From: drxmann@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Dustin R. Christmann)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.advocacy
Subject: Re: Why we shouldn't attack MS Employees (and other thoughts)
Date: 25 Jul 92 08:54:42 GMT
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX

In article <76534@ut-emx.uucp> varmint@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Samir Varma) writes:
>Lately there have been lots of posts attacking MS Employees and some responses
>from them attacking IBM employees.  Can we please stop this?  It is not 
>our (OS/2 users) interest.  Consider the following:

I agree.  Even though I've participated in some of the flamefests, I'm getting
tired of reading x posts that state in many more words that IBM/Microsoft is
the Great Satan.

>1)  Whether we like it or not, NT will have an impact on OS/2 and thus on its
>users.  MS Employees are the primary and best source of information on the 
>subject.  If we're going to keep attacking them, I wonder how many of them
>are going to keep posting?

Agreed.  Whatever your definition of vaporware may be, NT is coming.  OS/2 zea-
lots: Deal with it, give it a chance, and if there are features that it does
have that OS/2 doesn't, lean on IBM for those features, but DON'T rant about
evil Microsoft.  It's a company trying to make a buck or two in the software
biz.  Windows zealots:  Please refrain from the temptation to wring your hands
and tell every OS/2 person you know that they're boneheads for having chosen
OS/2 and that IBM is a clueless monolith, etc. etc.

In other words, may the best OS win.  But without MS employees posting info on
NT, how are we to know which is best for our own needs?

>2)  Some of the MS Employees (such as Gordon Letwin) know a great deal about
>OS/2.  Why don't we invite them to tell us what they know rather than attacking
>them personally?  I bet Gordon knows more about the guts and philosophy of 
>OS/2 than most of us so why not learn from what he knows?  In fact, why not
>invite him to put up regular postings (if he has time) about some aspect of
>OS/2 that he worked on?  (How about it Gordon?)

I agree with this in principle.  Let's remember that Gordon Letwin, no matter
how we feel about his approach, his style, whatever, he is still very know-
ledgeable when it comes to OS/2.

On the other side of the coin, Gordon, maybe if you tone down your posts
slightly, and allow for the possibility that

a) OS/2 2.0 has undergone much change in IBM's stable,
b) IBM programmers do indeed know their rear ends from holes in the ground, and
c) IBM really is changing, albeit as slowly as molasses in February,

you may get flamed much less often.

>3)  If you ever feel that an MS Employee is spreading FUD then followup and
>correct it.  It seems to me that this is a much better way of correcting the
>FUD than attacking the Employee because if there are enough followups and 
>enough instances of FUD then the credibility of that person will be about
>zero.

I'll be the first to admit that I've "pushed the button" with the aforemen-
tioned Mr. Letwin, especially after I lost patience with his seemingly endless
stream of FUD.  Folks, if you feel the urge to personally attack someone, call
him names, and theorize about his national heritage and what his mother does
for a living, step back, go get a coffee, take a deep breath, and cool off.

Personal attacks are, by far, the least effective method of winning debates.
A civil, rational, and intelligent presentation of facts is a more effective
rebuttal.

>4)  It's only an OS guys, this isn't a religious issue.  At this point in
>time, OS/2 stands out as our (collective) best choice.  Maybe when NT is
>released and is as good as MS claims and is stable etc. etc. it will be
>the best choice.  We're consumers, dammit, not warriors and we should use
>whatever's the best OS out there.  Why should we care who it comes from?
>This competition benefits us, it doesn't hurt us.

Look down at my .signature.  It says "Team OS/2", not "Team Blindly Adhering
to OS/2, No Matter What".  If MS comes through on their promises concerning
NT, if the price is right, and if the market chooses NT as its standard, you
better believe I'll switch.  There's no heroism or valor in blindly adhering
to a hardware platform or OS whose chance came and went, only stupidity.

Remember, this is a market economy.  Competition is good.  If you want to know
why IBM is in bad shape nowadays, the answer is simple: for too many years it
had no competition and grew fat and lazy, to such an extent that smaller compa-
nies are coming up and kicking IBM's butt soundly in many markets.

>5) Finally, some people (myself included) don't like some of MS's
>alleged business practices.  Well, we have a good choice.  We can
>simply choose not to buy MS products and write to them and tell them
>why we're not doing so.  MS is in business to make money.  If people
>don't buy their products then they won't make money.  It's as simple
>as that.

Right.  Microsoft (or IBM, or anyone else) will do whatever makes the most
money.  If most companies feel that the biggest gains will be had is acting
like weasels, they'll act like weasels.   Make no mistake.  Bill Gates and
John Akers would rather be insanely profitable than insanely popular.

>And finally, let's lighten up guys.  This is .advocacy not .politics!

Keep it in perspective.  Billions of people in China and elsewhere go about
their daily lives, unaffected by what is treated here as World War III.

I personally recommend the document "How to Use Usenet Effectively".  The
author's name escapes me, but it is periodically posted on the new users' news-
groups.  I suspect that many have never read this document.  If not, do so.  If
you have, do so again.  It can't hurt.

I'm also making a personal commitment to "behave myself."  That means I'll do
my best to avoid firing off flammable posts.


-- 
Thanx,			|   Team OS/2	| Internet: drxmann@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
Dustin R. Christmann	| (I was there) | Bitnet: DRXMANN@UTXVM
  Editor-in-chief of the ARAPOUT: All the news that is fit to print...NOT!
	Alpha Rho Chapter - Alpha Phi Omega - The University of Texas
"My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was 60.  She's 93 to-
day -- and we don't know where the hell she is."	-- Ellen DeGeneres
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.advocacy,comp.os.os2.programmer