what is going on with APS3000?

…yeah Silly, you re very right

Im with the technology, but not with the applications

I mean, anarchism is ideal, but utopic, impossible to apply all over the world

so, the machined shapes defence is that if you re a very good designer the people will love your boards, and on and on

wrong, cause anyone NOW can put couple of measurements here and there and emulate any of the PROVEN designs

but in which way that average guy can do that? Swaylocks for ex

now, a lot of the “secret” stuff is not a secret anymore. Information open for the public

yes- the companies with the big bucks will win

happended in all the Industries; for ex a big one, like the automotive one.

yes there re more “democratic” cars; cheaper cars with 6 gears, ABS, rims, etc, that in the past only the expensive cars had them

but the quality now is really poor, mass induced; for ex in my family there always had VW golf, and now that made in Brazil (for all the world), is very poor quality. In each model change, less quality

Sounds like better to transform in a sander or glasser; that still we have jobs availables…

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only problem is no one figured out the glassing part of the problem which created just another log jam further downstream in a function where the bodies(and interest) were even less in number.

someone will invent a glassing machine

hi reverb

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Business-farming-industry/Businesses-for-sale/Other/auction-91589697.htm

to some its an art

but anyway back to topic

as far as i can tell Miki has still been shafted

so thats unfortunate

Hey Natas, the only political reason I have for not liking Miki’s or any other machine is about trying to feed my family, nothing more or less. JH.

Hey Bert, your right, I am in the wrong business, now. I have been looking to do other stuff to supplement my shaping for years. That’s why I got some boards cut over at Mikis, so I could have more time to concentrate on my photography and picture framing. Thing is , it’s like a prick tease, I can’t leave because guys keep ordering boards and yet it’s a battle to get enough to survive. One thing I disagree with is that the machine is more accurate and does a better job, not for me anyway. I like handshaping them and can do it way fast enough, when the orders are there. I used to supplement shaping for other guys, that is now non existent, due purely to the machines, bad luck for me and guys like me, that’s how it goes. This is a fascinating thread and cheers to all involved, nothing like a good debate without the x=ys. JH. P.s. as far as being good enough, I reckon I am, so do a lot of other people, ask Mick Fannig about the 6’8" he rode in the Mentawaiis last year or the channel Occs got on order, I’ll keep chipping.

…yes, diversification…

now Im starting a 4 years degree -Systems Analyst

yes, like you say, the orders keep em coming, but not bulks

but I really like this, Im not doing this for the money only

and Im a board builder not only a shaper, so I know what sweat is all about

We are all in the same boat, we all need to feed our families, I do not personally own a machine myself but I wish I did, I simply do not have the orders nor the name to justify buying one but if I did I would. For those who own an APS3000 , good on you and I hope that you all use the machine for what it is designed for “CUSTOM BOARDS” not “MASS PRODUCED - SAME SHAPES (As other machines are designed for)”. For those who own the machines, yes it is probably going to be easier to feed their families once they pay off the loan for the machine, well done, you had foresight. We all have visions of our future and to achieve them, a man has to do what a man has to do. I would never suggest to anyone to stay a my level just because I am stuck there. I drive a beat up Datsun but my mate drives a lexus. My mate earns more than me and lives in a bigger house but I still give him a discount on my boards because he is my mate and I would not expect any more or less of him no matter what his position in life is. I make my own choices.

My gripe here is purely for the fact that Miki has put in all the years to get to the stage he is at, now someone is simply trying to walk on in and use MIKI’s technology that he created himself or paid to have created for him and get away with it.

These other people do have the right to enter the machine market, everyone does, but the very least that they should have done was to design their own machine and not copy MIKI’s ideas. I have no time for these people, they are not ethical and I would never buy a machine from them, if they are prepared to rip MIKI off, then they will also be prepared to rip off their customers as well. No integrity. They steal oxygen from me. Look at their web site, same machine new name. Get a life.

Scott

Machines have no soul.

Art is an endeavor of man.

Long live the Counter-Revolution!

If I had to pay to post this or join this site or prove my hydrodynamic knowledge,

you all would have been spared from reading this clueless drivel!

Wheres an Ambrose when you need him

or dont read him.

I have my AAA card.

Machines may not have soul… However the creator does. It is the creators vision of how a tool/machine is to help man. Some machines that have been made our souless as their creators had devious intent( sell machines to China to help pop out boards ) . I wonder if power planers have soul? I picked up all three of my planers and looked for soul ( they did tell me that they were tired and felt abused as they were not created to shave foam, They pleaded with me to remain in their metal boxes until I needed them ). I could not find any soul in the bucket of epoxy I mixed up this morning, nor did I feel any soul vibrating off any of the preshapes I was scrubbing. I put a little of my soul ( Just a little! to much would make me souless ) into each board as I thought about my customers requests and tried to make adjustents I felt would improve the experiance from his/her last board.

