Jark has managed to get the transcript of Diane Sawyer's interview with Bush. And he makes a good point that many people on both the left and right have failed to make: Regardless of whether you think we did the right thing by going into Iraq, the bottom line is that the administration certainly seems to have manipulated the public in getting general support for the action. Read Jark's full blog here.

I happen to have been one who supported US action in Iraq. But I also never considered WMD to be a credible threat. To me, it boiled down to two things:

1) After 9/11 we didn't have the luxury anymore of letting vocal enemies of the United States with the means to do us harm stay in power in sensitive areas.  Saddam simply had to be taken off the board.

2) For the war on terror to be won, there has to be a fundamental cultural shift in the Middle East. The real targets have to be Saudia Arabia, Iran, Egypt, and Syria.  Iraq was in the perfect geographic position to apply pressure on those countries to try to become more liberal and open and to curb their more violent, fundamentalist citizens. It certainly helps that Iraq produces a heck of a lot of oil. Going after Saudi Arabia without Iraq taken care of would have been a disaster. Now, hopefully with peaceful means, these countries can be changed.  If Iraq can serve as an example to the dictatorships of the region both in terms of how successful its people become at being prosperous, happy, and peaceful as well as how the previous leaders of Iraq met their end, we have a good chance of winning the war.

Those of us "into this kind of thing" have known this for well over a year now. We have talked about these issues on the blogsphere for a long while.  But the challenge Bush has had was to convince the American people of the need to go after Iraq without these two above issues being too plainly stated. 

The strategy they went with was to simply pursue the UN resolutions from the Gulf War to their logical conclusion.  Iraq had WMD at one time and had not proven that they didn't have it. They made themselves "low hanging fruit". 

But as much as I rejoice in the downfall of Iraq, I don't know how I feel about the administration's manipulation of public opinion. That is the sort of thing Clinton regularly did and only serves to make the public more cynical of elected officials. Elected officials should not take the position of "Well, we know what's best for our citizens so we'll manipulate the ignorant masses so that they'll support doing the right thing even if they don't know what the right thing s..."i

545 Studios was a company of dedicated software developers who, for years, created and maintained a set of freeware programs that had quite an impressive following.

About a year or two ago they began offering commercial software as well as a way to try to pay the bills and move on into bigger things as their talent and skills improved.  Unfortunately, they have called it quits. 

While they had, at times, generated some controversy with very strong opinions on how software should be made and distributed, I must say that over the past couple of years I had really grown to respect and admire much of what they were trying to achieve. To sum it up, they "Got it". I.e. they more than most, really understood the net economy. 

You hear about people being in the right place at the right time. Sometimes the opposite is true. Had they gotten into things just a little earlier I suspect they may have become household names. Anyone who visited their site could almost feel the sizzle of web design talent for instance.  Some venture capital at the right time with their talent and who knows what might have happened.

We wish them good luck on their future endeavors.

When we created JoeUser.com to be database driven we used the existing Stardock.net user database.

What that meant is that everything was based by "Handles" (think CB radios). My handle on most skin sites was/is "Frogboy". That's actually more of an accident than intentional as I had intended Draginol to be my handle which is what I used here.

But when writing articles on such issues, I've always felt a bit uncomfortable using a handle because it implies I have some pseudonymn. That I'm quasi-anonymous. For most people, I still recommend handles. There's nothing particularly noble about using your own name.

But in my case, many of my articles draw on personal knowledge, experience, and expertise. So I better darn well make it clear who I am if I'm going to use myself as a "source" on some topic. So I talked Pat (T-man) into putting in this feature so that we can have our real names be what is posted rather than just our handles. I'll probably stick with this unless the search engines get confused by it or some other unforseen thing happens.

So in case you're confused - Draginol is my "handle". Brad Wardell is my real name. Not all the posts on the home page of JoeUser.com are by me. I try to feature things that will interest people who visit the site.

Some people pride themselves on being ruthless in business. Wanting to take out the competition.  For me, I just can't live life that way. Life is short and thinking of everything as "us" versus "them" strikes me as incredibly unhealthy over the long term.

Many people who just frequent WinCustomize.com looking for skins, themes, wallpapers, etc. would be surprised to learn that the world's most popular skin/theme site is the main site for downloading content for the site's owners. Stardock owns WinCustomize.com. And yet it is the main place to download skins and themes for Litestep, SysMetrix, NeXTStart, ICQ Plus all three of which "compete" with software Stardock makes.  Let me be clear: WinCustomize is the primary site for users of these 4 programs get their content. It is also the most popular site for downloading Microsoft's Windows Media Player skins as well and contains sections for other programs. 

