Monday, April 14, 2003
Meet Our Hero: Wes Cherry
Posted by Andy Sjostrom in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 07:25 AM
http://www.wga.org/WrittenBy/0201/business.html
I asked a while ago if anyone knew the true story behind Solitaire and why "this simple game has made it into almost every Windows version". I eventually learned from Valentin Iliescu, maker of the first Pocket PC Chess Game based on the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework, what happened many years ago. If you would like to proud yourself of knowing some really cool Windows history, you should check out this article called "Solitary Confinement - A poster boy for the Information Age". Here is a snippet from the article:
"I was an intern at Microsoft at the time ('89, I think)," Cherry e-mailed me, "and wrote it in my spare time to learn Windows programming and because I wanted a Solitaire game on Windows. Some program manager in the Windows group saw it and decided to release it with Windows 3.0--the condition was I did it for free (I was uncompensated other than the use of a computer they provided to work on it during my senior year of college). I probably could have negotiated some kind of one-time payment, but Microsoft really doesn't like to give per-copy royalties unless they absolutely need the technology." Cherry later worked for Microsoft (writing parts of Excel and other programs) and received Microsoft stock and other compensation for that work. He also credits the fact that Bill Gates knew of him as the creator of Solitaire as helping in his negotiation of that compensation."
Solitaire has caught the interest of many, but the people from Funky Gnome Productions take it the farthest, I believe. They have produced a movie about a fictious Solitaire world champion: "Solitaire: The Movie". Go and check out the video preview! Very funny!
I asked a while ago if anyone knew the true story behind Solitaire and why "this simple game has made it into almost every Windows version". I eventually learned from Valentin Iliescu, maker of the first Pocket PC Chess Game based on the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework, what happened many years ago. If you would like to proud yourself of knowing some really cool Windows history, you should check out this article called "Solitary Confinement - A poster boy for the Information Age". Here is a snippet from the article:
"I was an intern at Microsoft at the time ('89, I think)," Cherry e-mailed me, "and wrote it in my spare time to learn Windows programming and because I wanted a Solitaire game on Windows. Some program manager in the Windows group saw it and decided to release it with Windows 3.0--the condition was I did it for free (I was uncompensated other than the use of a computer they provided to work on it during my senior year of college). I probably could have negotiated some kind of one-time payment, but Microsoft really doesn't like to give per-copy royalties unless they absolutely need the technology." Cherry later worked for Microsoft (writing parts of Excel and other programs) and received Microsoft stock and other compensation for that work. He also credits the fact that Bill Gates knew of him as the creator of Solitaire as helping in his negotiation of that compensation."
Solitaire has caught the interest of many, but the people from Funky Gnome Productions take it the farthest, I believe. They have produced a movie about a fictious Solitaire world champion: "Solitaire: The Movie". Go and check out the video preview! Very funny!