Soul is simply an interpretation. I’m not hear to argue the concept of what has soul and what does not. In my view of the posts in regards to soul they lead me to believe that we should all pitch our power tools, and ban chemical use. We could all climb tall mountains and ( praying on the way up ) Find just that right wili/koa tree cut it down with a man made stone chisel, drag it down the mountain. ( Again praying ) Chisel it with another man made stone tool. Then we could all surf naked ! We could even go further and stop using electricity, maybe ban computer use no more forums!, Live in huts and eat berries, Chit in outhouses.

I will stop using power tools when everyone else does…

Miki deserves respect… He has and is trying to help the situation. Remember his sailboard experience may have something to do with the purpose of his creation. ( he watched the demise of the sailboard industry ) He stepped up and made a contribution. Whether some like it or not. He tried to do something about it and has good intentions, while others just sit back and roll with the tides…

Thats the Spirit!

231 years beyond the fashion

I have remained publicly silent on this for a little while now, for

many reasons. The advice I’m getting from more and more people is that

you look guilty by not defending yourself. "If that was me, I would be

tell everyone that its a bunch of bullshit." I know the truth and I

know my ethics and I’m confident those will come through over

time. But I have decided to share some facts.

Miki has been caught red-handed cooking the books of our company, falsely

charging customers and mistreating his and our employees and he still

has the balls to defame me, my father, Mike and anyone else he

perceives to be his enemy. For that, I’ve got to hand it to him. Most

people would have put up their hands and say, you got me.

I’ve known him for 5 years and the theme has been the same over the

years. Miki portrays himself out to be a victim. The reason he is a

victim is the cause of someone else. During my relationship with him,

there has always been an “evil doer” inflicting harm on him at one

time or another. These people ranged from world class shapers, current

APS3000 owners, his brother-in-law, his own employees, a manager, his

neighbor, and others. The 5+ years I’ve known, he has constantly been

surrounded by conflict. At times it was difficult to run an efficient

business when your partner’s energy is diverted towards making someone

else’s life miserable. Its likely some of the people reading this have

been on the receiving end of that.

I’m not interested in conflict. I have done nothing wrong, nor has

Mike or Ralph. I have not been served, Miki has. No IP has been taken

and no company has been hijacked. Miki can have his patents, actually

they’re patent applications. It is against the law to claim you have a

patent on something that has not been patented. You can say, "I have

filed for a patent application." but you can’t say, “I have a patent.”

Two different things.

Right now, according to him he’s been victimized by myself, my father

and Mike Rickard. Not true. To put it mildly simply chosen not to work

with him. For me personally, given the way he treats people, I can

never work with him again.

Scottyboy - you seem to know a lot about Miki’s situation - I’ve been

doing some checking and no one around the Gold Coast or Brisbane has ever

heard of you, what’s your brand? What’s your real name?

"and yes you may all ask WHO THE HELL AM I, that does not matter, I am a small

time hand shaper in Brisbane",

It does matter - you join Swaylocks the day after the thread

starts, only post to this thread and don’t have the guts to give any details

on yourself - not email address, no location, no real name.

Could you please post some pictures of some boards with your label?

Would you please post a picture of that “beat up Datsun” you’re

driving, ideally showing us something in the background that indicates

you are in Brisbane. I hope you currently not traveling right now.

If you’re a real person, you don’t know me. If you’re the alter ego of

someone else, you still don’t know me.

We have updated our website to address some of the larger inaccuracies

that have been made. For those interested:

http://www.aps3000.com/formerly_known_as_aps3000.php

I will be happy to answer any questions. I encourage those interested

to seek references. Miki lives on the Gold Coast and a lot of people

in the industry know him there. Ask questions to different people and see

what types of responses you get.

Jimmy

Hey Hal, love your work, you know something I have been given permission to dot by my Aboriginal brothers, I would never do it, it’s not my work. Could turn out interesting about old Scotty boy though, I thought he must have come from your neck of the woods, Brisbane eh, interesting. JH.

Ah Ha, is this the other side of the story??

It takes some patience to sit and let “the other side” put up a position that, unchallenged, morphs somehow into FACT !

I know little and take no side, but from Miki’s own mouth he used the fact that he had the expertise of “my software guy from Hawaii” to back his engineering skills some years ago when the project was in desperate need of financial backing.

Also, as a matter of interest, who came up with the APS name and what does it stand for?

I have heard one (reliable) version of the answer, but i am sure Miki or Jimmy should be able to shed some “truth” to it.

Don’t know who came up with it, but I think APS stands for ants pants shaper. I found this def’n for the australian phrase: “ant’s pants. Someone or something considered the ultimate in style, novelty or cleverness.”

