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Chat Room Events | Auditorium Events

Auditorium Events
VPchat Auditorium meetings are like online town hall meetings. We invite you to come, listen to the latest VPchat news and tell us what's on your mind.
 Chat transcripts from past auditorium events:
  Get the Scoop: 02/29/04
  Late Night with Jules and Tom: 02/20/02

Late Night with Jules and Tom: 02/20/02

MC-Betty Hi everyone and welcome to Halsofts's very first Auditorium event!!!
Who better than to have as our very first guests than the owners of Halsoft... Jules and Tom.
Jules and Tom have a very long history with VP but I shall let them tell you their stories themselves.
To ask Jules and Tom guestions thru tonights show click on the "something to say?" button located bottom lower right corner of the stage screen.
>>> right here
Tonight your MC's are Doc and Gizmo.
Sit back, get comfy, throw popcorn and send iny our questions.
Without further delay, please welcome to the stage Doc and Gizmo.
Hi Gizmo
MC-Gizmo Thankyou Betty
Ok so where is doc?
MC-Betty i'll head out looking for him
MC-Doc im here im here
shhhh
im old
MC-Gizmo slow
oh so slow
MC-Doc sooo giz
do we get to find out who that green haired lady is to night?
and the guy that EVERYONE in vp knows personaly?
MC-Gizmo hah im thinking we do doc
MC-Doc awesome
are they here?
MC-Gizmo might be slow and old like you? never know lol
MC-Doc i heard they were scared
rumour has it in HHB they wont show
MC-Gizmo rumours are rumours
let the truth be known
MC-Doc its time
MC-Gizmo see rumours!
MC-Doc woah!!
MC-Gizmo Welcome Jules and Tom
Jules hey everyone
MC-Doc hey Jules and Tom
Tom hi
MC-Doc Halsoft....why?
where did it come from
Tom i'll take that one
Jules why? because it's there...
Tom when i was looking to start the business ... all the good names were taken
anything to do with chat
i didn;t want to have some huge long name
i already owned the name halsoft.com from a business 10 yrs ago
so, what the heck :-)
later on, i was able to buy vpchat.com and vpadult.com
MC-Gizmo And how did you get into it Jules?
Jules for me it it started quite a while back...
Tom lunch at Guerro's -where the power deals are done :-)
Jules I had a company in Austin called Go Media
indeed :)
Tom oh but i'm skipping ahead
Jules Excite bought my company in 1996
and we became a remote office of the california-based Excite
Jules we were charged with "doing community"
not that we knew what that meant at the time...
Go Media had been a graphic design & development company
so I had to hustle and hire engineers - that's how Tom and I met
he was among the first engineers I hired for Excite
Tom i was hired as a networking consultant ...
Jules we launched a bunch of products - tours, boards, chat, pal, clubs...
Tom then for another contract as a database consultant
Jules oh, that's right, you were
I'd forgotten, lol
Tom then jules offered me a real job :-)
Jules we were looking for a chat product
only a couple options were viable
and VP was definitely the most robust, and the most interesting
so we licensed it - Tom was the chat engineer from the beginning
which is why he knows it inside and out
I stayed with Excite for 3 years - left in 99. Tom stuck it out until the bitter end.
Tom i remember the day the service was turned on ... quite exciting to see people show up and start chatting !
yes, and i was there to pull the plug at the end :-(
Jules it was! 2am on a Monday morning, I believe...
Tom came up with the idea of launching a vp community as a subscription service
he contacted me last fall
I was hesitant at first, but before I knew it I was involved
I couldn't resist :)
and here we are
Tom my years at excite convinced me it was the only way to go to provide a high quality experience
MC-Doc wow
MC-Gizmo very very interesting
Tom with no ads :-)
MC-Gizmo finally!
MC-Doc One of the most asked questions is what do they do
Tom i was always uneasy working for a place that was always trying to find ways to shove ads at people :-)
Jules and the ads obviously didn't make chat financially feasible for Excite
Tom the "give it away and make it up in volume" business plan
Jules right - worry about profits later
Tom those were the days :-)
Jules but hey, we ended up with a great business idea out of it. Not to mention great software & great community
Tom yes -- the community that grew at excite made this place possible
Jules and we had a blast at excite
Tom even got to cash in *some* of the stock before it crashed :-)
Jules thankfully
MC-Doc @ a nickle a share?
MC-Gizmo lol
since we are on the line of most questions asked...here you both go
Question from perl script:Jules, Tom I must ask, is your relationship strictly business?
