Gutenberg Systems Inc.
100 Burtt Road, Suite 214
Andover, MA 01810
508-475-8128
Fax 508-475-0702

To: Whoever it may concern
Re: Rick Gansler
Date: August 12, 1995

Rick Gansler has been employed by Gutenberg Systems as both a consultant and as a contractor for the duration of about 24 months over a period of 4 years from 1992 through 1995. Rick's work was concentrated on two Macintosh products that we produced largely with his help:

• The Personal RomMaker, a multimedia CD-ROM premastering system that allows publishers of multimedia titles sophisticated capabilities to author different types of CD-ROMS. This product, which Rick worked extensively on won the Best Product of the year award from Byte magazine for 1994.
  
• The Personal Archiver, premastering software for archiving data onto CD-ROM. This product has also won acclaim for its ease of use coupled to its powerful capabilities.

Rick's role during these years can be split up into two broad areas:

• Consultancy
  In this role, Rick designed the overall architecture of the product and advised on a variety of related matters such as methods of implementation and development tools. He also performed product management functions such as assuming responsibility for coordinating QA and documentation of the products.
  
• Programming Contractor
  In this role, Rick implemented significant parts of the overall product architecture for both the RomMaker and Archiver product line. Rick completes his programming tasks with a very high level of quality and attention to detail while meeting the schedule. Some other aspects of Rick's programming style are careful program structure, strong error detection and recovery, and self documenting code.

Rick has a strong commitment to his work and the products he produces. He tends to have emotional ties to the product and dedication to the project over and above the terms of his contract - somewhat unusual for a contractor. For example, in conversations he always refers to the products as "his" and has on occasions evangelized "his" products to the general public over the Internet.

Rick also works well during transitions. In each of the products, he has cooperated extensively with my staff as his role diminished. He has trained my full time staff to take over his work and has always been most cooperative in answering any questions we may have about his work. I have always looked on Rick as an additional resource who I can bring on at short notice and will continue to look to him to fill any incremental needs I have in the Macintosh arena. I would without hesitation recommend him for any user interface and product design work in the Macintosh arena

Kirit Patel
President