You are completely right about the remedy being inappropriate. Personally I would have gone with "Dead wrong". In fact I thought I HAD said it - I guess I was thinking it so hard when I wrote that I believed I'd actually typed it.

Unfortunately I also have to agree with you about both the problems this will cause if/when the breakup takes place and about the problems with AT&T. My Dad didn't lose his job because he'd just retired. But he watched a lot of friends and co-workers lose theirs.


>Barbara,
>
>I've no problem with the argument you present. My problem is that the remedy isn't appropriate. You're cost of doing business will go up. You'll pass this on. The quality of your information (since it will come from different sources) is likely to decline. This is good? Nope?
>
>As someone who worked for a company that was affected by the AT&T breakup, I feel I can say that the person or company that will be hurt the most by the this is the small, independent. The company (a small one) that I worked for went out of business in 1986 because of the AT&T breakup. We produced hardware for AT&T. Instead of having one contact in a nearby location (Research Triangle Park, NC) we had to deal nation wide with a number of companies. As a result, I ended up out of job as the company closed.