marti@uunet.uu.net (Robert Marti) (05/06/89)
[Date written: April 19, 1989 ] In a recent posting I wrote on the subject of non-disclosure: > I also agree that people who get information under terms of > non-disclosure should keep their mouths shut. HOWEVER, I always > get the impression that vendors usually don't mind at all if > you pass on the information revealed under non-disclosure. I received three or four replies concerning the subject, including one from a Sun employee. The reactions left me with the impression that my posting was unfortunate and partly even stupid for the following reasons: - The fact that the posting appeared in this newsgroup may have suggested that it was directed at (or even against) Sun. Nothing could be further from the truth. As customer, stockholder and former employee I wish them all the success in the world and I condemn any breach of non-disclosure agreements with Sun -- or any other company for that matter. (Please note that I already said so in my original posting, albeit not as strongly worded!) - The wording in my posting was too strong. (How about replacing the passage "usualy don't mind at all" above with "sometimes don't seem to mind"?) On top of that, I didn't think the problem through entirely: Obviously, a company wants their (prospective) customers to know of new developments early on so that they plan to buy their future products. On the other hand, the competition should ideally be taken by surprise on the day a new product is announced. Therefore, as long as new product info circulates only among customers, all is fine EXCEPT of course that the likelihood that the competition obtains this info increases with the number of people in the know. It also makes a difference how far off an introduction date is. If it's just a couple of weeks away, then disclosing priviledged info doesn't hurt the company much UNLESS they run into last minute production problems with their product in which case they'd be accused of hyping vaporware. In summary: Don't violate non-disclosure agreements because no matter how "good" your intention, you may still hurt a company. However, and this is a point I already had in the back of my mind when I wrote the original blurb, if vendor reps first divulge UNSOLICITED information and then add as an afterthought "oh, by the way, this info is confidential", then I do not feel obligated to keep my mouth shut. As it turns out, this happens fairly often, although invariably official intoduction dates are just a couple of weeks away. -- Robert Marti Phone: +41 1 256 52 36 Institut fur Informationssysteme ETH-Zentrum CSNET/ARPA: marti%inf.ethz.ch@relay.cs.net CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland UUCP: ...uunet!mcvax!ethz!marti