Tao Group are no more!

Thanks to an anonymous comment, here is some very sad news from Tim Cole's blog. Here's what he says:

OK folks, it is with a heavy heart that I report this, but as of today, all Tao Group employees have had their employment contracts terminated. I have just got back from a staff meeting with the administrator. This means, too, that Tao Group is no more as a company. I cannot really say what happened, but you will likely be reading about it from other sources.

Why this has happened is mainly around issues to do with the continued funding of Tao. It is a sad day that employees who have worked hard for up to 17 years at Tao now find themselves in this unenviable position, especially seeing as everything was starting to go so well for Tao.

So, what is going to happen to the various Tao intent technologies, and in particular to miniMIXA (of special interest to me and Pete, as we are the developers of this)? I don’t know yet. If and when I can say something, I will.

Please keep a check on Intermorphic Ltd, a company that Pete and I are, as of today, now getting on with in earnest. Intermorphic is developing multimedia tools to aid creative activity. In the first instance these will include generative music engines and lyric generation tools. This may be a niche area, but we are going to have fun doing it!

I wish success to all former Tao employees in finding new employment quickly, and I am sure they will, as they are a hugely bright and talented bunch. It has been an enormous pleasure and honour working with them and Tao these last few years (well, since we sold SSEYO to Tao in 2002), and they built some amazing technology.

That is a real shame, for everyone involved, not least of which the employees at Tao, who are, as Tim says, in a very difficult position.