That's because you don't have to look at everything as "us" vs. "them".  Instead, I like to think of them as kindred spirits.  I much prefer a "win-win" situation than a "win-lose" situation. Back when Konfabulator 1.0 came out on the Mac, I did a series of articles for WinCustomize Magazine on it. Why? It "competes" with DesktopX. No, we don't see it that way. We see Arlo Rose as a kindred spirit. Someone who loves doing the same kind of stuff we do. If we met at a trade show, for instance, I bet we'd get along great.

The same is true of websites. One of my best on-line friends runs the world's most popular art site - deviantART.com. But oh no, it has skins and themes. So does Skinbase.org, so does Customize.org, so does Neowin.net.  Are they "competitors"? If you suscribe to the "only the paranoid will survive" mantra then sure.  But not to me.  To me, these are all friends who share a common vision. We're people who want to do cool stuff on our computers.  Heck, I'm a moderator on Neowin. I've posted news on there for not just our stuff but for our "competitor's" software as well.

Now, I don't want to give the wrong impression here. I'm not all warm and cuddly. If someone goes out of their way to antagonize me I can be pretty ruthless. I certainly have my share of detractors out there who think I'm the devil. They rarely are able to articulate a specific reason that a reasonable person could understand but when put to it, I will do what I must.  Or more to the point, if someone else is going to go after me with that "killer instinct" that people sometimes think they're supposed to do with competitors I can react in kind.  There are software programs we don't support on WinCustomize that we would definitely have supported if the authors of them hadn't taken it upon themselves to see us as "the enemy" right from the start. To them I say - it's not necessary to be that way. We're not selling tires here. We're not selling commodities.

One company that has tried to antagonize us from its very beginnings is currently suing us amazingly enough. Which I find astounding because their lawsuit basically boils down to them wanting the court to force us to let them use our IconPackager theme format in order to compete with us.  Besides being a very bad PR move for them, it's bad business.  If I had been in their shoes, rather than spending money on lawyers to try to force my "competitor" to let me use his stuff, I would have spent that same money hiring icon authors to make exclusive icon packages for my own theme format.  I would have hence gotten my program off with a great start, helped the community and made my "competitor" hustle to keep his software getting better.  That would have been my instinct anyway. The strategy I would have employed is arguably a lot less ruthless but which one is likely to generate more money and good will?

What it all boils down to is that life is short. You can either go through it jumping from one stressful event to another. Or you can enjoy it. I'm a people person (obviously - I opened my blog site to the whole world to share in for free <g>).  At Stardock I can honestly say that internally, we stress the importance to take the high road. To wear the white hat. Our company culture could be best described as "The Federation" (from Star Trek).  Interview any current or former Stardock employee and I suspect they would concur with that characterization.

I think in the long run, people are happier when they approach businesses as kindred spirits rather than as "competitors". Obviously that strategy doesn't work so well in commodity markets which is why we stay away from that.  We make games and desktop enhancements.  When we go to E3 or other trade shows you can bet that the game developers see each other as kindred spirits and not competitors in general. When at a party hanging out with friends from Bioware, Ensemble, Blizzard, etc. we're all on the same team. The same can be said of desktop enhancements in general.

So if you're ever thinking of getting into business, don't feel you have to have a "killer instinct". In my experience, the most successful business people both financially and in happiness with life, are the ones who approach business relationships from a win-win situation rather than a win-lose situation.  Kindred spirits, not competitors.

Man, what a week it's been. It started well. Last week before Christmas and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King starting. But then things went down hill.  One of our competitors on the desktop side, TGT Soft, apparently was feeling festive and decided to file a lawsuit.  On Wednesday Stardock received a lawsuit from TGT Soft that was filed in Louisiana.
 
It's largely about one of our programs, IconPackager. The world's first and most popular way to change all your icons on Windows at once. The lawsuit essentially asks for a declaration that TGT Soft can use Stardock’s IconPackager theme format without liability.
 
This incident began last month with the first beta of a new version of their customization program was released which had a button labeled “Add an Icon Pack” which when pressed opened a dialog in which they could load a .iptheme or .ip file (IconPackager files). We were fairly annoyed that because..

     1) They would try to compete with IconPackager/Object Desktop by using IconPackager files (remember, they sell this thing),

    2) That they didn’t even give us credit for our icon packaging format but instead referred to them as “icon packs” as if .ipthemes were some generic term created by the ASCII group or something

 and

    3) They didn’t even create icon packages but rather planned to just exploit the popularity of IconPackager which we’ve worked hard and long on for many years to make popular.
 
