Shit Happens

Written by Enzymer

As you might have read in the news section in Hugi issue 15, a new crew was formed by old sceners from the Amiga. We consist of members from Kefrens, Flash Productions and Amaze. Three of us work or to be more correct worked full time in a Danish software company in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. Namely Commando, Merlin and Viper. I, Enzymer, live in the north of Jutland, also in Denmark, but I don't work for a software company. I got an ordinary job at an office, but plan to go studying again next year. This story is not a story about how wonderful our lives are, but about how our lives got turned upside down. This will maybe put an end to our group, before it really got started.

It started as a normal Monday in the beginning of June. I went to work like always. After two hours my Boss came to me and told me that Merlin was on the phone. At first I wondered why Merlin wanted to talk to me, because he had never called me at work before. I rushed down to my boss' office to talk to him. He sounded pretty frightened, so I asked him what's up, and he told me that three people came to his, Commando and Viper's work and wanted to talk to him. They know for sure that Merlin has sold pirate software, because one of BSA's (The Danish Software Police) test buyers had bought some CDs from him. BSA has got some test buyers to search the papers, net, IRC and so on, to find people who are selling pirate software.

They told him that he had to follow them to his apartment to get the pirate CDs. He didn't know what to do, so he told them that he wanted a lawyer. Then they said that a lawyer was waiting at his apartment. Half an hour later they arrived at Merlin's apartment, where the lawyer was waiting. Now the lawyer told him that they could call the police, or he could be nice and co-operative and hand over all the pirated software. The lawyer was really friendly and told Merlin that the best thing he could do was to find it himself, because if the police got involved then it would be much more complicated. Merlin agreed to find the software (about 150 CDs), and then they asked for some sort of customer list. He then turned his computer on and printed his customer address list out, just to remember that Commando and Viper's addresses were on it. Merlin didn't know what to do, so he told the lawyer that Commando and Viper's addresses were not buyers of his. The other three people looked like they didn't believe him. After two hours they left, with the lawyer saying that he would be contacting him about the fine.

Afterwards he went back to work, to tell Commando and Viper about what had happened. Commando and Viper were really shocked. Then the company's secretary came to tell Merlin that the boss wanted to talk to him. A couple of minutes later Merlin got fired. After work Commando and Viper went home to put their pirated software away, but too late, because BSA was already waiting for them. The same happened to them with the exception that they didn't have quite as much pirated software. The next day they got fired as well. I, Enzymer, am very lucky, because I haven't been visited by the BSA so far. I must confess that I don't have much pirated software. I only have a couple of programs that I use, but they are all gone by now.

You are probably wondering what it has to do with Avalon Design? Well, Merlin, Commando and Viper don't have any other work yet. When I ask them about the demo we were working on, they tell me that the interest in doing it is just not there at the moment. I, Enzymer, am still working on it, but I may have to leave Avalon Design to join another Danish group if nothing happens in the next couple of months. Only time will tell.

- Enzymer / Avalon Design