My future with Moho

[Lost Marble]

Hi Moho folks,

I've got some news about Moho, and unfortunately it's probably not what you were hoping to hear.

Jumping straight in, today was my last day as an employee of Smith Micro. I will no longer (for now) be directly involved with Moho development.

(I want to be careful about not talking about confidential information, so I may not be able to answer every question that comes up. I see that some of you have done some research on Smith Micro as a company and it's financial and stock performance. I'm not going to get into that.)

A key thing that I can tell you is that back in November the graphics division suffered a major round of layoffs. We no longer have Victor as the product manager, which is a huge loss - Victor had taken to this role beautifully, and has great contacts with the community. Fahim is still an employee here, but not in a product management role (or anything officially to do with Moho, although he's still a positive influence and a friend).

Smith Micro is now working on a plan to rebuild the team and continue development of Moho going forward, but I've had another opportunity made available to me and decided that it's time for me to move on.

What about the future?

Smith Micro and I are putting together a plan for me to be involved as a consultant in the future. I'm open to the possibility and I want to do what I can to help you guys, the Moho users. I don't think this is the end of my involvement with Moho, and I can see some possibilities where my involvement could grow again.

Victor and Fahim and I have talked a lot since November. Victor is an eternal optimist and sees bright possibilities for Moho's future. He's helping me imagine how this could work out well for all of us, and how we might be able to work again on this product we love.

I'm sad about how things have gone over the last few months, but I don't intend for this to be a farewell. I'm actually looking forward to using Moho a little bit for fun, rather than only staring at the code. You'll probably have some questions and I'll try my best to answer them.

Mike

P.S.
I'm going to take some personal time and will probably be mostly offline for a few days. I'm not disappearing, and I'll check back in as I can.

[hayasidist]

bad news for Moho. But on a personal note - best wishes for your future!

[synthsin75]

Do you retain any rights to Moho, Mike? If not, that's a real blow.

Hope everyone lands on their feet, but that sounds worse than I'd imagined.

[Lost Marble]

Smith Micro owns the rights to Moho.

[Rai López]

Yes, the very last thing I wanted to hear... But I suppose reality is what it is, and it has had to be very hard times these last months taking into account all the changes and losses. I try to find a little optimism deep down or something, but the fact this happens just when Moho was at full sail is so disheartening... I mean, I really don't know what the plan is, but what I do know is it's going to be very difficult to gather up so much enthusiasm and talent around the project and, if it end happening, I don't see how it could happen anytime soon

Yeah, this is me trying hard to be optimistic...

Well, that being sa(i)d, it has been a lot of time around here anyway, and all we know (but very specially beta team members) how hard you have been working along all this years so I only can be sorrowff- I mean, gratefful... after all. So yeah, thank you very much to you and all the people somehow involved and, of course, I wish all the best for you and for the Moho project (or what's left of it).

[chucky]

This is terribly sad news.

I am very disappointed for the great Moho team and for all the loyal customers.
It shall take some time to fully comprehend what this may mean for my own workflow and plans for future projects.

I wish you all the best Mike, you have been an inspiration and a force for real innovation and positive progress.

It is a sad, sad day indeed.

Viva Moho!

[synthsin75]

I guess any near-future development falls to the scripters.

[jupitor6]

And what about Content Paradise? Is the sun going down on CP?

[Lost Marble]

And what about Content Paradise? Is the sun going down on CP?

I've never really been involved in Content Paradise, so I don't know about future plans. But my understanding is that Smith Micro wants to continue with the graphics products, and content has been an important part of that. I haven't heard talk of shutting anything down.

[SimplSam]

Wow... very bad news indeed.

Hopefully - somehow - this can be turned around to be positive for the various members of the team and Moho.

[Fonce Falooda]

Victor is an eternal optimist and sees bright possibilities for Moho's future. He's helping me imagine how this could work out well for all of us, and how we might be able to work again on this product we love.

Share with the class? 'Cause this seems like it all sucks.

[jahnocli]

Good luck with your future, Mike. It's been a hard post to read.

[slowtiger]

Being here for 11 yrs myself, I surely can understand the need for a change. Moho is a great program, not perfect (but which software is?), and incredibly useful for me. I'm tempted to word it in a certain style: "And there was Mike, and he gave us Moho, and he improved it beyond hope, and then he went on and left the imrovement to others." Thanks, Mike.

[F.M.]

Hopefully, you didn't sign anything that would keep you from creating a sibling for Moho?

[Mr.Pete]

Yikes, I have been comparing two trial versions trying to decide whether to buy Anime Pro 11 or Moho 12 for $100 more (even on sale)
but if the future of the product is in jeopardy maybe I should postpone that decision and start looking at other options