We informed them that this was unacceptable and we would defend our rights either technically or legally if necessary. If they wanted to compete with Object Desktop or IconPackager they would need to come up with their own format that they would then have to support and promote.  If they want to put out an icon changing program, that’s fine. But to copy our format and use it so that they can undercut the price of our software is unacceptable and we believe, illegal. 
 
In subsequent correspondence, we even offered to license them the use of our format for a modest royalty (remember, this isn’t a freeware program we’re talking about, they’re selling their program for $20 a pop). Their response was to reject that and file a lawsuit that seems to be designed to force us to let them use/convert our IconPackager theme format without compensation. 
 
Apparently they would have it where we would be the ones to provide the software to create and support icon packages (which is where most of the development/marketing costs have come from) and they would just reap the benefits financially. Note that their program currently does not seem to have the ability to actually create icon packages/sets. Only apply them.
 
They have subsequently come up with their own format (.iconset) but since they can’t actually create .iconset files from their program, they still essentially rely on their ability to use or convert IconPackager theme files. 
 
Picture this scenario then: Someone buys Style XP instead of IconPackager or Object Desktop costing us income. Then their customers would come to WinCustomize.com to download icon packages to use with their program, costing us more money since we pay for the bandwidth.  We pay the costs, they make the money, and to top it off, they’re suing us, costing us legal expenses.
 
To us, this situation is akin to someone asking a skinner to let them port their skin to a different platform and if the skinner says no then turning around and suing them to try to force the skinner to let them port their skin. Stardock fully intends to defend its intellectual property rights.  The implications if TGT Soft were to win are far reaching not just to Stardock but intellectual property holders everywhere including skin and theme authors.
 
We generally feel that people who create stuff should have a say over how that stuff is used. Stardock worked long and hard to make IconPackager a success. Its popularity is not due to marketing but due to the hard work over a long period of time (ex: making it possible to create and apply icons on Windows 95, Windows 95 + IE4, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP).  Doing that was not easy as early IconPackager users can attest to. It was very hard to make IconPackager work reliably on the many different versions of Windows, different interactions with the OS and Internet Explorer, etc. But this was part of the effort necessary to make IconPackager successful and why it’s the most popular, by far, icon packaging technology available.  On top of that, Stardock has paid many thousands of dollars over the years to create icon packages to help promote our program and format (such as the recently released Christmas Time IconPackager theme).
 
For someone to simply come along and try to cash in on our hard work without any compensation strikes us as both morally and legally wrong.  But to actually sue us (and they are also suing me personally, not just Stardock and I can say, on a personal note, getting a lawsuit that targets me personally a week before Christmas is pretty crummy) is just incredible.
 
Like I said, we don’t have a problem with them changing icons or making icon sets. What features they add to their program are their business. But to try to profit from our hard work over many years is wrong and to file a lawsuit against us (and me personally) to try to force us to let them use our intellectual property goes beyond words.
 
So that’s where we’re at.  We will defend our rights because the implications it would have on all our software as well as on the community. If people who create things don’t get to have a say on how it’s used, it would likely have a chilling effect on our community – whether you’re a skin author, an icon artist, a theme author, or a software developer.
 
IconPackager’s page is: https://www.stardock.com/products/iconpackager/

Well it looks like the folks at TGT Soft are in the holiday spirit (not!).  On Wednesday Stardock received a lawsuit from TGT Soft that was filed in Louisiana.

 

The lawsuit essentially asks for a declaration that TGT Soft can use Stardock’s IconPackager theme format without liability. 

 

This incident began last month with the first beta of Style XP 2.0 which had a button labeled “Add an Icon Pack” which when pressed opened a dialog in which they could load a .iptheme or .ip file (IconPackager files). We were fairly annoyed that 1) They would try to compete with IconPackager/Object Desktop by using IconPackager files (remember, they sell this thing), 2) That they didn’t even give us credit for our icon packaging format but instead referred to them as “icon packs” as if .ipthemes were some generic term created by the ASCII group or something and 3) They didn’t even create icon packages but rather planned to just exploit the popularity of IconPackager which we’ve worked hard and long on for many years to make popular.

 

We informed them that this was unacceptable and we would defend our rights either technically or legally if necessary. If they want to compete with Object Desktop or IconPackager they would need to come up with their own format that they have to support and promote.  If they want to put out an icon changing program, that’s fine. But to copy our format and use it so that they can undercut the price of our software is unacceptable and we believe, illegal. 

