Slashdot Mirror
Oculus: ZeniMax Claims Over Rift Tech Are "False"
An anonymous reader writes "Unsurprisingly, Oculus VR has denied claims that John Carmack stole technology when he left Zenimax. From the article: 'Oculus VR just sent across an email outlining in seven points what it views as ZeniMax's specious claims about Doom-creator John Carmack and Oculus' virtual reality technology. Last week, ZeniMax accused Oculus VR Chief Technology Officer (and former id Software Doom mastermind) John Carmack of taking "proprietary technology and know-how" with him when he departed the Rockville, Maryland-based Elder Scrolls and Dishonored publisher for a job with Oculus.'"
The company that makes Elder Scrolls? Did he steal their new crash every five minutes no matter how many years they spend developing the game technology?
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is the magic number.
In my state, there is no such thing as proprietary know-how. If you don't want someone taking their experience elsewhere, you pay them more, if you don't like that, you're in the wrong state. Of course, this state also has a habit of completely nullifying non-compete clauses that are ridiculous as well, for instance a non-compete clause that extends beyond the state boundaries will almost certainly be completely ignored by the courts. My former employer found out the hardware when they wrote my non-compete as a nation wide non-compete. The court didn't say it was limited to NC or local, it flat out nullified the whole non-compete and released me from my obligations to it across the board.
They don't take kindly on trying to turn someone into a slave, which is ironic considering I'm in 'the south'
Stealing code or any data is a different story, but if Carmack had some special experience in his brain that he took with him, Zenimax could go fuck themselves.
Note: My state is not involved in any of this, just throwing it out there.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Ahm.. that "boring publisher" was paying him to research and prototype VR headsets. This is actually a good example of why older companies are often nervous about researching new technologies, the pattern of paying people to do research and then they leave to do a startup is an old and frustrating issue in tech. Companies start to feel like they are bankrolling the research phase of startups but not getting a return on it.
They also canned the VR project before he left.
their fault for not paying him more, I have heard the bullshit line from employers before...
VP of engineering :"We cant afford to lose you"
Me: "Ok, they are offering me XXX you give me XXX*20% and I'll stay"
VP of engineering:" We cant afford that"
Me: "So it seems you CAN afford to lose me, as you refuse to pay me what I am worth."
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Me: "So it seems you CAN afford to lose me, as you refuse to pay me what I am worth."
Or even twenty percent of what you're worth.
So why does someone leave and create a startup like that anyway? Oh yeah, to get more money.
Not necessarily. There are a whole ton of nonmonetary reasons why people do things like this. For example, to get creative, technical, or professional control, to escape a terrible employer or working conditions, or (as appears to be the case here) to work on technologies or projects that interest you the most.
Pay is important, but isn't everything.
Oculus VR denied claims that John Carmack stole Zenimax technology. From the article: 'Last week, ZeniMax accused John Carmack, Oculus VR Chief Technology Officer and former id Software Doom mastermind, of taking "proprietary technology and know-how". Oculus VR countered ZeniMax's claims in a seven-point statement. John Carmack departed Zenimax, the Rockville, Maryland-based publisher of Elder Scrolls and Dishonored, for a job with Oculus, the Irvine, California-based producer of the Oculus Rift VR Headset.'"
Fixed the summary and the article it quoted from.
Support my political activism on Patreon.
I can see this situation playing out in a lot of companies
Employee: Hey, I've got this [great idea]. It's innovative and likely to be popular. Here's how it works.
Corp: Sounds nice, but there's no guarantee it'll make money. Instead we'll just put out a sequel [game] 2 or perhaps introduce [new game] based on [game]'s existing technology. Maybe we'll get to your idea eventually
Employee: OK, we've done that. Now about that idea
Corp: Sorry, we'll need you to work on [game] 3 now. But look, it's got prettier graphics
Employee: I'm outta here. Nobody listens to my suggestions and so I'm going to [NewCorp] who is interested in my ideas
Corp: Hey, NewCorp implemented [great idea] and is making money off of them. We should sue because obviously they stole it from us.
Me: "Ok, they are offering me XXX you give me XXX*20% and I'll stay"
Proposal Accepted.
-