From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: Some more misconceptions regarding OS/2 and NT
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 20:04:10 GMT

In <1992Aug20.185455.16022@microsoft.com> philipla@microsoft.com (Phil Lafornara) writes:

>In article <1992Aug18.162203.13289@mksol.dseg.ti.com> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
>>In <1992Aug14.181226.18213@microsoft.com> philipla@microsoft.com (Phil Lafornara) writes:
>>
>>>     I think you'll be seeing more and more software shipped on
>>>CD-ROM in the future - it offers many benefits, with very few
>>>drawbacks, the most serious at the moment being the fact that,
>>>as you say, not very many people have these devices right now.
>>
>>And the only reason a lot of people will get 'these devices' is if
>>they find themselves forced to because software manufacturers
>>arrogantly assume that they should be able to set the user's hardware
>>priorities.

>      You aren't being forced to do anything.

Quite right.  And I complain when companies like Microsoft start
thinking they are important enough to be driving the market.

>>  Rather than spend the money for a CD-ROM, I would buy any
>>of a number of other things first: a tape drive, a faster video card,
>>another hard disk, etc.  All those things are quite useful to me.

>      OK... then buy those instead.

I intend to.

>>  The
>>only use I would have for a CD-ROM is to be able to load Windows/NT
>>SDK.  I really don't want it that bad.  In fact, that requirement
>>leaves me wanting it even less.  I'll stick to vendors who are trying
>>to serve their user community rather than force their priorities on
>>hardware purchases, thanks.

>      I would suggest that if you aren't willing to get a CD-ROM
>drive to install the Windows NT SDK, then you aren't the person that
>SDK is targeted to.  

As in, I am not willing to let Microsoft dictate my hardware
priorities.  You're right, I'm not that person.

>As has been stated many times before, by me
>and by others, the couple of hundred dollars needed to get a CD-ROM
>drive is a drop in the bucket of software development, and the SDK
>is targeted at developers.

So, just because it's a drop in the bucket, go ahead and waste it.
Right.  Makes perfect sense to me.  Hey, since it's just a drop in the
bucket, how about sending me a couple of hundred bucks?  No?  Why not?
After all, it's just a drop in the bucket, right?

>      I would agree that shipping on tape could be a viable
>alternative.  However, I don't know much about tape drives in
>general - is there a standard format?

Several, in fact.  Hell, if you're going to dictate, DICTATE.  Send
one floppy with device drivers for various types of tapes and the
install program to read the tape on it.  Then format doesn't matter.

[This is the way UNIX typically does it.]


-- 
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
 in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.os.os2.advocacy