Outline

[Honestly I was scared shitless! Scared Apple were going to find these three pages and give me the sack! So I have to make them disappear real fast as people are now linking to them!]

[Note the main page isn't gone - almost none of it's gone. Just the three sections that can incriminate me.]

Although it makes me sick to have to do so, I have temporarily pulled the main page of Stepwise off-line.

[Rixstep found these articles, quoted different segments over a three year period and not just for 1999, cleaned up the grammar and spelling considerably (not my strong suit exactly hahaha) and published these quotes with pictures of the old OPENSTEP interface they'd found somewhere else. I don't want to give them any traffic because if my URLs come up in PageRank anything can happen. (Although I've taken the precaution of blocking the Wayback Machine of course. Haha.)]

The 'Rixstep' site has stolen a large chunk of my WWDC 1999 coverage and republished it without permission. I won't link to the article (I don't want to give him the spider traffic) but it is here http://rixstep.com/2/4/20071221,00.shtml.

[Here's where I have to write something to really get people's sympathy. And I have to bamboozle them into thinking the reason for my actions is the exact opposite of what it really is! Tough one. But then they're fanboys! They drink anything! I ran into the Rixstep crowd a few years ago when I behaved as a total ass on the Cocoadev mailing list. I was really fucked, asked Aaron to help me, but of course Cowboy Coward does nothing of the sort. Oh well. Whatever. If you want to read that ill advised exchange of mine you can find it - nothing's blocked there (as opposed to here haha).

Frankly, I can't take the stress of fighting this with 'Rixstep', it makes me ill just thinking about it.

[OK here's where we start to shovel the bullshit.]

Let me just state...

[I wrote this for myself. And my narration of how Apple really did screw us NeXT programmers is what's going to get me into trouble if I can't kill this story and weep really big tears. It also makes me look like the two bit shit I am - after all I was clamouring for Windows support like all the rest for several years and then I just shut the F up and drank the Kool-Aid like everyone else. Cross-platform? Windows? What? Who? What are you talking about? Haha! Well they offered me a job writing documentation so I mean WTF. I don't see anybody else making a big deal out of the bait and switch - except those people at Rixstep. They refuse to drink the Kool-Aid. How embarrassing for me. Ouch.]

[And at the time no one knew how it would turn out - or that Steve-0 would know my price! Haha! A lot of NeXTSTEP programmers and companies got SCREWED but what do I care? They bought me off! Just call me Heather Mills! Haha!]

I did not write this for him.

[I really screwed up because honestly I forgot these pages were even up there! We all did! We've been too busy drinking the Kool-Aid! Now if someone comes along and links to them and writes a new article about them - well I'm up shit's creek because Steve-0 will have a shit fit and Dorothy will have an unemployed husband again! So I gotta block these pages - these three sections - and make it look like I'm pissed somebody 'stole' something when it's really a matter of removing the evidence against me! It's either that or it's say goodbye to a job when my chances of gainful employment aren't exactly great. Shit!]

I did not write this for him to steal and misrepresent.

[Hell yes we were led down the garden path! I mean read what I wrote! (Oops! You can't do that right now can you? Oops! Haha!) Jesus H Fucking Christ why do you think we hung around there for three years? They PROMISED us, man! Over and over again! I called it their fucking MANTRA! But you're going to have to believe me for the moment - because I have to take the pages offline. I'm in deep shit!]

I do not agree that we were 'lead down the garden path', nor that there was a bait and switch.

[Here's where I gotta claim my copyright's violated even though what they did falls under 'fair use'. I can't let people think about this too much or they'll see through the ruse. I gotta call out the fanboy vitriol ASAP and as soon as they start drinking the Kool-Aid they'll lose what little intelligence they have. Haha. I can't cite the fucking DMCA (I don't know shit about the DMCA and I bet they do) but I have to give a reason I won't. So I'll make something up about my having had more contact with them (which is a lie but fuck it who cares). So that will answer the question people might be asking before they actually pose it. Otherwise despite all I might end up looking the phony I really am. Oh - I should insert something about the Cowboy Coward here too - Aaron. Make it look better. Like it's not just an issue with me. Aaron was rather arrogant at times so maybe that's the reason they didn't like him in their reviews. My book they liked however. But I've always been too much of a diva to say 'thank you' when they sent the link years ago. Yes I'm a rather prissy snob for the most part. And shit my typing and HTML are really shitty too. Oh well.]

