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We should stop criticizing Ken for selling Sierra.He sold Sierra to a certain two-faced a-hole who broke his promises that were made to keep the integrety of Sierra intact.And i’m sure,that all who are reading this,have had enough life experience to have been burned by a shady business partner or friend ,who stabbed You in the back.And like anything good in life lasts forever?no,every-good thing MUST COME TO AN END.The LAW OF ENTROPY.
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(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams)
Though not written in the best of English or termology, this poster is quite right.
I hold Ken and Roberta in the highest regard for running a business. They ran, to me, the most historically powerful PC game company ever. (Nintendo is the historically powerful on consoles.) To tread new ground and take the risks going along, writing the book as the road was being paved . . . in essence, Sierra, under the Williams, was all that is America and that America can be.
I feel that unless a person in a business owner of at least five years in entitled to offer insight or any sort towards any other business. And when I mean business, I mean small or large, OTC or publicly offered, contracted or creative.
Thanks to Ken, and the PowerPoint presentation he posted a while ago, it’s opened up even more success in my small business to know that even a large company like Sierra started out like me. I admire this forever from the Williams.
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(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams)
Ken did a fantastic job of getting Sierra On-Line on the map. Unfortunately the town where he created his dream was not big enough to handle a major business.
I did not always agree with where the company was going or like some of the products they were pushing. But they were always on the cutting edge.
I miss Oakhurst and wanted to blame Ken for having to leave. But time and experience have taught me that it had to happen or the company would die.
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(In a perfect world……) In a perfect world, things would be perfect. Nonetheless, Ken and Roberta are not the high priests of some unholy cult, but business people, and most excellect ones at that.
They ran a business and ran it extremeley well. Good for them. Bad for the morons that purchased it and didn’t have the smarts to keep it running.
What always impressed me and still impresses me about the Williams is their willingness to take risks, attention to detail and focus on the customer. If it was all so easy, then the new management would have had a free ride, but it’s not easy, which makes what Ken and Roberta accomplished even more amazing.
Don’t pay any attention to the knats in the peanut gallery Ken. You ran a hell of a business and ran it well.
Hope we get to see you two in action again sometime. -
(re: In a perfect world……)
100% agreed.
The problem is not to have sold but the incapacity to manage of the followers !
Of course we all share a sense of “what could Sierra have done had they not sold it”, but this is part of the business game.
We should all remain grateful to them for all the fun they gave us and even more for the fact that still now we keep sharing this dream and memory which in a way unites us 8even more valuable !)
Ciao,
Giovanni -
(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams) Kevin:
Thank you! And, good luck with whatever you are up to these days.
I added you to the list of ex-employees. You’ll notice that the next time you access this site, a hidden menu appears, giving you access to an area of the site which is for ex-employees only.
-Ken W
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(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams) What always impressed me and still impresses me about the Williams is their willingness to take risks, attention to detail and focus on the customer.
That’s very true – and it was industry recognized. I picked up a few computer magazines yesterday searching for Sierra advertisements and articles, and in reviews of products such as KQ:MOE and Phantasmagoria, the reviewers noted that even if everything Roberta tried to do didn’t work 100%, the important thing is that she was willing to get out there and take risks in pushing the technology.
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(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams)
Perhaps this is just my ignorance of how big business works, but did you (Ken) HAVE to sell Sierra? The one aspect of Sierra’s story that has always confused me is how successful or unsuccessful the company actually was. I’ve read how the games sold millions of copies, how great designers (such as Al Lowe and Roberta) were dedicated to the company, and how great Oakhurst was, then what happened? Was it that internet network that brought everything down? Was it piracy? Or did you (Ken) simply want to expand the business so you took other risks that didn’t pan out? Or was it simply that you were ready to leave and you wanted to sell for no other reason than to make money and split? Maybe these questions have been answered on another board or in another section of the site – if this is true, then would someone please point me in that direction? Otherwise, maybe giving some more information on this would answer a lot of questions that we the fans have.
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(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams) Ken actually just answered that question at the link below:
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(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams) Cool beans. I’ve resolved to not post any more until I’ve had a chance to review all of these boards – it seems like every time I get the urge to ask a question, I find it’s already been answered in the next thread I read.
