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Jamil Zainasheff, Stefan van As and Tom Neuholt-Huber joined us for a LIVE MS Messenger chat on Thursday evening. Below is the result of that chat ...

Conference:
Hey guys
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we are ready to start
Jamil Zainasheff says:
Ready.
Conference:
saying Hi
Jamil Zainasheff says:
Howdy everyone. Sorry we couldn't be there.
Conference:
Chris Swenson has found an Authorware bug ;-) ....
Jamil Zainasheff says:
He must be mistaken.
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he says Nope!!!
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call setPostPoint in an in image,
Set transition
transition effects all the area the image was EVER in
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Joe says it is a feature :-P
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Leo wants to know is AW dead? :-)
Jamil Zainasheff says:
Very funny Leo...
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Joerg asks ,... what new features are planned??
Jamil Zainasheff says:
Lots of good ones. :-)
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steve can't type so now i am - joe
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Amy: the variable keypress response is cool, but it can't be perpetual so that limits what you can do with it

Stefan van As has been added to the conversation.

Jamil Zainasheff says:
OK....
Conference:
hello stefan
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stupid keyboard :-(
Stefan van As says:
Hi
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english
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we can pepper you with questions, assuming there are any. do you want to say anything before that?
Jamil Zainasheff says:
Is there a topic?
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" what features do people want"
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should we be retraining in Director? is a question LOL
Jamil Zainasheff says:
What? That is crazy talk. ;-)
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when is it possible to use unicode in authorware?
Jamil Zainasheff says:
So the comment is that someone wants unicode support. Noted.
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can authorware have the ability to communicate with java objects like with flash remote
Stefan van As says:
AW is fully MBCS compatible. Why would you want to use Unicode?
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Chris S notes that integration new media has a solution
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what is mbcs please?
Stefan van As says:
Multi-Byte Character Systems
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the xml parser cannot parse mbcs
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os x support?
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(that was mark steiner)
Jamil Zainasheff says:
Oh, in that case, forget it. ;-)
Stefan van As says:
Okay, but that's a XMLParser.x32 problem than. Not an AW problem. Noted.
Conference:
which version are we going to adopt of the parser? xmlparser.x32 or xmlparse.x32 (aw6.5)? that threw a lot of dave gordon's clients
Stefan van As says:
By the way: I believe if the character set for XML document you're pasing is UTF-16, XMLParser.x32 does handle it. Of course, when the character set for the XML document you're pasing is UTF-8, there is no double-byte support.
Conference:
Will the paths of display icons and motion icons ever be manipulated or movable via cursor? and shift key constraints?
Jamil Zainasheff says:
Questions about when a certain feature would be implemented just can't be answered. Sorry.
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ok. please note that as a wish
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by many
Jamil Zainasheff says:
I would like to see it too. I think I brought that up some years ago.
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someone else is now asking, what about os x support?
Jamil Zainasheff says:
What about it? I don't understand the question.
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note that as a hope for the future please
Jamil Zainasheff says:
We are aware that people are interested in deploying on OSX via a native player.
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also: we would like antialiased text in rtf objects
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We're having a big fight over whether we should use MX after Authorware
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we're suggesting MX Attain :-)
Stefan van As says:
Antialiased text for RTF objects is going to be very hard. The feature is based upon some Microsoft library that comes with the Windows OS (RICHED20.DLL), that that particular library doesn't support it. Of course, you can always set your system to "smooth fonts" (that does actually work)
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noted
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wish to layer AVIs
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someone other than erik want to know what you think of 3D support in aw
Stefan van As says:
Layering AVIs is very hard too (unless you convert them to some other format). IE and MediaPlayer cannot do it either (have you ever tried to layer MediaPlayer in the browser?). The DirectShow technology writes directly to screen. They are doing this for performance reasons.
Jamil Zainasheff says:
What we think of 3D in Authorware? If we're thinking of adding more support for it?
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wish to set a preference to not be able to drag icons into a map
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or more visual feeedback
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apparently the person other than erik just wants to know what you think of it. do you like the idea etc.
Jamil Zainasheff says:
I think 3D is of very limited interest for most users. The cost of the 3d elements tends to be very time consuming/costly.