 

In subsequent correspondence, we even offered to license them the use of our format for a modest royalty (remember, this isn’t a freeware program we’re talking about, they’re selling Style XP for $20 a pop). Their response was to reject that and file a lawsuit that seems to be designed to force us to let them use/convert our IconPackager theme format without any compensation. 

 

Apparently they would have it where we would be the ones to provide the software to create and support icon packages (which is where most of the development/marketing costs have come from) and they would just reap the benefits financially. Note that Style XP 2.0 currently does not seem to have the ability to actually create icon packages/sets. Only apply them.

 

They have subsequently come up with their own format (.iconset) but since they can’t actually create .iconset files from their program, they rely on a new program they’ve made, IconTranslate, which seems to exist primarily to convert IconPackager themes to their “.IconSet” format. And once installed turns on a feature in Style XP to read IconPackager themes directly from within their program.

 

Picture this scenario then: Someone buys Style XP instead of IconPackager or Object Desktop costing us income. Then their customers would come to WinCustomize.com to download icon packages to use with their program, costing us more money since we pay for the bandwidth.  We pay the costs, they make the money, and to top it off, they’re suing us, costing us legal expenses.

 

To us, this situation is akin to someone asking a skinner to let them port their skin to a different platform and if the skinner says no then turning around and suing them to try to force the skinner to let them port their skin. Stardock fully intends to defend its intellectual property rights.  The implications if TGT Soft were to win are far reaching not just to Stardock but intellectual property holders everywhere including skin and theme authors.

 

We generally feel that people who create stuff should have a say over how that stuff is used. Stardock worked long and hard to make IconPackager a success. Its popularity is not due to marketing but due to the hard work over a long period of time (ex: making it possible to create and apply icons on Windows 95, Windows 95 + IE4, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP).  Doing that was not easy as early IconPackager users can attest to. It was very hard to make IconPackager work reliably on the many different versions of Windows, different interactions with the OS and Internet Explorer, etc. But this was part of the effort necessary to make IconPackager successful and why it’s the most popular, by far, icon packaging technology available.  On top of that, Stardock has paid many thousands of dollars over the years to create icon packages to help promote our program and format (such as the recently released Christmas Time IconPackager theme).

 

For someone to simply come along and try to cash in on our hard work without any compensation strikes us as both morally and legally wrong.  But to actually sue us (and they are also suing me personally, not just Stardock and I can say, on a personal note, getting a lawsuit that targets me personally a week before Christmas is pretty crummy) is just incredible.

 

Like I said, we don’t have a problem with them changing icons or making icon sets. What features they add to their program are their business. But to try to profit from our hard work over many years is wrong and to file a lawsuit against us (and me personally) to try to force us to let them use our intellectual property goes beyond words.

 

So that’s where we’re at.  We will defend our rights because the implications it would have on all our software as well as on the community. If people who create things don’t get to have a say on how it’s used, it would likely have a chilling effect on our community – whether you’re a skin author, an icon artist, a theme author, or a software developer.

 

IconPackager’s page is: https://www.stardock.com/products/iconpackager/

There are so many reviews already of Return of the King that I won't waste time going over the basic plot point. The question at the end of the day is "how good is it?"  The answer is - very good.  Now, I have some minor spoilers in here so just skip the rest if you're really paranoid. I'm not giving away anything crucial, just tidbits.

On IMDB, I gave Fellowship of the Ring a 10. It's the only movie I've ever given a 10 to.  I gave the Two Towers a 9.  I would give this a 9 also.  The movie is so well crafted that at times it almost seems like an art film.  But all goodness aside, since we've established that it's a great film that all should go and see let me focus a bit on some of the negatives that I think a lot of other people have thought of but I haven't really seen voiced:

1. Too much melodrama.  I am so sick of "tender moments" between Frodo and Sam. I was getting pretty tired of seeing scene after scene of tear jerking due to Frodo and Sam.
2. They took out my favorite two parts from the books: The encounter with Saruman and Gandalf's confrontation with the Witch King. 
3. At some point I was hoping that Gandalf, the wizard, would actually do some...you know...wizarding.
4. I was really hoping to see Aragorn use the Palantir. It was a powerful moment in the books and would have fit in perfectly when they were hoping to convince Sauron that they were going to attack Mordor in force.
5. Too many skirmeshes, not enough solid battling.
6. Too much melodrama part 2: Just general tear jerking scenes. If you have too many of them, they just lose impact.
7. Editing could have been better. The tower coming down seem to take forever.  The ship sailing into the west scene took so long that my mind started to wander.
8. Where are the elves? They help save Rohan but in the actual battle for Middle Earth itself they're not around? They were in the book.
9. The characterization of Denethor was poor. That is not at all what he was like. He wasn't some disgusting craven fool. He was a powerful man whose use of the Palantir crushed his mighty spirit over time.