I don’t have time for something like this, but perhaps someone with more time on their hands (anyone unemployed?) could prepare a FAQ which answers these questions that all the newbies seem to have that Ken seems to be nice enough to answer, in one form or another, over and over again.
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(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams)
I have compiled everything that Ken has said (of any importance) on these boards. I have it all on disk. The only question is now the time to go through it, and the format. A FAQ format is a great idea – it could be posted at the top of each relevant forum for newbies to read. Excellent idea – and I’ll get to work on it. I will have a lot more time these days to work on many different things for this site since school is now over for the semester. Except for the next couple of weeks I’m having internet / driver problems so I’m working to backup / re-arrange gigs of data before I re-install my OS.
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(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams) Wow – so you help Ken with this site? Very cool, and quite a prestigious internship, if you can call it that.
I mentioned this on another board, but I said some hurtful and disrespectful things about this site on Al Lowe’s board, dealing with the design. I’ve since come to learn that not only has Ken done all of it himself (impressing me greatly as opposed to him going cheap on a design firm, which was my original though) but he is actively involved in these boards. If he doesn’t find my original apology, I’d like to apologize again. Without getting insulting again, I know Ken has more than a few dollars in the bank so I figured he would hire a design firm to make something flashy, but this is much more personal and interesting.
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(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams) …I know Ken has more than a few dollars in the bank so I figured he would hire a design firm to make something flashy…
Actually .. I did hire a design firm – most of their work isn’t up yet though …
It’s not as easy as it sounds. The software behind this site is VERY complex, and is currently being used by 300+ websites. Every change impacts a LOT of people. Also, my product development group is small: me.
Actually, I recently hired a young man to assist me with product development, but he hasn’t really started yet. Thus far, his net impact is probably a negative. He’s a great guy, and will do fine — but, bringing him up to speed on a HUGE mountain of code has taken a lot of time.
In other words, you are seeing a work in process. It looks better now than it did six months ago, and will look better in six months. You can’t compare it to products with large teams of programmers who have been at it for years. At least not today — in a year, maybe. For now, it is what it is….
If you have specific features you’d like to see on the list, post them. I’m always looking for ideas, and love studying other sites, to see what good ideas I can borrow. I’ll be on my boat for the next three months, and am looking forward to getting a ton of work done (no distractions).
Don’t worry about apologizing. It isn’t necessary. I’ve seen a lot of software (possibly more than almost anyone alive). I know where the product behind this site is weak, and where it’s strong. I know where it’s cute and where it’s ugly. I know when it will be good enough to be considered a product. I also have a good sense of how much additional work needs to be done.
Most people would not expose their work in process to the outside world. Every product that has ever been developed went through an ugly-duckling phase. Most people just hide their ugly ducklings until they become swans. I don’t believe in that as a development strategy. I like the concept of real-world guided software development. Another of my “Ken’s Rules” is: give them something. Watch how they use it, and give them more of what they like, and less of what they don’t.
By involving customers in the design process, the ultimate product is better. Sure – there will be some people that are turned off by how the product looks now. That’s ok — I’m not selling the product, and I’m not charging anyone money. There will come a day when the product is at a point where it’s worth charging for — and, at that point, it will be beautiful. In the meantime, people can take it for what it is — or, not. I’ll let each of them decide on their own… my preference though is that they post a message that says “Gosh .. this would be a cool product if you would just add [X] to it” .. I’ll then look at their message, form my own opinion about how badly the product needs [X], prioritize the task, and throw it on the list. It’s not a perfect system .. but, it works!
Visitors to this site may not realize it, but behind the scenes, we ARE already building a software product together….
-Ken W
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(re: no need to criticize Ken Williams) Thanks for the reply, Ken. I didn’t realize that how involved this process was or that you were developing a product. I assumed from the beginning that this was a pet project of yours, a hobby.
As you can probably tell from my words and my personality, I’m an amateur graphic designer, a trained but non-active journalist, and a professional media/advertising peon. I’m also a part-time bouncer. Half the time I blow through websites (attention deficit disorder) and I didn’t look far enough into your site to see what it really was. All flash and no substance – that’s me. I still needed to apologize, and now I need to apologize for underestimating you and your site at first glance, which is probably a greater sin than insulting the graphic design. Anyway, have fun on your trip!!!
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