Conference:
i think he has ulterior motives :-)
Jamil Zainasheff says:
Generic items can be had, but they are of limited use.
Stefan van As says:
I agree with Jamil, but I also believe the i3D Xtra is a work of art.
Conference:
the question appears more about whether 3D has a place in training....nuff said for now, more questions
Jamil Zainasheff says:
Yes, very nice technology, just probably not something that 80% of users want.
Jamil Zainasheff says:
Yes, ABSOLUTELY it has a place.
Jamil Zainasheff says:
3D is critical to certain training applications.
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desireability to have more drawing tools in aw, more integration with fireworks, dial palette controls, etc.
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antialiased drawing in aw
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we would like to be able to change dynamically the width and height of graphic images
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a feature to be able to size to fit a graphic, like mediashoppe's mprint, or like andrew poulos's ActiveX control - it has a fit to window property
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we're now asking the audience questions
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how many of you are doing database driven products, shells with database
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about half responded
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yes
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how many are building page turners like in power point?
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" I did - I needed the money" :~(
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how many of you are integrating with the web - a few
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how many clients are demanding web-based delivery? several
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a third are delivering only web now
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how many are integrating aw with live instructors or chat sessions, white boards, etc?
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one has reported that the LMS has these features and are integrating
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what does aw really provide that other mm products do not?
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speed of development
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visual interface that i understand
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handles complex coding better than some others
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try building some of this stuff in a timeline
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being able to handle so many media resources
Tom Neuhold-Huber says:
what do the other products provide that Authorware does not?
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learning curve for aw is more linear, with others you have more walls
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ahhhh
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vector based graphics
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small size files
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rotating objects
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pixel-level image control
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3D
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(I don't know who said that ;-))
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plugins that are distributed globally
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a merketing budget bigger than $12
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a development team bigger than 3 (but we do love you)
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os x support
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someone said
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that nuff?
Tom Neuhold-Huber says:
yep
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:-)
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1 more: true object orientation
Jamil Zainasheff says:
So, if we added that stuff, you're saying you wouldn't need the other products?
Conference:
uhmmm
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yes
Stefan van As says:
Don't ask what a small development team can do for you. Ask what you can do for a small development team
Conference:
thank you, mr. president
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1 more thing and it'll be comlete: tweening
Stefan van As says:
Hey, AW is not a PhotoShop alternative.
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how many of you work for more than one client? about half
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how many have more than 5? a few
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how many of you get work just for aw?
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several
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what feature of 6.5 has changed the way you work the most?
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script functions
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ObjectOverID
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XML parser, new version
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RTF Objects
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improved win controls
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the new logo is cool
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said someone other than erik :-)
Stefan van As says:
I need to have a word with Erik when he returns to the home country.
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dot notation would be nice in the future
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what feature frustrates you the most?
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button editor
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alignment bar
Stefan van As says:
Yeah, dot notation would be nice.
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alignment bug
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motion icon is always frustrating to one or more
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a thorough scrub of the help files would be a good thing, especially to make sure things are up to date
Jamil Zainasheff says:
What about the motion icon is frustrating?
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it's difficult to set up by moving objects, setting up paths, etc. small objects esp.
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one says, just about everything about setting up the path
Jamil Zainasheff says:
How would you improve it?
Jamil Zainasheff says:
You can set them up via code, if that helps.
Conference:
allow me to set up the path coords numerically
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set up a coordinate and move with arrow keys
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a native zoom control for fine control of these things would help a lot
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rules like in freehand, movable guides so that you can align things more easily
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to go with the new graphic editor
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i mean rulers, not rules
Jamil Zainasheff says:
Oh, 'cause I was going to give you lots of rules. :-)
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by the way, your jokes do make us laugh
Jamil Zainasheff says:
I was considering giving up engineering for stand up comedy.
Stefan van As says:
Please don't.
Tom Neuhold-Huber says:
When that happens you will know Authorware is truely dead.
Jamil Zainasheff says:
I think it comes from years of people telling me my code is a joke.
Conference:
the way that the web player works is not always consistent. several difficulties
Conference:
hold on
Stefan van As says:
I'm always worried about Jamil getting bitten by a hamster or something for that exact same reason.
