so. I like PureBasic and I have pre-ordered the 2D side scrolling book coming out (I am very excited about that.) Unless there is a successful open source movement that builds a community with more members or an awesome individual or company that buys it, I think the remaining community will be too small to encourage IBasic newbies like us to pursue learning it any further. I can't justify an investment in time to learn a language that is dead for all practical purposes. On the other forum I used the example of a good quality screwdriver. Its usefulness is still there even if the company that manufactured it goes under. However, because IBasic is not simple to use like a screwdriver, that statement is more accurate for those who already know IBasic. In that case, yes, it is still useful.

All-in-all, I *really* do wish Paul and his family well. I also do think it is time to let the business go and let the language go open source (or something along those lines.)

mlwhitt · Post by **mlwhitt** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 10:08 pm

Thanks for your replies theNerd. It is nice to know someone feels similar to me. I think my biggest problem is that I feel had in some ways. I knew that he was trying to milk sales, but I didn't think he would do that and then turn around and try to sell the company. You are right about most likley not even using it anyway as PureBasic fits all my needs perfectly as it is. Can't wait for the 2d book either.

I do think it was kinda sneaky that he removed the (Begging thread) and all. Hiding hiding the fact that he did prompt people to purchase it (even if it was at a discount, I think fully knowing that he was planning on selling the company after he got some nice sales in).

I kinda wondered about that $2000 a month figure as well.

Oh well, just another $50 down the drain I guess. My wife wasn't real happy that I spent the money anyway as like your wife she thought he was just outright begging for money.

I do wish him the best, but I honestly wonder how much and how long the support will truly last if he does sell the company.

theNerd wrote:mlwhitt, I gave you a response over at the other forum but did not say everything I wanted to say (I didn't want the message deleted and I really do hope Paul does well and I was honest in my assesment of the IBasic language.) I also don't want to make a negative impact on the community or on his potential sale of Pyxia.

Here are my other thoughts:

I am very soft on this issue with him because I have several children myself and have been through tough times. Without the help of others in the past I would not be where I am. So, yes, I am a pushover. Although I owned the Standard version for several weeks (I payed $14.99 but I neverly really used it) I talked my wife into allowing me to buy the Ebay IB Pro CD. My reasoning was mostly charity. I also figured that the IBasic Pro language was not so bad so I figured the deal was okay. My wife had suspicions that he was milking his very kind forum members but I assured her, he really needs the help and he had children. I really did not want him to end up on the street.

On his EBay page where he has the business for sale he states it makes approx. $2,000 a month (which is not much.) A fair amount of that money, I believe, was made through the generousity of his long time forum members. *If* someone buys Pyxia, I do not believe it will make as much unless the new owner is very talented as a programer and takes the business in a slightly different direction. The truth is, I believe the business is dead. However, I am still holding out hope that he will not leave those generous long time members in the dark. I at least hope he will allow them to continue the development of it through open source or something - not so much for my sake but for the sake of his dedicated old timers who he really owes a lot to.

One last comment. If the business goes under, IBasic newbies like you and I will probably never use IBasic again because there will be little motivation to do so. I like PureBasic and I have pre-ordered the 2D side scrolling book coming out (I am very excited about that.) Unless there is a successful open source movement that builds a community with more members or an awesome individual or company that buys it, I think the remaining community will be too small to encourage IBasic newbies like us to pursue learning it any further. I can't justify an investment in time to learn a language that is dead for all practical purposes. On the other forum I used the example of a good quality screwdriver. Its usefulness is still there even if the company that manufactured it goes under. However, because IBasic is not simple to use like a screwdriver, that statement is more accurate for those who already know IBasic. In that case, yes, it is still useful.

All-in-all, I *really* do wish Paul and his family well. I also do think it is time to let the business go and let the language go open source (or something along those lines.)

utopiomania · Post by **utopiomania** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 10:35 pm

As a three times registrered Ibasic user, all I can say about this is move on. I noticed the stink of it
long time ago, and dropped it eventually.

So, move on, forget about it, and eventually say welcome to a lot of new friends from over there.

Max. · Post by **Max.** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 12:49 am

I'm not into the whole story, but only as far as I read here, but I'd like to mind you that someone who spent years of his life to get a small business running that develops a time- (life) demanding product like iBasic has to be desperate to sell the company at all and even more the way he does.

theNerd · Post by **theNerd** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:08 am

Max, you are very right. I really do believe Paul is in a most dire position in order to cause him to give up 6 years of his life. He seems to be keeping fairly good spirits considering what he is going through.

One outstanding characteristic about Paul is his dedication and tirelessness in assisting the members of his forum. This has rightfully caused a very loyal following. People see his efforts and ernestness. I wish there was a rich person who was great with marketing who would buy Pyxia and pay Paul a salary (I believe he's a very hard worker.) Paul is not great with business but he *is* a great programmer.

Post by **Dare2** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 8:45 am

Bah!

I must be a hard-hearted cynic, but Bah!

He has been holding pity-parties for blooming years - and milking sympathy and crying wolf (and just crying) for years.

Glad we don't get that snivelling sort of drivel and suk-uppy on these boards.

zikitrake · Post by **zikitrake** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 9:38 am

I agree

mlwhitt · Post by **mlwhitt** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 5:28 pm

I got to agree too, after all I feel for "what am I going to do?" plea.