Re: Is ANYBODY there? (was: i/o error)

On Tue, 30 Nov 2004 16:21:22 -0500, Paul Mahon
<[email protected]> wrote:
> have an HP printer. Ranting about executive toys adds nothing.

Paul, honestly, I really think that in context it was legitimately
relevant and not just a rant.  There has not yet been a flame war and
I would hate for the discussion of the viability of the project to
turn into one.  We're all rooting for it to be viable.

In case you'd like more detail on why it's legitimate:

I was responding to a theory that MS was behind things, and suggesting
that a principal/agent conflict of interest might be the cause
instead.  Because I believe that, I therefore don't want people
blaming MS or Cory or other HP people or anybody else -- that would
likely be unproductive -- but looking at the possibility that it is a
structural problem at HP (for which in any company upper management is
essentially always responsible).  To me, that's directly relevant to
the desire of many list members to gauge the viability of the project,
and indeed relevant to deciding whether it is necessary to fork it as
you suggested.

In other words, the relevance is to the viability of the project.  We
hadn't seen Cory's post yet.

(The agent/principal point was the point itself.  I did use the word
"toys" without any direct evidence that any HP executives play with
toys per se, but the rhetorical device of hyperbole, especially in a
<harsh> tag from somebody who just went through a nightmare with HP,
is meant to be taken as a legitimate non-literal mode of expression. 
I doubt anybody really thought I was literally accusing Ms. Fiorina of
buying a fighter jet at the expense of HP.    A vivid non-literal
image of corporate governance gone awry illustrates the conflict of
interest and might even put a smile on the lips of a reader who has
just banged his head against the wall of HP's web site.  Some list
members do perceive a problem at HP, for better or worse, and if you
do not perceive a problem, that's perfectly OK (you can try to
convince me), but it's also perfectly OK to speculate about the cause
of the problem because that affects our estimates of the viability of
the hpoj project for which this list is maintained.)

Please, no flames.  Although you probably didn't mean it that way, I
think your post is on the same order of magnitude of accusatoriness
toward us "kids" as people are toward HP.

I'll retract the executive toys figure of speech if you want, but my
opinion about the lack of support probably not being due to anything
other than upper management still stands, and is relevant (even if
your opinion differs).

And yes, it is open source.  HP can abandon it if it wants.  But as
customers we'd like to figure out if that is their intention or not. 
Fair game for discussion, IMHO.


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