Jimmy,

To answer your questions. First of all I became a member only to help a very good friend when I saw him being slagged, second I do not need to prove myself to anyone I am who I am and could not give a crap what anyone thinks of me, thirdly I am entitled to my opinion as are you and everyone else on this forum and last of all if you say that you have not taken any and I mean “any” of Miki’s ideas, then I will eat all of my words that have offended you and anyone else on this thread. Since you say that this is all bullshit then I hope the situation works out amicably for you all including Miki at the end of the day. I think I have said enough, I will watch this forum to see what the outcome is, and to see this new machine of yours emerge as different as it will be, I hope.

Good luck to you all, the world wide surfing industry will decide, nothing you or I say, here or anywhere else, will ever change that.

Scott

hopefully you and all involved will watch it in the industry section

From what I was told Ants Pants seems to be the first answer to the puzzle, so Losos goes to the top of the class.

But if APS stands for that, WHO was it that created the “name” or “terminolgy” APS, because that person,regardless of patent issues, may own the copyright to APS and anyone using the name would require that persons written permission.

Miki, or anybody else, got the answer as it may give us all some indication of who we should believe?

Spot on, silly.

It can go right above the Surftech Wars, or maybe there just should be a new all-inclusive section: Feuds.

Industry feuds. Theory feuds. Personality feuds. Lifestyle/belief-system feuds.

With a 1 day lifespan automatically allotted to all posts. And a 1 week lifespan allotted to all topics.

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From what I was told Ants Pants seems to be the first answer to the puzzle, so Losos goes to the top of the class.

Yes, APS is supposed to stand for Ants Pants Shaper. The first I heard of it was when Nev said it in an ASL article in 2004. I didn’t like the name and wrote to Nev and Miki saying I thought the name was lame. But we kept as we just ran the letters APS and really not that many people asked what it stood for, so I was cool with it.

Because it was agreed that the software and machine would be sold exclusively, having them be called the same name made sense.

With regard to ownership of the actual name, APS3000, it is logical that it is owned by the company in which Nev, Miki and I are still directors, known as DSS Pty Ltd. A super majority of the shareholders agreed on the name.

But the point is moot. In an effort to distance ourselves and all future work we do from Miki, we will be changing the name of our software upon our next release.

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Jimmy,

To answer your questions. First of all I became a member only to help a very good friend when I saw him being slagged

Funny, I’ve known your ‘good friend’ for 5+ years, will be 6 this summer. Until recently, I’ve been in contact with him on a near daily basis during that duration. I’ve worked side by side with him for 18 months. A lot of names have come up during this period, ranging from friends out of the industry and of course lots of people in the industry. You seem to know some pretty detailed stuff about this guy, pretty weird I’ve never heard of you.

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, second I do not need to prove myself to anyone I am who I am and could not give a crap what anyone thinks of me,

When you defame people, on false premise, some accountability would be nice.

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thirdly I am entitled to my opinion as are you and everyone else on this forum and last of all if you say that you have not taken any and I mean “any” of Miki’s ideas, then I will eat all of my words that have offended you and anyone else on this thread.

Miki has had some input into the software. Some of the features he requested are still in use today. He has had some good ideas for improvement. Recently, he has been passing other people’s ideas as his own. Nev, my father, myself, machine owners, and general users have also provided valuable input.

Miki has made claims on many ‘ideas’ that are over statements to say the least.

One example, he has told me that he was integral in a blank recipe of a major blank maker and the idea for the glue was his idea. But when this came up in a conversation I had with that blank maker, it was made clear that details such as those about his recipe are shared with nobody. I remember where I was when I heard that.

One more example, there is a surfboard company that has become a household name in which Miki claims their technology is his idea. Details of this have been shared with me from both sides and it was put best when a message was left on my phone saying ‘it’s a complete and utter bluff.’

The goal here is not bring others into this. Shit I’m not really interested in writting these types of things myself, hence my silence for over a month.

But over the years, I’ve watched him buckle people, or at least try to, with no remorse.

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Since you say that this is all bullshit then I hope the situation works out amicably for you all including Miki at the end of the day.

I appreciate the well wishes.

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I think I have said enough

That’s what I thought.

Folks, as mentioned above, I don’t enjoy this. It is not in my nature nor interest to be engaged in any sort of battle. I’m not necessarily stoked that I have to share some details of the character of a person that I once worked closely with and trusted, but I felt compelled to. Strong efforts are being made to tarnish the good names of ethical people, and this has been done more than once before.

Jimmy Freese

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Hey Hal, love your work, you know something I have been given permission to dot by my Aboriginal brothers, I would never do it, it’s not my work. Could turn out interesting about old Scotty boy though, I thought he must have come from your neck of the woods, Brisbane eh, interesting. JH.

Welcome to the club,

your full of …

well some accolades should not be enunciated.

“The best surfer is the one having the most fun.”