Conference:
the aw file should use whatever protocol the browser is using and not try to go around it
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the web page should have more control over the aw file as it does with flash
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we're cool at this point
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hamster?
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what are you saying, stefan?
Jamil Zainasheff says:
AW uses both the browser "protocol" and its own, depending on how you use it.
Conference:
what we're saying is that it should be more consistent
Jamil Zainasheff says:
What control do you want over the AW object in the web page?
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so that it works with proxies and https
Stefan van As says:
We're aware of this confusion people have with web publishing. We were hoping OBP would solve some of these problems, but apparently people are still troubled with web publishing.
Jamil Zainasheff says:
I think OBP was a huge step forward.
Conference:
no doubt, thanks
Jamil Zainasheff says:
We'll need to work on the other end in the future.
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we want to get and set variables inside aw from the web page
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and trigger authorware events from the web page
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is iconauthor dead?
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when is the new version coming out?
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of iconauthor ;-)
Stefan van As says:
It would be nice if the Web Player ActiveX would "publish" more properties and events, for sure.
Conference:
we would like to know what you see as your biggest challenge in the next year
Stefan van As says:
Finding a place to stay
Conference:
uhm...about authorware
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it would be nice if you could talk to both the activex and the plugin as well
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no comments?
Stefan van As says:
The plugin architecture is not that open. But in the case of the ActiveX, in theory it's possible to publish properties.
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we would like aw to be able to Breeze in the near future
Jamil Zainasheff says:
The biggest challenge is understanding exactly what the majority of users want and implementing it in a way that solves their issues.
Stefan van As says:
I like Breezers too. Especially the lemon.
Conference:
what do you think jamil that most users want today from what you have been hearing?
Conference:
we know, stefan
Jamil Zainasheff says:
I think the biggest things for us, in general, are support for standards (tracking and access.), improved handling of everything graphic (drawing tools, vectors, anti-alias, rotation, etc), and improved web playback (osx, plugin issues, etc.).
Conference:
sounds as if this room is saying much the same
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when can we get it?
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tomorrow?
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next day?
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2 pm
Jamil Zainasheff says:
And I think people have really liked the fact that we've focused on improving some of the small interface issues that are annoying.
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yes!
Jamil Zainasheff says:
How much would you pay for it?
Conference:
buck fifty
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hold on
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we're asking
Jamil Zainasheff says:
It is difficult in commercial software to do lots of small interface tweaks. The marketing people don't care for it, as it isn't something you can sell easily.
Jamil Zainasheff says:
We KNOW it is important however.
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we're doing the finger thing
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lots of people giving us the finger? :-(
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7 points for standards
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too many to count for images - lots and lots
Jamil Zainasheff says:
I think fixing the annoyances of current users just makes the product that much more enjoyable for new users.
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web player - 32
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there you go
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are you saying that current users are annoyances???
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are you going to bump us off?
Jamil Zainasheff says:
Yes, you all drive me nuts. :-)
Jamil Zainasheff says:
I'm saying if we fix the problems you have, it just makes for a better experience for new users.
Conference:
we're discussing what improvements might take place from an instructional design perspective. the answer seems to be that we should just build our own models and not have macromedia build those into the tool
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same thing regarding project management. aw can't be all these things
Jamil Zainasheff says:
You mean there is something you DON'T want us to add?
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when using InsertIcon and PasteModel, we would like to have info back, such as the icon id of the inserted icon and with pasted, a list of all the icon ids or at least the first one
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yes, please don't add some things
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no timeline
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oh, wait
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:-)
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setpostpoint and such fail when called from the KO SDK because the SDK can only send back strings through CallTarget
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a big THANK YOU for putting up with all our comments and questions
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we appreciate your time
Stefan van As says:
SetPostPoint fails when called from the KO SDK? Chris needs to send me an example here.
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that wasn't chris
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that was a lie
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he has noted this
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again, thanks and goodbye
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< applause>
Tom Neuhold-Huber says:
you are welcome and thank you
Jamil Zainasheff says:
Thanks. Someone drink some good beer for me!
Conference:
Oh if we must :+)
Stefan van As says:
Bye bye