The Mike Hardy Saga, Part IX: The Story Ends… for now
(note: read parts I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII if you haven’t already)
When I first started this project, I envisioned it taking five, maybe six posts to cover all of Michael J. Hardy’s exploits. I did not expect it to reach nine, but I started running into even more things by him that I had not found before I began the series; there might be a part ten when this is all over. However, unless I find some new stuff released by Mr. Hardy, or if something else comes up, this will likely be the last post in the series.
First, let’s look at another classic that Mr. Hardy has not done justice to: Enhanced PuckMan and Ms. PuckMan (local mirror). Unfortunately, this image gives him away; the real version of this is called PAC-MAN Attack. Mr. Hardy is only distributing two of the many games included on the real CD. Now, I have little doubt that the actual PAC-MAN attack CD is just a shovelware collection of free Pac-Man games. However, I also have little doubt that Mr. Hardy did not program the versions he is distributing, but I do not have anything more concrete to back that up (besides PAC-MAN Attack). Chances are he acquired a copy of the CD, which likely contained the source code for these two games, modified them, and started distributing them as his own.
It looks like Mr. Hardy might have finally wised up; he is actually giving credit to other people now! Witness Asteroids 3D (local mirror); he actually credits the original creator, Thom Wetzel Jr. Now, Thom himself posted a comment on Part VII pointing this out to me; needless to say, he was not very happy about what Mr. Hardy has done, so I was glad that he pointed it out. Of course, Mr. Hardy always puts his name in front of Thom’s every time the credits are mentioned… Anyways, here is Thom’s original: Disasteroids 3D. I think I need not comment further.
Has Mike Hardy started his own company? That’s what Spirit Studios (this link may or may not work) might have you believe. However, his current offerings are not totally made by him – he merely just gives an ounce of credit to the creators of the original programs. This is a little better than what he used to do, but there is still a large stigma of misrepresentation. Also, he is still a horrible graphics designer.
One of the offerings of Spirit Studios is a pale imitation of Dev-C++ by Bloodshed Software (no relation, heh) that Mr. Hardy calls Amityville C++ (local mirror). Of course, by “pale imitation” I mean “recompiled version with Mr. Hardy’s name plastered everywhere.” Why is he naming a product after the Amityville murders? I have no idea. Anyway, there is little I can say here, other than to use the real Dev-C++ and not this horror.
Finally, last but definitely not least, there is Internet Spirit (again, this link may or may not work), a case study in the worst user interface design I have ever seen in my entire life. If this is Spirit Studio’s “flagship” product, they should take that ship to a scrap yard, because it is one of the worst looking applications I have ever seen. Even the software it is based on, Maxthon, is not very pretty. But seriously, look at this. How could any person possibly need so many buttons? But I digress. Mr. Hardy credits “MoreQuick and CahngYou,” but I have no idea who they are.
So, with a heavy heart, I am ending the Mike Hardy Saga. Actually, I could not be happier that this is over. But, if need be, I will continue the story if more pops up. Thank you for reading.