That's pretty much it. I am already looking forward to it again.  I've gotten a lot of letters from people concerning my two articles about the world of middle earth (here and here). Yes, I'm a Tolkien fan.  So how well do the movies fit with the books? Well, significant changes were made, particularly in Return of the King. But the movies definitely capture the spirit of the books which is what mattered to me.

There were some changes and omissions that did bug me. I didn't feel the the Eowyn portion was handled very well with regards to Faramir. Those character arcs aren't really concluded satisfactory.  Eowyn does find love -- in Faramir who was a noble, gentle spirit.  I was also disappointed with the portrayal of Denethor who was, next to Aragorn, the most powerful human in the world in terms of body, mind and spirit. But he is portrayed in the move as pathetic figure worthy of scorn. Certainly the conclusion of the Gandalf and Saruman rivalry was non-existent.  So for those reasons I can't say it was a perfect movie but damn it was good. 

I knit pick this stuff because it's material I've loved and cherished for so very long. I know I couldn't have done it anywhere near as well as Peter Jackson did it though. His attention to detail was amazing.

So go see it.  And if you have any Tolkien or Middle Earth questions, just respond here and I'll try to answer as best I can.

In part 1 I discussed the relationship between Gandalf, Saruman, Sauron, and the Balrog.

Part II: Of Aragorn, Númenor, and third age Elves...

Thank goodness Tolkien wrote his books back when he did and not today. Because in today's climate of political correctness the coolest parts of the Middle Earth mythology have to do with the fact that not everyone is equal.  You see, there are men and then there are MEN. Aragorn, the human hero of Lord of The Rings, is not just "some guy". He's Númenorean. A very special type of man. A super man.  One Númenor could take out many normal men. The movie can't really convey just how powerful Aragorn is.

Númenor was founded by a man named Elros. Elros was Elrond's brother. That's right, Elrond is not a full elf himself and neither is his daughter Arwen.  Elros and his people did great deeds in the battle against Morgoth and as a reward, the Valar raised a huge, beautiful island in the ocean west of Middle Earth for Elros and his followers to live on.  To his followers were given unusually long life. Hundreds of years of life.  And Elros, being half elvish, chose to be human.  And Elrond chose to be elvish. It was a choice they were given long ago and they made their choices.

For awhile, Númenor prospered. But eventually it became corrupt. They began to fear death more and more. When you live hundreds of years in relative bliss and perfect health, it must be tough to deal with getting old and dying.  To make a long story short, Sauron, who could appear at that time in the guise of a good and noble person, took advantage of this and convinced the Númenoreans that they could live forever if they simply sailed off into the furthermost west where the Valar lived and conquered that. Sauron lied and claimed that it was the lands of the Valar that made the Valar live forever instead of anything inherent.

And so Númenor prepared for war. But not all.  Some of them had enough wisdom to recognize Sauron for what he was.  And so a small group of Númenoreans secretly fled to Middle Earth. These were Aragorn's ancestors. The Valar made short work of the foolish Númenorean attackers.  Sauron, who remained on the island thought himself pretty clever until the Valar decided to destroy the actual island itself in punishment for the attack. This destroyed Sauron's first body.  In time he obviously returned but he no longer had the potency of spirit to construct a body that was fair and pleasing to the eye.

Meanwhile, the Númenoreans who fled set up two kingdoms. One was called Arnor. The other, in the south, was Gondor. Elendil and his son Isildur eventually found themselves battling Sauron once he took shape again. Elendil died (we see that in the opening part of Fellowship of the Ring). Isildur took the ring but was slain by orcs (also seen).  But Isildur had children at this point. And through a line of succession we get to Aragorn.

So while the typical man might live 70 years. Aragorn can expect to live a couple hundred years.  In fact, at the time of our story, he's already in his 80s. He's been, ahem, dating Arwen (who's 3000 years old herself) for 40 years. They are the ultimate case of  waiting until you get married as both of them are chasted.

