jax@well.UUCP (Jack J. Woehr) (09/29/88)
An open letter:
___________________________________________________________________________
7100 W. 44th Ave.
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033
28 Sept. 88
Johnathan Piel, Editor
Scientific American Trends In Computing
415 Madison Ave.
New York, NY 10017
Dear Editor:
It was with eagerness that I snatched your new magazine,
"Trends In Computing", from the hands of a fellow programmer
at work.
However, I see that the economic pressures that have forced
lesser publications to "sell out" have come home to roost at
the once-proud Scientific American.
I was appalled at what was apparently a craven act of
journalistic dishonesty, one disrespectable if appearing
in the New York Daily News, revolting when occuring under
the hallowed banner of Scientific American.
I refer to the illustration on page 13 of Vol. 1, in which
a child is enraptured by the graphics capability of what has
been the world's most advanced personal computer since 1985,
the Commodore Amiga. From this illustration you have
apparently airbrushed all Amiga trade markings in deference to your
only advertiser, International Business Machines, who still
have not managed to emerge with a system to match the Amiga
at this late date. ( Maybe next year ...)
As an owner of an Amiga, I sincerely doubt that these markings
could be easily removed by a user. If they were not present
at the time of the photograph, the Amiga should have certainly
been identified in the caption, to avoid the impression
of impropriety that this illustration generously provides
in a publication supported by one single advertiser.
I only hope that Scientific American has the good sense to
fire the lot of you and hire a slightly more competent journalistic
staff. If Commodore sues, so much the better. I have cut
out an interesting page or two; the rest of your disgraceful
publication is in the wastebasket, where it belongs.
Sincerely,
Jack J. Woehr
cc: Commodore Business Machines, Inc.
International Business Machines, Inc.
posted on USENET comp.sys.amigaewhac@well.UUCP (Leo 'Bols Ewhac' Schwab) (09/29/88)
[ Tomorrow is a busy day. We've got things to do, eggs to lay. ]
Your letter was doing great, jax, up until the last paragraph.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Leo L. Schwab -- The Guy in The Cape INET: well!ewhac@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU
\_ -_ Recumbent Bikes: UUCP: pacbell > !{well,unicom}!ewhac
O----^o The Only Way To Fly. hplabs / (pronounced "AE-wack")
"Work FOR? I don't work FOR anybody! I'm just having fun." -- The Doctordillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) (09/30/88)
jax@well.UUCP (Jack J. Woehr) writes: > An open letter: >... > fire the lot of you and hire a slightly more competent journalistic > staff. If Commodore sues, so much the better. I have cut I think that's a great letter! But remove the part about "If Commodore sues...". I don't think Commodore could sue, even if they wanted to, and I doubt that they would anyway. Besides, if you remove that little section you give the letter a nice light tone to it (i.e. somebody is likely to read and remember it instead of read the ending and throw it away). -Matt
jax@well.UUCP (Jack J. Woehr) (10/01/88)
In article <8809300257.AA20934@cory.Berkeley.EDU> dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) writes: > >jax@well.UUCP (Jack J. Woehr) writes: >> An open letter: >>... >> fire the lot of you and hire a slightly more competent journalistic >> staff. If Commodore sues, so much the better. I have cut > > I think that's a great letter! But remove the part about "If >Commodore sues...". I don't think Commodore could sue, even if they wanted >to, and I doubt that they would anyway. > > Besides, if you remove that little section you give the letter a >nice light tone to it (i.e. somebody is likely to read and remember it instead >of read the ending and throw it away). > > -Matt Matt, you and Leo Schwab have made and the same point, which jax concedes. As you may have guessed, I really blew my top that day! Here's the background: I work in the controller industry, programming in Forth. The client decided that he wanted the impossible in record time. The *only* way to get him what he wanted was to grab an Amiga quick and stick it in the system as a controller. So the dummy spent a month hemming and hawing about how the Amiga wasn't IBM compatible ( yes, i mentioned the BridgeBoard) until it became no longer possible to meet his deadline. Happy ending: we saved the sale, still using Amiga as development platform, will make new deadline and collect about 1/4 M$. But honest to goodness, there are enough ignorant people out there without *SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN* of all revered institutions *CONTRIBUTING* to the stupidity! My apologies to the gang for turning a really nice flame into a weenie roast! The next gang of sonsabitches i fry won't get off so easy! {}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{} {} {} {} jax@well ." Sysop, Realtime Control and Forth Board" {} {} jax@chariot ." (303) 278-0364 300/1200 8-n-1 24 hrs." {} {} JAX on GEnie ." Tell them JAX sent you!" {} {} {} {}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{} ps think DMouse is the best thing since saran wrap!
jax%well.uucp@UDEL.EDU (10/04/88)
Received: from CUNYVM by CUNYVM.BITNET (Mailer X2.00) with BSMTP id 3825; Sat, 01 Oct 88 23:08:38 EDT Received: from UDEL.EDU by CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (IBM VM SMTP R1.1) with TCP; Sat, 01 Oct 88 23:08:33 EDT Received: from Louie.UDEL.EDU by Louie.UDEL.EDU id ab23339; 1 Oct 88 3:50 EDT Received: from USENET by Louie.UDEL.EDU id aa23320; 1 Oct 88 3:49 EDT From: "Jack J. Woehr" <jax@well.uucp> Subject: Re: Flaming Scientific American "Trends In Computing" Magazine Keywords: Draining swamps, swatting alligators Message-ID: <7257@well.UUCP> Date: 1 Oct 88 02:35:27 GMT Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA To: amiga-relay@UDEL.EDU Sender: amiga-relay-request@UDEL.EDU In article <8809300257.AA20934@cory.Berkeley.EDU> dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) writes: > >jax@well.UUCP (Jack J. Woehr) writes: >> An open letter: >>... >> fire the lot of you and hire a slightly more competent journalistic >> staff. If Commodore sues, so much the better. I have cut > > I think that's a great letter! But remove the part about "If >Commodore sues...". I don't think Commodore could sue, even if they wanted >to, and I doubt that they would anyway. > > Besides, if you remove that little section you give the letter a >nice light tone to it (i.e. somebody is likely to read and remember it instead >of read the ending and throw it away). > > -Matt Matt, you and Leo Schwab have made and the same point, which jax concedes. As you may have guessed, I really blew my top that day! Here's the background: I work in the controller industry, programming in Forth. The client decided that he wanted the impossible in record time. The *only* way to get him what he wanted was to grab an Amiga quick and stick it in the system as a controller. So the dummy spent a month hemming and hawing about how the Amiga wasn't IBM compatible ( yes, i mentioned the BridgeBoard) until it became no longer possible to meet his deadline. Happy ending: we saved the sale, still using Amiga as development platform, will make new deadline and collect about 1/4 M$. But honest to goodness, there are enough ignorant people out there without *SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN* of all revered institutions *CONTRIBUTING* to the stupidity! My apologies to the gang for turning a really nice flame into a weenie roast! The next gang of sonsabitches i fry won't get off so easy! {}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{} {} {}