🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <BAUMGART.91Jun24163618@info7.esquire.dpw.com> baumgart@esquire.dpw.com (Steve Baumgarten) writes:

>However, the point is not what we would like in the future; the point
>is what people are doing right now, and whether that is right or
>wrong.  

Ah.  You define right and wrong by whatever laws are in effect at a given
time.  

>By the way, I look forward to taking Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever" for a
>"test view" tonight.  Most critics have praised it, but there's really
>no way of knowing whether it's worth paying for until you've actually
>seen it, right?

Folks keep trying to come up with good analogies and continue to fail.  Unless
you plan on seeing that tape for several hundred hours and in some cases 
stake aspects of your business on the outcome of viewing that tape, the
two situations don't compare.

It is much easier for me to find others whose judgment in movies I trust than
it is people with computing needs EXACTLY like mine.  Software packages go
through MANY beta-test/hours of evaluation and still slip through.

In many cases, the risk of using a software package, and the investment of
time in learning it outweigh by far the cost of the package.  Magazine reviews
and the opinions of "experts" are often worth less than using the software for
a short time even in a store.  

I own several pieces of software with major problems that I would not have 
found without using it first.  I was stupid enough to purchase the software,
I am sorry to say.  I have several pieces of software for my department sitting
on shelves, useless because of incompatibilities.

I suppose you would have considered it right that in years past, sawdust was 
sold as sausage?

I am constantly reminding management that software MUST be purchased, and I
show them the SPA "raid" articles in the computer rags.  Where is the
complementary action on the part of software manufacturers to ensure the
quality of software?

I am getting very tired of software acquisition being a crap shoot and having
many companies leech off that pool.