R help - Oct 2009 - News on R "s largest corporate partner REVolution Computing and SPSS CEO:

Start the REvolution without me...
http://danesecooper.blogs.com/divablog/2009/10/start-the-revolution-without-me.html

*From Danese Cooper's Blog*


Some of you may have become aware of REvolution
Computing<http://revolution-computing.com/>,
a commercial open source company organized around the R
Language<http://www.r-project.org/>,
when I joined in March
<http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10202355-92.html>of this year.  For
the past few months we have been working on a B-Round of
funding.  It was an interesting process and I was happy to be working in my
first startup company after so many years in very large corporations.

We built a small team to work on "Community Engineering", by which we
meant
developing assets both to benefit the R Language community as well as to
entice and inform the "Alpha-Geek" community to learn and use R.  We
set up
an Advisory Board designed to advise REvolution management about decisions
relating to REvo and Open Source, and we helped put REvolution R into the
Karmic Koala release of Ubuntu.  It was really fun to work in a small, agile
team and I felt like I was getting a great education in startups and we were
rapidly moving the company forward...Why didn't I join a startup years ago?

The funding deal closed on Wednesday last week...

Late the next afternoon I received a call from the new COO notifying me that
my services would no longer be required at REvolution., effective
immediately and with no severance.  Apparently, the company is moving in a
different direction.
<http://blog.revolution-computing.com/2009/10/revolution-computing-gets-major-funding-new-ceo.html>

I was surprised that the new CEO,  wasn't personally handling this
unpleasant task...but I guess that might have been distasteful after the
many assurances he gave me and my team last July at OSCON that we were
"absolutely critical to the company's success" and that he would
be "making
no changes for at least three months after he assumed control".  Personal
courage in difficult situations is rare.

What I find most interesting about today's REvolution announcements is the
space they spent thanking the previous management team, given nearly all of
us, including the Founders and the Board, were just fired.  47% of the
company wiped out and nobody left with more than a year of experience...Shit
happens...

And so we begin to pick up the pieces and move on.  I've spent much of the
past few days consoling coworkers, personally breaking the news to the many
kind friends who had agreed to help us increase interest in R and
Revolution, and working out what I might be doing next.  I have some
interesting possibilities already, although I'm still open to
suggestions...so stay tuned.

Meanwhile I can honestly say that the new REvolution Computing will little
resemble the company I was proud to join and represent.  I still think the R
Language is really interesting, but I'm no longer sure REvo is the one to
watch in this space anymore...For the sake of my friends among the remaining
employees and shareholders I hope I'm wrong.

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

It is clearly inappropriate for me or anyone else from REvolution to
comment on matters pertaining to any employee or ex-employee. I would
further add that this is a highly inappropriate use of this list.
Apologies to all concerned.

# David Smith

On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 1:51 PM, Ajay ohri <ohri2007 at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Start the REvolution without me...
-- 
David M Smith <david at revolution-computing.com>
VP of Community, REvolution Computing www.revolution-computing.com
Tel: +1 (206) 577-4778 x3203 (Palo Alto, CA, USA)

Download REvolution R free:
http://revolution-computing.com/downloads/revolution-r.php

On 22/10/2009, at 7:20 AM, David M Smith wrote:
> It is clearly inappropriate for me or anyone else from REvolution to
> comment on matters pertaining to any employee or ex-employee. I would
> further add that this is a highly inappropriate use of this list.
	Oh, I dunno.  I have the impression that the REvolution
	initiative has, or could have, a substantial impact upon R,
	and thus what goes on at REvolution is of concern to the
	R community.
> Apologies to all concerned.
	For what?  For the fact that a particular cat has been let
	out of a particular bag?

		cheers,

			Rolf Turner

######################################################################
Attention:\ This e-mail message is privileged and confid...{{dropped:9}}

Well I do not think that "this is highly inappropriate use of this
list". I am sure you new designation of VP makes you feel all more powerful
but your authority does not extend to this list. It should continue to rest with
Core R team. It seems had this list been under your control (i.e revolution
computing) you would have turned it off-typically "Corporate
Strategy". Just an example how money and designation influences those who
claim otherwise.
> Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:20:08 -0400
> From: david@revolution-computing.com
> To: ohri2007@gmail.com
> CC: r-help@r-project.org
> Subject: Re: [R] News on R "s largest corporate partner REVolution
Computing	and SPSS CEO:
> 
> It is clearly inappropriate for me or anyone else from REvolution to
> comment on matters pertaining to any employee or ex-employee. I would
> further add that this is a highly inappropriate use of this list.
> Apologies to all concerned.
> 
> # David Smith
> 
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 1:51 PM, Ajay ohri <ohri2007@gmail.com>
wrote:
> > Start the REvolution without me...
> 
> -- 
> David M Smith <david@revolution-computing.com>
> VP of Community, REvolution Computing www.revolution-computing.com
> Tel: +1 (206) 577-4778 x3203 (Palo Alto, CA, USA)
> 
> Download REvolution R free:
> http://revolution-computing.com/downloads/revolution-r.php
> 
> ______________________________________________
> R-help@r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
 		 	   		  
_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection.

