Resolved!
I have removed my previous post. I would like to clarify a few points and explain how Philip and I solved this.
The potential long-term impact on Philip’s reputation of my posting that entry is serious. He took a shortcut that he shouldn’t have taken, but it’s not exactly the crime of the century. He has admitted his mistake and we’ve come to an agreement on how to make up for it. (I’m excited about what we came up with actually, but more about that at the end.) We both agree that it would be disproportionate to leave the post up, now that he’s done everything he can to make up for it.
I want to admit that I could have done more to figure this out with Philip privately before going public with it. I had every right to post that entry, but frankly a bit more patience might have wrapped it up a lot quicker and with a lot less stress for both of us. I’ll know better next time.
It’s simple. If you find yourself in this situation, send your nemesis a draft of the article a few hours before posting it. If you’re right and they’re smart enough to know it, you’ll achieve everything you would have, but without the hoopla. If they don’t react to that, you can throw everything at them with a clear conscience.
Dublin Bus Maps will remain on the App Store. It’s a good app, and there’s no point in punishing customers. I have asked Apple to ignore my request to have his app removed. Philip will update the schema within the next few weeks and I’m happy that with that.
Ok, here’s the exciting part: Philip has agreed to donate his most profitable month’s earnings from Dublin Bus Maps to Concern’s Haiti project. The app has only been around for 3 months, so this is more than 1/3 of his earnings — a better percentage than I would have got for licensing the database.
This all blew way out of proportion, so to show that there are no hard feelings and to acknowledge that there are better things to worry about than arguing over a database of bus timetables, I’m going to match his amount with my own donation. We’ll be posting the receipts later on today.
Thanks for working this out with me, Philip. Looking forward to that pint.
