Euthanasia for an Eye Opener

["Charles A. Behney III" <charlesaugust@theriver.com>]

  This is a good example of how to form a cybernetic firing squad, making
  developers kill their darlings for stock options.
  
  http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/8870.html
  
  > But Redmond may have another card to play
  >                      against the Java suite. Several months ago,
  >                      the company quietly bought a small software
  >                      start-up called Coopers & Peters. At the time
  >                      of the acquisition, Coopers & Peters had
  >                      released a Java app called EyeOpener - a
  >                      demo framework for a Java-based suite
  >                      compatible with Office 95, and boasting an
  >                      Office-like user interface. 
  > 
  >                      "Microsoft paid more than US$20 million for
  >                      them and we've never seen any of those
  >                      products," says Rick Ross of the Java Lobby,
  >                      the independent developers group. 
  > 
  >                      "[EyeOpener] was my best hope. It ran on PCs
  >                      and Macs a year ago and these guys had an
  >                      unusual combination of insight and drive
  >                      going for them. It's the occurrence of a
  >                      phenomenon where Microsoft bought a
  >                      product right out of existence," he says. 
  > 
  >                      Neither Ted Peters nor Ken Cooper, both now
  >                      Microsoft employees, would return Wired
  >                      News phone calls. "We haven't been
  >                      commenting on the work they are doing," said
  >                      a Microsoft spokesman. "We have no plans to
  >                      ship the products they were working on prior
  >                      to the acquisition. 
  > 
  >                      "It is a particular topic we are not discussing
  >                      publicly," the representative said. 
  
  To win at Monopoly, it helps to own all the railroads.
  
  CAB