Re: of product promotion and consumer representation

[Gene Gaines <gene.gaines@ibm.net>]

Lewis,

Do not insult the members of this list, as your statement below.

The people here are taking their time to explore/argue/discourse
on the subject of Microsoft and the activities of that company.
This is useful.  I believe it is very important.

The greatest harm to this list and therefore harm to its objective
has been done by two people who have pushed their peculiar point 
of view ad nauseam, descending to insults to other list participants.
Lewis, you are one of those two people.

Lewis, shut it off.  Drop it.  You have a view.  You have expressed
it as nauseum.  Continuing to beat the same drum is not useful.
Beat your drum perhaps once a month and we all will respect you.

IF YOU CANNOT DO THIS, I PROPOSE YOU BE BANNED FROM THE LIST.


Your comment insults me personally.

I do not sell software.  I have no brand to promote.

I am a computer professional.  

Have been for some time.  I have worked with vacuum tube computers.
I was working with computers in the days when mercury was used for
computer memory.  I have been planning computing applications since
the days of card sorters.  I remember working on the first software
for the PDP-1, and the first computer network simulations for AT&T
when they first converted the long distance network from operators
to direct dialing.  Today I do venture planning, consulting and some
personnel work.  Stuff I enjoy.  I do not make a dollar from software,
and have not for maybe five years, when it was quicker for me to
code several applications (a short-cut to save 18 months in an EDI
on-line integrated inventory project) than to spec the job for a
programmer.  I used Borland development tools, not Microsoft.  
The app bridged between several remote Unix systems, a Novell PC 
file server, application machines running DR-DOS, and user machines 
running Windows.  I did the basic app using DR-DOS, but my client's
IT management had heard this program was not Microsoft-standard 
and had terrible problems.  Not being stupid, I had designed the 
app for the heavy processing and telecom to run on a DOS-only 
machine.  No sense in picking a fight, so I merely rewrote to use 
MS-DOS, not bad, just a less efficient choice.  Set the machine 
for autoboot and autologon.  Did a 60 day test.  Removed the monitor 
and keyboard, threw the minitower with multiple modems in a closet
and forgot about it.  Last time I heard, the machine had been
running two years without a keyboard being attached.  I got a call
from the customer who said they had experienced several severe
power outages which caused servious M$ Windows problems, and they
did not understand how my machines kept running during the power
outages.  Hell, my machines just went down clean and came back up
quickly, so my app was always available by the time the users'
Windows went through its laborious boot.  Windows 1.0 disgusted me.
Also 3.  Also 3.11.  Ditto 95 and the face-paint-lipstick called 98.
NT is a sham.

I believe that, as a professional, I have some responsibility in
contributing to the policing of my field.

Lewis, you appear to be an amateur software writer.  Therefore
also a consumer.  And I assume a lawyer.  I use the services of 
lawyers, but not one who is so abrasive in presenting his case,
so repetititve in his arguments that he alienates everyone in the
courtroom, including judge, jury and his own team. 

Your bundling point has vaildity.  But it is just one of many
points.  I do not intend to let this case be lost.  Now the
momentum is building in our favor.  We need many many more
friends, need to build sensitivity to the MS harm, misdeeds,
predatory and illegal actions, and even threat to the freedom
when we value.  Please join in this cause.  This list is really
a battle for public opinion.

With respect,

Gene Gaines
gene.gaines@ibm.net


"Lewis A. Mettler" wrote:
> 
> It really should not of any surprise to anyone that most of the users of
> this list are promoters of particular products and brands.  After all,
> why would a consumer get on here?  They are not interested in discussing
> technology issues must less the ways in which particular vendors try to
> control the markets they sell through.
> 
> Thus, a highly pro promotion group is what you should expect here and on
> most public forms. Developers, vendors, OEMs, etc., and yes maybe a few
> lawyers looking for clients.  But, there is not much of a career in
> consumer representation.  I suppose if someone wanted to file a consumer
> class action law suit against Microsoft or anyone else, they would not
> be openly discussing their legal theories on this forum.
> 
> However, if someone wanted to promote a particular product or brand,
> this would be an ideal place to post views to that end.  They would not
> need to own the product or even sell it.  They could simply work for a
> company having a vested interest or simply own too much stock in order
> to be unbiased.
> 
> Or, they could just think that consumers should not have the right to
> pick and choose which products they buy.  However, everyone does attempt
> to retain that right for themselves.
> 
> --
> Lewis A. Mettler, Esq.(Attorney and Software Developer)
> lmettler@LAMLaw.com
> http://www.lamlaw.com/ (detailed review of the Microsoft antitrust
> trial)