My copyright has been violated by his reproduction. Yes, the DMCA would allow me to get it taken down, and I am exploring that route. But given his track record, I see no way to stop him from doing this. He has published incorrect and horrible stuff about me, Aaron Hillegass, and others, before.

[It is imperative that the few readers still coming to this defunct site believe Rixstep stole my article. Not quoted it - stole it. If I can get the focus off me for a second and rustle up some good old fanboy hate I can fix this situation. So they never question what the fuck I'm taking my own pages offline for - for this is rather obvious if they think about it (and let's hope they don't think about it). If I wanted to prove I was not of the opinion Apple screwed us all royal then the best defence would have been to keep the pages online, right? And heck - I haven't had any hits here for years! They were giving me hits! That's good and I should be fucking grateful and drop them a thank you note - but it's the wrong kind of hits! It's the kind of hits that'll cost me my job!!1!]

[Oh and you'll notice some really stupid gaffes with the English language below - like this 'he's simple theft'. But that's just me being me. I never did get the hang of that language all too well. So gloss over it and live with it. I'm tired now!]

It is imperative (and the reason I temporarily pulled things down) that long-time readers of Stepwise know RIX stole this.. I do not approve of his doing so. His use does not fall under fair-use, or commentary. He's simple theft.

[I worked about five years with Stepwise (if you can call it work) before the whole fucking thing fell apart. (Not coincidentally about when Apple gave us the shaft - the second half of that bait and switch if you know what I mean haha. Those were lean years. As for what the site's worth today? I'm reasonably proud of what I did for as long as I did it but I've always had low expectations. It's something both my mother and my wife taught me.]

I've worked 13+ years on supporting developers by maintaining Stepwise (which truly is a labor of love) and I don't want this theft and misrepresentation to damage that effort.

Updated December 22, 2:06 EDT

[Well it looks like it worked! They all bought it - all the fanboys! So I guess I can relax a bit now. If Steve-0 asks me anything I'll just claim innocence and there's no proof against me anymore. Phew!]

[Here's where I have to tell them I'm going to 'restore' things. But maybe they'll ask - WHY? And I mean why take the pages down in the first place! Haha! But I CANNOT restore SHIT and THEY MUST NOT UNDERSTAND THAT! Under no circumstances must my employer have a chance to see these pages! Oh whoa - can I bamboozle them even more? I hope so! But hey - they're fanboys! They'll believe anything!]

[Thank heavens that asshole Gruber's in there. He's like the Heinrich Himmler of Mac Nerdery. You gotta have him on your side. But some of these people - I didn't know how dumb they really were! LMAO! As for 'Potty Mouth' Welch - he's like Phil Esposito. Sort of crude but foul and dirty and good to have at times like this. Good thing he's not Secretary of War! LOL!]

[A note to MacSurfer: we all know it doesn't look like I wrote that. That's never been the issue. The issue is: given my current employer I shouldn't have said the things I said. Apple aren't exactly the most tolerant company in this regard. And between the lines - which is what Rixstep looked at - I really ended up firing a lot of damaging broadsides at Steve. Not that he didn't deserve it of course. What a bastard he was. But today he's a RICH bastard. And he holds my paycheck (and my wee pecker) in his hand.]

[Now at the end I gotta slam Rixstep once more even though I know they're doing - both programmatically and pedagogically and journalistically - what I was never capable of. But after that I gotta calm down and back off. It's close to libel and THEY MIGHT END UP SUING ME!]

I want to thank everyone who has contacted me about this. Now that I'm a bit calmer and I've been overwhelmed by the fantastic support from folks, I'll likely be restoring things over the weekend.

And thanks also to everyone who has blogged/twittered about this, especially Chuqui, Brent Simmons, John C. Welch and John Gruber, and others who I don't even know! I had no idea of the level of support Stepwise had.

MacSurfer continues to link to the piece as an 'Op-Ed'. This makes it appear that I wrote it for RIXSTEP. I've tried contacting them to get the link removed, but to no avail. Anyone got a connection?? Why they link to them to begin with I have no idea.

Scott (not my real name) Anguish - December 2007 (sanguish at apple.com)

[Now I gotta hide away. Otherwise someone's going to ask to see those pages and then I'm screwed. People will know the weasel LIED. Bye!]