Success can be Sytemised

Ric Richardson

This is a small handbook which was only an ebook previously. Which makes sense as Ric is Australia’s super whiz kid of the computer industry. It was he who invented try and buy software in the 1992.

Ric was a musician and a casual inventor until he became interested in computer generated music and became the “computer guy” in sound music recording here and in the US. 

His light bulb moment was deciding to find a way to lock up music software so it could only be used for a trial period and then paid for with either a fee or pay system. Big business saw this as a means of also stopping privacy.

I remember those days. Ric’s dad was an ABC cameraman and my Uncle Jim Revitt an ABC journalist who lived near Ric.  They spent months nutting out how to get Ric’s invention to the world market . . . . once Jim grasped what computers were all about!

The likes of Apple and Microsoft began courting Ric. He had a big meeting with Microsoft in 1993 but it went nowhere. He also had a meeting with Rupert Murdoch early on but none of the News executives at that time grasped the whole concept and what it could lead to. So they offered Ric a backroom job which he declined.

Long story short. Ric formed his company Uniloc and spent large sums to patent his system around the world. But in 2003 he discovered that Microsoft was using a program very similar to his. Coincidence? Ric investigated and what followed was years of litigation for nine years. Microsoft eventually settled for a reported AUD 500 million dollars. 

So Ric, a kind hearted, generous and caring fellow, began helping fellow inventors round Byron Bay where we both lived at the time. It was all very informal, chatting in cafes and so on. 

It has grown to the point now where Ric has decided to help, advise, and work with other aspiring and productive inventors with suggestions from creation to marketing. 

Ric still works on his own inventions from inside a decommissioned ambulance set up as an office workspace along with his dog for company. He parks near a beach in reach of a cappuccino. 

This book is a slim volume of rich advice and ideas for inventors.

It’s a masterclass from a very modest mastermind.

DM

Ric can be contacted by email at contact@r2labs.com