HPC:Factor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HPC:Factor is a Windows CE community website providing support for the Microsoft Windows CE based Handheld PC and Tablet PC. The site and community it has created is the brain child of its founders Chris Tilley, Clinton Fitch, John Rubier, Sean Fernstrum and Jeff Townsley.
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[edit] History
HPC:Factor is the culmination of and subsequent evolution of seven years of work in the Windows CE community by its founders.
The not for profit organisation was founded on 3rd March 2003 after the signing of a collaboration agreement between two constituent groups from the Windows CE Handheld PC community, the non-executive staff of SimplyHPC (consisting of Sean Fernstrum, Clinton Fitch, John Ruber and Jeff Townsley) and the entirety of the legacy H/PC support site ce320.
SimplyHPC, originally Simply720 was setup in 1999 to provide support for the fledgling Hewlett Packard Jornada 720 community by William Beehner, John Rubier and Jeff Townsley. By 2001 the site had changed names to SimplyHPC, expanding its scope of support to a far broader range of Windows CE class devices, and adding an off-shoot division to cover the virgining Tablet PC market place which was largely dominated by embedded platforms at the time. SimplyHPC also expanded its interests into commercial territories with what became over-hyped and under-delivered ranges of Internet Service products and software development under the name SimplyMAD (Simply Mobile Application Development).
On the 11th September 2000, Chris Tilley founded the site ce320 to provide support and resources for the already undermined Windows CE 1.0 community, which after 4 years had all but vanished. Within nine months the site had expanded to include support for Windows CE 2.0 based Handheld PC devices, both areas of the Handheld PC that were not being actively covered anywhere else on-line.
In Q3 2002, sensing the need to provide more community centric support, and having been unable to appeal to the legacy community SimplyHPC approached ce320 to begin merger talks which would see both site sharing hosting to minimise cost while a gradual merger of content from ce320 into SimplyHPC took place over an extended period. All domains and trade mark assets from ce320 were transferred into SimplyHPC's control as part of the merger.
The merger operation continued, with work to build upon the SimplyHPC user community increasing as more services were brought on-line. The project continued until the week of the 17th February 2003 when unexpectedly both SimplyHPC and ce320 vanished from the Internet along with every other site and hosted through the S|HPC Internet Services division.
Neither site would ever return to users screens again.
It transpired in the next few weeks that SimplyHPC as an organisation stood with severe financial deficits and a string of creditors in arrears. Senior editor and owner of the Simply Network William Beehner chose not to follow through on his commitments to the site or staff group and abandoned his responsibilities during the final days of the organisations up-time. His absence during the events which transpired in the following weeks led to the complete loss of both sites and trade-names from operational use, and the permanent loss of the masters for the SimplyHPC site.
[edit] A Conversation (The founding of HPC:Factor)
On the 27th of February 2003 the primary, non-executive staff from the SimplyHPC team met together as a group for the very first time. At this meeting the truth of the state of the organisation became common knowledge as the situation was discussed and the events that had transpired surrounding the groups finance revealed.
At the end of the meeting it was agreed that a new site would be created, under a new team and a completely different modus operandi to that of SimplyHPC.
[edit] Behind a Name
Seeking a similarly catchy identity to the marketability of SimplyHPC and its various iterations (S|HPC, Simply720, S|720, S|MAD etc), HPC:Factor was christened on the 3rd March 2003 by the unanimous approval of all five members of the staff.
HPC:Factor, is a play on 'H/PC' the shorthand representation for the Microsoft 'Handheld PC' trademark, with Factor being a nod towards the sites being a constituent part of a large community of Windows CE and Windows CE related internet resources and not just an island amongst them - a key aspect of the new sites mantra.
The name HPC:Factor was suggested not by chance by Chris Tilley, who had planned to use the name, be it in its uncondensed form as "Handheld Factor" in a separate project in association with MobileCubed Software's owner Julio Ortiz. The project never went ahead, leaving the name and preliminary groundwork on test logo designs (which had already been completed) available for the new site.
[edit] HPC:Factor v1.0
The initial version of HPC:Factor went live to the public on the 10th March 2003 and the process of salvaging works from SimplyHPC under the rights of the author began. Fortunately large parts of ce320 were readily available to introduce onto the site after a period of extensive reworking, meaning that for the most part, all existing content from ce320 was reintroduced onto HPC:Factor, conversely, only around 5% of content from SimplyHPC could be salvaged for use on the new site.
As a result of the disparity between the authors of the site content, as the dominant contributor, Chris Tilley - with the largest contribution - assumed the role of the sites senior editor.
[edit] HPC:Factor v2.0
HPC:Factor v2.0 was the first full redesign of HPC:Factor since its launch. The v2 project took 9 months from planning to programming and implementation. As with v1.0, all systems at work on the site were written in-house as a closed source web application with the exception of the kernel for the forum/BBS system. v2.0 introduced a new design, upgraded site services, updated forum system and new back-end servers. v2.0 went live to the public on the 14th February 2006 to much acclaim from the user community and outsiders alike.
[edit] HPC:Factor Staff
Although Chris holds the title Editor-in-Chief and operationally manages HPC:Factor, the sites ownership and strategic decision making are made on a mutual level between the owners group and not at the editorial level.
Chris Tilley remains the Editor-in-Chief of the site, undertaking the largest role in the nurturing and development of the organisation. Along with day-to-day management of the organisation, Chris is responsible for both the user experience having designed and developed both the cosmetic aspect of the v1.0 and v2.0 HPC:Factor sites, as well as the programming for HPC:Factor's back-end and application services (for example the Hardware Compatibility List).
Clinton Fitch assumed the editorial role as Chief Reviews Editor, and has subsequently, through his efforts on HPC:Factor and across the Windows CE world become a widely known and trusted face in the Microsoft Embedded devices community. Clinton is a leading voice in both the Handheld PC and Pocket PC communities, having founded Clinton Fitch (dot) Com! in 2003 to cover his activities in the Pocket PC and Smartphone community.
John Rubier remains the force behind HPC:Factor. As a self-hosted entity, John is responsible for the management of the site's servers and services. His talents also exist as the most experienced programmer on the team in both high and low level languages.
Sean Fernstrum and Jeff Townsley are no longer actively involved in HPC:Factor, although both still maintain links with the site and carry a lot of respect in the Handheld PC community.