Jules geez, I can't believe how often I get that question
we are friends and we are business partners
we are not married, attached, or otherwise involved
this is where you agree, tom
MC-Doc lol
Tom oh
yes :-)
i'm married - to someone else :-)
MC-Doc What areas do you each take care of in Halsoft
Jules Tom does all the technical stuff
I do the community side
and we overlap on the web site
Tom well, we have several other people who work on technical stuff too
i work on mostly the server and the database and the network
Tom and jules and i argue over the fonts and color in the web pages :-)
Jules lol
but I *like* that yellow
MC-Gizmo i give no comments on that subject lol
MC-Doc Question from Moon711_ : Can you give us an idea of how much you have invested in Halsoft??? Maybe we can understand your pricing better then.
Tom jules changed my halsoft logo :-)
a lot of people underestimate the overhead of running a service like this
some people have set up a chat server on their PC with a cable modem
but to run a service that is up 24x7 and has thousands of people online is a much bigger effort
our ISP bill is thousands of dollars a month for example
MC-Gizmo Tom you were talking about people setting up chat servers on their pc
Question from snickerz.:wat do u think about all the other servers popin up..xchat.. dummy etc
Tom i think it's great
i've often used the anaolgy - you can have a great restaurant without being the only place in town that serves food
there is always a place for services that offer different things to differernt people
however
people should think about security
i know of 2 people who had password stolen by using the same name and password here and at some other place
MC-Doc Another question along this line
Question from kowboy : if you own the rights .. how does X chat or there new name visual places manage to have the program???
Jules great question
The short answer is they don't have the right to use it
Jules they're using the client, not the server
but the rights on the client specify that it be used with a VP server
Tom they're not supposed to run a server on their cable modem at home either, but i don't think it bothers them too much :-)
MC-Doc There is alot of talk about TBH being part of Halsoft, can you clairify that?
Tom before we get to that ...
i'll also mention about VP
which was originally developed by a small software company in Israel
the lead programmer from that company, Alon, is one of our partners
the guy who developed the original VP server
we've got the real thing :-)
he also managed to find the long-lost source code for the games, recently
so we look forward to working on new and improved games now :-)
ok, TBH
that is run by a very smart guy, Mike - Archon
we've met him
talked to him
but he never has been, and isn't now, associated with halsoft
Jules another myth dispelled
MC-Gizmo finally the myth is gone. another question once again lol
Question from Trevor:Is HS being as successful as you had hoped thus far ?
Jules actually, I'd say it's successful way beyond our expectations
Tom yes, it's doing well -- i hope i can stop dipping into my savings account for expenses soon :-)
Jules we made 1-year projections for traffic, and we're just about there after 3 months
Tom a crucial point for us is to see if people renew after their first 3 months
Jules so yes, it's going great
Tom so far, it's looking very good
Jules yes, and so far people are
Tom many people have renewed already
MC-Doc Question from perl script : What happened to Andy?
Tom for which we are VERY grateful :-)
Jules nk
Tom andy? he works for us
he is working on a new version of the VP prog
build 165
i am using it now :-)
will be ready for testing in the next few days
MC-Doc Question from L-L-2 : how come it says there over 14,000 people and we only see 1900 at the most
Tom Tracker will finally work in vpadult :-)
Jules the 14,000 number represents members
all the people with member names
2165 shows now - that's the number online right now
Tom actually, the percentage of people online at halsoft is amazing
excite used to get 5,000 to 7,000 new names per DAY
there were literallly millions of registerd names
21,000 was the peak online at one time ever
Jules I remember that... I believe it was another excuse for a party at Excite
Tom the people at halsoft use their names more frequently, and stay online much longer
MC-Doc We have a few questions on the 2 servers can you talk a bit about that?
Tom many people at excite used names once and never came back
Jules sure
Tom it's much differrent at halsoft of course since you pay for the name
Jules you mean the adult server v the family server...
MC-Doc Yes
Tom vpadult was NOT intended to be "pervert chat" :-)
Jules Lots of people were tired of the general atmosphere in Excite
no, it wasn't
and "family" doesn't necessarily mean kids
Tom right
we intended something more in the middle, for both
Jules the idea is that one is simply tamer - not so much foul language, no sexual content
Tom vpadult was meant to be "adult" like in a bar or nite club -- not necessarily XXX pron
Jules and adult is meant to be looser - no language constraints, fewer content restrictions
Tom porn, i mean :-)
MC-Doc Question from Pacer_ : Is ...... it possible to move the 20`s 30`s 40`s & 50`s to the adult server ...... ?????
