jon@boulder.UUCP (Jonathan Corbet) (04/29/85)
[]
A couple weeks ago, I posted an article concerning threats made by
a representative of Tektronix over an article I had posted to net.graphics,
in which I remarked that I had experienced some reliability problems with
a particular plotter. My question was: did I go too far by saying publicly
that I had had problems, was I exposing myself and/or the net to legal problems?
I have gotten quite a few responses, both through mail and through followups
to the net. So far, absolutely nobody has seen any harm in my posting. Many
people were less than impressed with Tek's threats, however.
I got enough responses of another nature that I feel I should pass
them on: many people told me that when they had experienced problems with
Tek equipment, Tektronix had gone out of their way to fix things up. One
person had even gone to the net with his problem, and was given enough help
to solve the problem. It seems that my experience is an anomoly, and that
Tek does not ordinarily act in such an obnoxious manner. I also got a number
of letters from Tek employees, all of whom (1) deplored the threats that had
been made against me, and (2) offered to help in any way they could. The
conclusion that I have come to, and that I hope others will come to as well,
is that Tek is not a big, nasty company trying to intimidate people just
because there is one unpleasant person in middle management somewhere that I
probably caught in a bad mood.
I have heard nothing new from the people who had originally threatened
me.
--
Jonathan Corbet
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Field Observing Facility
{seismo|hplabs}!hao!boulder!jon (Thanks to CU CS department)