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

On 22/10/2009, at 8:27 AM, kulwinder banipal wrote:
>
> Well I do not think that "this is highly inappropriate use of this  
> list". I am sure you new designation of VP makes you feel all more  
> powerful but your authority does not extend to this list. It should  
> continue to rest with Core R team. It seems had this list been  
> under your control (i.e revolution computing) you would have turned  
> it off-typically "Corporate Strategy". Just an example how money
> and designation influences those who claim otherwise.
	Right on, Red Freak!!!

		cheers,

			Rolf Turner
>
>> Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:20:08 -0400
>> From: david at revolution-computing.com
>> To: ohri2007 at gmail.com
>> CC: r-help at r-project.org
>> Subject: Re: [R] News on R "s largest corporate partner REVolution
>> Computing	and SPSS CEO:
>>
>> It is clearly inappropriate for me or anyone else from REvolution to
>> comment on matters pertaining to any employee or ex-employee. I would
>> further add that this is a highly inappropriate use of this list.
>> Apologies to all concerned.
>>
>> # David Smith
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 1:51 PM, Ajay ohri <ohri2007 at
gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>> Start the REvolution without me...
>>
>> -- 
>> David M Smith <david at revolution-computing.com>
>> VP of Community, REvolution Computing www.revolution-computing.com
>> Tel: +1 (206) 577-4778 x3203 (Palo Alto, CA, USA)
>>
>> Download REvolution R free:
>> http://revolution-computing.com/downloads/revolution-r.php
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting- 
>> guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>  		 	   		
> _________________________________________________________________
> Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection.
>
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting- 
> guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.

######################################################################
Attention:\ This e-mail message is privileged and confid...{{dropped:9}}

I am sorry.

I will refrain from this in the future (using the list which is a technical
resource and not a forum inappropriately).

My blog has my views on it -http://decisionstats.com so I wont cut and paste
on that.

I would like to applaud David's team at REvolution for finally releasing an
Ubuntu version of REvolution R, though the Windows version 64 bit was
developed much earlier. I would like to say that Dave's credentials in open
source or his personal technical authority has not been questioned by me (
and I don't think by anyone on this list).

The new management is led by an ex Founder of SPSS, so I guess that things
are looking up already.

A new CEO can only mean more hunger to get R up and running in corporate
circles so that smart people who write excellent code start making more
money than ...?

. Commerce demands that REvolution gets a bigger share than it has been
getting and thats what most of the people on this list want ( except there
is no forums section for discussion for R- help while there are forums
section.

Ajay
Knoxville

Student

Go Vols!


On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 2:24 PM, Erik Iverson <eiverson@nmdp.org> wrote:
> Nothing to do with what R-help is about.  Please refrain from posting
> things like this in the future.
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: r-help-bounces@r-project.org
[mailto:r-help-bounces@r-project.org]
> > On Behalf Of Ajay ohri
> > Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2009 12:52 PM
> > To: r-help@r-project.org; sas-l; spssx-l
> > Subject: [R] News on R "s largest corporate partner REVolution
Computing
> > and SPSS CEO:
> >
> > Start the REvolution without me...
> > http://danesecooper.blogs.com/divablog/2009/10/start-the-revolution-
> > without-me.html
> >
> > *From Danese Cooper's Blog*
> >
> >
> > Some of you may have become aware of REvolution
> > Computing<http://revolution-computing.com/>,
> > a commercial open source company organized around the R
> > Language<http://www.r-project.org/>,
> > when I joined in March
> > <http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10202355-92.html>of this year.
For
> > the past few months we have been working on a B-Round of
> > funding.  It was an interesting process and I was happy to be working
in
> > my
> > first startup company after so many years in very large corporations.
> >
> > We built a small team to work on "Community Engineering", by
which we
> > meant
> > developing assets both to benefit the R Language community as well as
to
> > entice and inform the "Alpha-Geek" community to learn and
use R.  We set
> > up
> > an Advisory Board designed to advise REvolution management about
> decisions
> > relating to REvo and Open Source, and we helped put REvolution R into
the
> > Karmic Koala release of Ubuntu.  It was really fun to work in a small,
> > agile
> > team and I felt like I was getting a great education in startups and
we
> > were
> > rapidly moving the company forward...Why didn't I join a startup
years
> > ago?
> >
> > The funding deal closed on Wednesday last week...
> >
> > Late the next afternoon I received a call from the new COO notifying
me
> > that
> > my services would no longer be required at REvolution., effective
> > immediately and with no severance.  Apparently, the company is moving
in
> a
> > different direction.
> >
<http://blog.revolution-computing.com/2009/10/revolution-computing-gets-
> > major-funding-new-ceo.html>
> >
> > I was surprised that the new CEO,  wasn't personally handling this
> > unpleasant task...but I guess that might have been distasteful after
the
> > many assurances he gave me and my team last July at OSCON that we were
> > "absolutely critical to the company's success" and that
he would be
> > "making
> > no changes for at least three months after he assumed control". 
Personal
> > courage in difficult situations is rare.
> >
> > What I find most interesting about today's REvolution
announcements is
> the
> > space they spent thanking the previous management team, given nearly
all
> > of
> > us, including the Founders and the Board, were just fired.  47% of the
> > company wiped out and nobody left with more than a year of
> > experience...Shit
> > happens...
> >
> > And so we begin to pick up the pieces and move on.  I've spent
much of
> the
> > past few days consoling coworkers, personally breaking the news to the
> > many
> > kind friends who had agreed to help us increase interest in R and
> > Revolution, and working out what I might be doing next.  I have some
> > interesting possibilities already, although I'm still open to
> > suggestions...so stay tuned.
> >
> > Meanwhile I can honestly say that the new REvolution Computing will
> little
> > resemble the company I was proud to join and represent.  I still think
> the
> > R
> > Language is really interesting, but I'm no longer sure REvo is the
one to
> > watch in this space anymore...For the sake of my friends among the
> > remaining
> > employees and shareholders I hope I'm wrong.
> >
> >       [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > R-help@r-project.org mailing list
> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-
> > guide.html
> > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]