xPad

Odd timing but xPad was yesterday's Mac freeware application of the day at FreeMacWare.com. At least it didn't show up on MacZot again. I'm not sure that such a small program has generated this level of news and commentary before. The developer, Garrett Murray, wrote a bad contract, the purchaser, Brian Ball, exploited it, and now everyone is talking about an application that had been dormant for 2 years. I don't think the developer had much interest in updating the software -- I read his own statement to that effect on his site not long after version 1.0 of xPad came along. So it seems to me he got an offer that was probably a little inflated and took it without thinking that the way he'd written the contract, he might not get what he was expecting. Brian Ball may or may not have ever intended to fulfill the contract, but the way it was written worked out perfectly for a speculative venture. He could find out whether or not he could sell it and bail out if he wanted to, limiting his risk. He did that, but the way he did it -- not answering emails, continuing to sell the application beyond the time he'd paid for it -- is the crux of why most people are not happy with him. In the end, it's the same story you see again and again. The initial problem wasn't huge, but the failure to communicate honestly about it blows things up into something much worse. It will be interesting to see if MacZot can attract other developers who are willing to sell their software at a discount after this. It's already pretty clear that many customers won't be going back to MacZot.