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From: vjs@calcite.rhyolite.com (Vernon Schryver)
Subject: Re: Linux thoroughly insulted by Infoworld!
Message-ID: <D2Kn1G.4D3@calcite.rhyolite.com>
Organization: Rhyolite Software
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 1995 22:41:40 GMT
References: <950116203411@lambada>
Lines: 40
In article <950116203411@lambada> ed.duomo@lambada.oit.unc.edu ("Mr. Ed") writes:
>In the columns section of the Jan 16 Infoworld, there is a column
>highly insulting to linux. ...
>What do you think of this?
That is business as usual for the trade rags. When they get something
right, it is only an accident. Remember
1. the customers of the trade rags are those who pay the publishers to
print their advertisements. The readers are the product of the
trade press, not customers. That applies to many publications
that charge readers subscription fees, where the big bucks from
the advertisers.
2. the authors are those generally those who do not have jobs writing
code, and programming pays a lot more. The obvious inference
seems to be true much more often than not.
3. for personal reasons, the authors want to make things sound
complicated. (see #2)
4. the publishers have no reason to have freeware or shareware
sound useful, not to mention as useful as the products of their
customers. (Do SCO, Sun Microsystems, IBM, Novell, or Microsoft
advertise in "Infoworld"?)
5. most readers are Information Professionals and Managers, i.e. often
those with less knowledge than comp.* netnews readers. Often
those who have secretaries to handle their typing.
6. The is prudent of the publishers to stick to authors who are
similar to their typical readers (see #2 and #5). For example,
within the last year, the main network expert of "Comm.Week"
wrote that he has someone else deal with his email. He's also
the genius who wrote about a year ago that "you cannot find UNIX
on a bulletin board."
I find people who think they have a clue about computers based purely
on extensive reading in the trade press are more irritating and common
than the trade press nonsense. The only way to handle trade press
experts (either readers or writers) is as jokes.
Vernon Schryver vjs@rhyolite.com