🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1990Sep28.194112.18406@cs.rochester.edu> ray@cs.rochester.edu (Ray Frank) writes:
[...]
>fact does not play 2100 rated chess proves my point.  This false and
>misleading advertising sells products.
>There are very few comsumer items out there that can be given virtually
>absolute numbers for comparison purposes.  Cars can't, TV's can't, etc.
>If Chevy says their car is better than Fords there is no real way to
>prove it.  It is just pure advertising bullshit.  But chess computers can
>be given fairly accurate ratings which tells the consumer which is best
>and which is not.  My point is that if a computer is not officially rated it
>is a mere bag of shells and any claim to fame is pure misleading bullshit by
>the companies and sometimes even by the owners themselves.  
>Comsumers should try and realize that not only are the oil companies and
>Iraqs out to rip us off but also too are the chess computer manufacturers
>with their false claims and misleading advertisments of their products.
Whoa, whoa ... I believe that `the West' (the so-called `developed
countries') has been `ripping off' `the East' and `the South' (the
so-called `undeveloped' or `underdeveloped' countries) a whole lot
more, and for a far longer time, than the other way around.
However, as to misleading advertising, I completely agree. If I
were the person in power (let's be glad I'm not), advertising per
se would completely vanish and, let's say, `informising' would take
its place. No-one would be allowed to claim anything that couldn't
be easily proved. No-one would be allowed to make meaningless
assertions like `we're the best' or `we make the best'. Imagine:
how would it be to read a BYTE and simply to believe what the ads
say? Not to need to filter the substantial information from all the
hype? To me, that would be *quite* agreeable. What I want is
information about a product, not fantasies intended to ram it down
my throat. Oh, well; maybe I should go live on an uninhabited
island?

-- 
Regards, Jaap.

Jaap Verhage, Academic Computer Centre, State University at Utrecht, Holland.
aceverj@cc.ruu.nl     +<-*|*->+     I claim *every*thing and speak for myself