Which brings us to Elrond.  Elves get progressively wimpier as each generation passes. In fact, one of the themes of Tolkien's mythology is that things lose their potency and strength over time.  The elves created directly by Eru (Illuvitar, i.e. "God") are by far the most powerful. Think of it as the potency of their spirits being disispated through their children.  If the first elves had a potency of 10 and two of them have 5 children, then those 5 children would share a power level of 20 (so 4 each).  And so as time has gone on, that potenecy has been divided over and over again.  Of course, there is the case of Feanor who was the ONLY child of two first generation elves and as a result was actually the most powerful elf of all.

No elves of that power exist in middle earth anymore.  One of those elves could taken on Sauron one on one.  The most powerful elf left in Middle Earth is 3rd generation and that is Galadriel (Elrond is 6th generation).  Which is why you see magical things in her realm but you don't see it (as much) in Rivendell where Elrond is (except for the enchanted river but know one knows if Elrond was the one who actually did that or whether Gil-Galad or some other high elf set it up for him). But even Galadriel is a shadow of what the most powerful elves once did.

And we don't even get into the wood elves who aren't much better then normal men other than living forever and thus having a lot longer time to get good at a bow or fighting or whatever.  The thing to remember is that Aragorn, being of the race of Númenor is inherently more hardy, stronger, faster, more skilled, wiser, more intelligent, etc. than the normal man or the normal elf. The elves you see generally in the movie are butt kickers but only because they've lived so long as to be well practiced. Aragorn is a butt kicker because it's part of what he is. He is inhernetly better at pretty much everything than anyone else. Only a handful of descendents of Númenor exist such as Faramir, Boromir, and Denethor but in their cases, they are not "pure" Númenorean. Their blood is mingled with "common men" and hence their wisdom, strength, and life are shortened. But they're still far above the typical man but not as powerful as Aragorn who is the only pure blooded Númenorean left that we know of.

So when you watch Return of the King or The Two Towers and you see Aragorn perform feats that make you go "Oh yea, how would he survive that?" the issue is that the movies can't translate the vast differences in skill between normal men and one of Númenorean heritage. Aragorn is the closest thing to a super hero you're going to see out of the men of Middle Earth.

One of the things I've come to realize over the years is that our company's management team is incomplete. Much of Stardock's success can be attributed to the incredible talent of our company's developers and management.  But as we've grown, particularly in the past year, holes have appeared. 

For one thing, when you're small, having a management team full of specialists is good. I'm the only generalist in the management team. That works fine when you're a start-up.  But as you get bigger you need more generalists. Bigger companies need more people who know how to code, know how to market, know technology, know business, and know how to deal with other people diplomatically normally or ruthlessly when necessary.

What our company is missing, in other words, is a Vice President.  But you can't easily just hire a VP. I have friends who are well suited to the position but I know better than to hire friends into the company at this point. I have two friends who fit the mold perfectly, Phil and Kirk. So I say to myself, I need people like Phil and Kirk who aren't Phil and Kirk. But that's a real challenge.

I get resumes on my desk on a regular basis from sales managers, executives from large companies, chief technologists, etc.  None of them fit the critiera because they either:

• Are too business-oriented.  In a tech company, you have to know coding or else the developers will walk all over you. Developers respect other developers. I'm not a great coder but my coding credentials are strong enough that I have their respect. I also know the lingo and know how to evaluate different technologies. Too many would-be VPs just don't know technology well enough or at least as well as they think they do.
• Are too sales-oriented.  We already have an outstanding sales manager.
• Could fit the criteria but want huge HUGE salaries (i.e. >$200,000 annually) when in reality we aren't prepared to pay even half that in salary but have stock options.

This has really bitten me in the last few months as I've had to increasingly travel to companies to close deals that really are more suited to a VP.  One trip was to work out an agreement with a major games publisher. A couple weeks later I was off to the other coast to put together a project agreement on a major Object Desktop related project.  Two very different things both requiring me to fly out there.  That's time I'm not helping steer the company (and in 4th quarter, our busiest quarter).

Most entrepreneurs come in pairs or in threes.  That's how they avoid this. A group of friends get together and start a company together.  Stardock was founded just by me. And I'm an only child. And now it's too late to bring in friends to be principles because we're big enough to the point where there is definitely a hierarchy and while one of my closest friends does work at the office, we've known each other for decades now (we met when I started high school) so the company hasn't affected that and I'm not really in an authority position relative to him so it works out. A VP, on the other hand, is someone who would be in the direct chain of command and hence bringing in a friend at this point for that position wouldn't fly.

And so the search continues...