Jules actually, we put those rooms on the adult server just today
they're still in family, too, because that's a peer group that works on both sides
but now there's a place for those groups where you don't have to worry about your language
Tom or avatars or gestures
Jules and if there are other peer groups you want over there, just let us know.
We still take background submissions - we'd be happy to add some to adult
send them to support@halsoft.com
Tom we intentionally put a barrier between the two - no IMs -- but you can still use Tracker to be online in vpadult yet watch for and talk to people in vpchat
and the next VP build will have Tracker for vpadult too
MC-Gizmo Ok this is a good one...
Question from anon:Do you both have lives outside of VP??
Jules outside VP?
Jules huh?
Tom not lately :-)
Jules I pretend I do
MC-Doc Question from gimp : i have something to ask..okay if we pay for chat why is it you get banned or gagged for cussing?
Tom i have a sailboat, try to get out to it once a week
it's a good diversoion
Jules sometimes I get to go too :)
Tom we're not on gimp's question yet :-)
Jules nothing like a little wind to get away from it all
go for it, tom :)
Tom the main principle i like to talk about it -- respect and courtesy for other chatters
the Guides only respond to complaints
they don't go looking for people to gag and ban
and, we'd much rather people just take it over to vpadult than give a penalty
MC-Gizmo you both were talking about going out and such Tom you mentioned sailing...where do you both live
Jules we're both in Austin, TX
separate houses, of course :)
Tom two other employees live here too
not surpirsing since the excite office was here
andy lives in Ft Worth, TX
and Alon si
still lives in Isreal
but we all work as one company - online on the Internet is great :-)
MC-Doc Question from Cali-11 : It would appear that the Australians and NZ`ers are disadvantaged by the cost of Halsoft here
Jules they are, that's true
unfortunately we can do a whole lot about the exchange rate
Tom we tried to help by pushing the U.S. economy into recession but it didn't quite work
i think you mean "can't"
Jules while I think it would be way cool to have a NZ office, Tom just doesn't agree on my commuting expenses
yes, can't, lol
this is vp
typos are mandatory
Tom actually, we're looking at ways to have a local agent in NZ or AU
perhaps have special pricing for customers in those countries
Canada too
Jules and California
Tom we've only been in business 3 months, though, and can't do everything at once
there's a differernt exchange rate in California ?
LOL
MC-Doc Question from kalana : is the rumour about D/s and Goreans and alternate lifestyles having to move to adult side true?
Jules everyone has to play by the same rules - we don't single anyone out
if the content is adult, it should take place in adult
but being Gor or D/s doesn't inherently mean you have to move, no
I've seen plenty of the above-mentioned in here playing backgammon
nothing wrong with that
or with general chatting
the only issues that come up are when it's adult content - and that's true for everyone
MC-Doc Question from Dawn : Do you think people will renew when the policing of you guides is sometimes to say the least militant??
Jules Well, they seem to be renewing...
everyone won't renew, of course, but so far the renewal numbers are great
much higher than cancellations
Tom we're only trying to spread the load between vpchat and vpadult ... not trying to be militant or censor people
MC-Doc Question from txPEPPER : why do U still call it VP ? its Halsoft now
Tom the software is still the real Virtual Places
Jules VP is Virtual Places - the name of the software
Halsoft is the name of the company that licensed VP
MC-Doc Back to your "new" build Tom
Question from Sober : is there a place we can download beta builds of the client? like the chattool on excite
Tom there will be very soon - i'm thinking maybe early next week
MC-Gizmo Question from jesl:Are there any plans to have sounds in Halsoft Rooms?
Tom like voice chat?
MC-Gizmo I believe so.
Tom that's an interesting question
there are two levels of voice chat
voice in IMs
or
voice in the room
voice in IMs is easier and a lot less load on the network
i'd be interested to hear from people what they think
are voice IMs enough? or do you really want voice in the rooms too?
MC-Gizmo while we are on the subject Tom..
Question from xx-Truth-xx:will we ever have email or some way of leaving messages for friends when they come online?
Tom the big 3 services from online companies are email, home pages, and chat
we're offering home pages and chat
email? that's a big job -- lots of servers and such
it's not something we have in plan for any time soon ...
but, we're working on new features for web pages
like, FTP upload
will be coming very soon
MC-Doc Question from mickey316 : jules/tom, are you all working on the lag situation, since we do pay for the service now?
