Or how about what's the better cancelled cult sci-fi television show theme: Thunderbirds, or Futurama...

Technically, they will be built in China. Though I guess you could do like Apple... "Designed in Australia".

LOL, this is absolutely hilarious! Maturity and sound business acumen at its finest. But somehow, not that surprising - in his previous bashing of the WOZ hardware platform (I guess he can dish it out but not take even a tiny bit himself?), when questioned on the reasons for his point of view and how alternative systems would avoid similar issues, instead of supporting his arguments he just leaves in a huff.

Population of the United States and Canada: 348,380,000.
Unique posters in this thread: well less than 100.

The winner: grey market dealers.

Oh my god. The website has gone even worse!

homepin.jpg

Eh... based on previous Homepin discussions, this is SOP... granted, taken to a shining new level.

Screw the decision! I know [some] Australians and friends of Mike will be defensive, but it's the utterly a-hole way the guy went about it that's soured a lot of us on Homepin as both a business and a member of the community.

A few people out of 350 million don't like the theme, so he "gets back" by calling all Americans and Canadians "idots with small minds" right on the front of his homepage - and right on Canada Day none the less, our day of national pride!

And in this thread, these doozies:

Has he offered even an insincere apology for his bigoted attitude? Nope. Clearly this wasn't someone merely having a bad day - this is the way he really thinks and behaves.

Building an entire pinball from scratch is extremely difficult. Finding people to buy them takes hard work and a good reputation. Supporting customers with questions and problems requires godly amounts of patience. A thick skin is needed to listen to criticism both warranted and unwarranted of your product, but it's a necessary part of selling to the public.

This is clearly not a man with the temperament to succeed at any of these things.

Good point. Guilty of doing exactly what I'm complaining about! Added the word "some" (and I mention it simply because I'm seeing quite a bit of support on the Australian forums - my favorite being "Mike is just being Mike, and we can respect his honesty, which can be a very rare thing in the pinball game").

Most of Europe (including the UK) is 230v/50hz. North America is 120v/60hz. Those are the two most standard systems worldwide, with official ranges on the voltage side from 220-240v and 110-127v, plus Japan with an odd mix of 100v 50 *and* 60Hz.

Yeah, looks like it expired a couple weeks ago.

I assume you're joking?

If not, patent terms are limited to 20 years from date of application (1995 onwards; prior to that also 17 years from date of issue, whichever is longer, which actually does extend some of them).

Looks like a whole bunch of fun Williams patents are expiring this year and next... some good ideas in there!

Well... it's a bit like when he left the WOZ hardware thread mid-discussion. But he's still around, warning others with stuff like "I shudder to think what will be involved swapping a mainboard in a WOZ...." and supporting the inappropriateness of WOZ using a PC with the 2 hours it took him to get a barcode printer driver working (???). So, I'm sure he'll still be where the audience is more like-minded.

In another place I was trying to get him to understand that what he said here and on his site wasn't cool, regardless of his later excuses for why he said it... but let's just say he didn't get the picture. Oh well.

Well... Mike/Homepin has accused me of stirring the pot against him by sharing what he's publically written - such as that screenshot above.

I used to run Renegade.

Wow, I was so addicted to that! We had it on our BBS. Still have a complete copy of the thing...

LOL, I love the "about" features page, which is quite detailed in telling you what they WON'T be doing.

http://www.homepin.com/abouttag.html

* Standard pinball cabinet width & size
* LED DMD (no distracting and unreliable LCD screens)
* Homepin is not trying to re-invent pinball, far from it. The most popular machines are standard cabinet, DMD pinballs. There are very valid reasons for this. They are not too heavy or awkward to move around yet provide a great playing experience without taking too much space.

* Embedded Microcontrollers - (there are NO personal computer parts used)
* Homepin is using time tested and proven electronics for the control system (called 'embedded controllers') the same as all Solid State (SS) pinball manufacturers have used since the inception of SS machines and that the largest pinball manufacturer in the world still uses to this day. Embedded controllers are industrial quality and are used in many things you use every day such as remote controls, air conditioners, microwave ovens, cars, TV & stereo systems and thousands more. They are reliable and proven to the point that you probably didn't even know they were used in these everyday products.
* The Homepin control system will NOT use any personal computor (PC) parts as they are not intended for use in industrial applications such as pinball machines and would create longer term repair issues.

Gee, I wonder who he's trying to remind us of here? Gottlieb? Nah. Capcom? Maybe... Oh, I know! Zizzle!

I also appreciate his humble nature:

Working at this electronics factory gave Mike the extra level of expertise that many are not fortunate enough to possess and gives him an extraordinary understanding and competence in the complete electronic manufacturing process. Combine that background with 35 years of practical experience in the amusement industry, his many electronics design projects undertaken for commercial applications and his business experience in China and this creates a very unique combination of skill sets that few possess.

Be careful if you ever visit China. Old school just might seek revenge on new-fangled.

True, but it's a compound word, and I think if you were to shorten "Thunderbirds" by itself you'd use "TB" versus "T", just like Transformers is shortened to "TF"... and Rollercoaster Tycoon is "RCT".