Ken's Musings about Remote Communications, Inc.

Wherein I climb on a soapbox and declaim my opinions about the people from RCI, who have been on the Apache development list for the last few years, mostly touting their mod_gzip module. Recent events on the mailing list caused my wary-but-undecided opinion of them to come down hard on the definitely-hostile side. This was originally posted on Advogato.Org on 2001-09-07, but I moved it here to my own pages so I could be as specific and flaming as I like.

If you find the background distracting, try looking at this version of the page.

Some people...

Just a verbum sapienti: I personally highly recommend against ever trying to have any sort of relationship with Remote Communications, Inc. [1] other than as a user of their products (such as mod_gzip). I am speaking personally, and not wearing any hats except that and my Apache (and open-source) developer beanie.

I have never used mod_gzip myself, but have heard nothing but good things about it. The two main people behind it (Kevin Kiley and Peter J Cranstone), however, I have heard bad things about -- and from my own personal experience I can say that my opinion of them is reeeeeally low. Like, in the muck under the bottom-feeders. Leaving all interactions in the distant past aside (and there are plenty), just check out this thread [2] on the Apache HTTP Server project development mailing list. (Note that the link is only to the first post in the thread; go to the bottom of the page to either see all the posts in the thread or to trace through them.) As far as that goes, search the mail archives for their names (also look under the mailing list new-httpd@apache.org, which was the name of the list before it was changed last month). Some of their past posts might be of interest.

Now, Kiley has made a lot of valuable contributions to the technical discussions of other topics.. but when it comes to RCI's own mod_gzip, my opinion is that both Kiley and Cranstone seem to get a little non-linear. In my opinion, from the public posts and private mail, I consider them both arrogant, obnoxious, duplicitous, and suffering from delusions of grandeur, and I have found dealing with them extremely unpleasant. And I should know, since I myself am many of those things. :-) You want examples or details, contact me privately.

Why do I bother posting this? Primarily because I want to set the record straight before someone tries to cockeye it (like saying the Apache Group turned down an open and free donation of mod_gzip). Secondarily, so that other developers may not have to undergo the same crap I did in coming to these conclusions.

As always, your mileage may vary. This is only my own personal opinion; perhaps other people have had experiences at the other extreme of the spectrum..