Tom lag is something that is affected by many parts of the internet
from your ISP through our servers
we can only control a small part -- the last leg of the network and the servers
i can tell you that halsoft has equivalent network capacity as excite had, and uses the same servers and equipment
that excite used to handle over 10,000 people online at once
MC-Gizmo Question from Hot_n_Hungry:what Im getting from halsoft that i did not have with excite??? besides paying for it
Tom i think the lag is much better than at excite, for example, but a lot depends on your modem and ISP
Jules Well, we like to think you're getting to participate in a much better community
one with no bots, fewer troublemakers, and administrators who pay attention to what's needed
you also get web page space
MC-Gizmo ad free!
Jules right, and no ads :)
Tom how many times has a mug sent an IM to you with A/S/L lately?
Jules lol
Tom & I are focused 100% on chat
Tom geez even I used to get those :-)
Jules we're not spread over a dozen other products
we're focused completely on making this great
MC-Gizmo Question from Earth-_-Angel:Do you both ever chat in OUR rooms, or you don't dare???
Tom i am online several times a day using this name
Jules wander around and chat quite a bit, actually
but it's slow-going sometimes, because I tend to get quite a few IMs...
but yes, I like to rove around and chat
Tom i don't always have time to linger and chat, but i'll say hi and i'll listen to questions and problems
Jules and we encourage guides to do the same
less policing, more chatting
MC-Doc Anonymous Question : Will you`s ever decide to make the names recyleable, for use when banned, deleted, etc..?
Tom yes and no
there are a lot of people who reserved names and then never paid for them for one reason or another
i'm thinking we'll start releasing those after a month or so
names that were banned, are a differernt story
if a name you like was deleted by mistake, we can get it back
Jules and if you're on someone elses account, and want your own, that name can be moved to your new account
MC-Gizmo how do they go about doing that jules?
Tom yes, names can be moved from one account to another without deleting
Jules You need to set up a new account - then the old name can be transferred to the new account
MC-Doc Question from taylorj_4 : do you have anything to do with web pages being taken down from other servers such as geocities?
Tom in the past, when i worked for excite, i sometimes reported web pages to geocities that were offering pirated software or attack stuff like bots or viruses
i've not had occasion to do that lately, fortunately :-)
MC-Gizmo Question from reubix:What is the probability of malicious programs being made for halsoft?
Tom the same stuff that was used at excite could be used here
however, difference is
at excite, if we booted someone, they got a new name and came right back
here, we close the account
that goes a long way to controlling the urge to lauch a room kill :-)
MC-Doc Question from Techbabie : WHY CAN"T WE USE THE MASS IMER?
Tom people have a love/hate relationship with mass IMs
some people simply HATE them
what we ask is that people target their IMs
for example, if advertising a paint contest
look for people with Av Artist or Painter
in their ID
that goes a long way to reduce the bad feelings
Jules as to why, the complaints we got vastly outnumbered the requests for the ability to use them
so it was kind of a majority rules sort of thing...
MC-Doc Its time to look at wrapping things up, 2 more more member questions and maybe Tom and Jules can tell us where they go from here
MC-Gizmo Question from stinkycat:what kind of bussiness relationship does vp have with excite now?
Tom none
Jules nada
MC-Doc Question from Earth-_-Angel : Will these meetings be an ongoing thing?
Tom if people find them useful, sure !
Jules We plan to have a Late Night event once/month... guests may vary :)
Tom i love to type :-)
MC-Doc So where do you go from here...Jules. Tom?
Jules well, I thought I might go to bed later...
Tom i'd like to take a moment to thank everyone here
i can't tell you how thrilling it was to start up the service
first few days, we wondered, will ANYONE come ?
then you started showing up
Jules stressful days, those were...
Tom it has been the most exciting, gratifying thing i've ever been associated with
except maybe for sex :-)
MC-Gizmo no comment.
lol
Jules lol
Tom and i am deeply grateful to you all for your support
Jules we really do care
and we really do want this to succeed - we're well aware that it's all of you making it so
MC-Doc Thank you Jules and Tom, you have been great :)
Nice to see the green hair gone
Jules and thanks for missing "West Wing" to be here
MC-Gizmo Yes thank you both
Tom hey that's what vcrs are for :-)
yw gizmo
MC-Doc Im waiting to see Tom with all the grey hair next time
Jules lol
Tom lol
MC-Doc Good night all and thank you !!
Jules night everyone
MC-Gizmo Goodnight everyone
Tom goodnight
MC-Gizmo -cartwheel's off stage
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