Morning Tom,

Did you bump your head getting out of bed? <g>

The difference between the federal government and Microsoft is that Microsoft uses the free market to generate monies and the federal government uses force. The comparison you draw is false.

Look, if Microsoft has broken any laws then they should be punished.

My point, which seems to have been overlooked, is that Microsoft has been successful in the marketplace as a result of the policies they have established. Whether you or I like those rules isn't the issue IMO, which is not to say that our opinions are somehow invalid.

And, yes, in this world money does indeed talk. Personally I don't think that should be the case - but that is is the case. I just note the difference between reality and desire - without regard to the validity of the content of said desire.

And for you to read into my message that a) I have no problems with policies or that I'm burying my head in the sand is just plain wrong. Let me state once more (just on case you're actually reading this and actually paying attention) I simply note the differences between the reality of what Microsoft has been doing and that, as a corporate policy, it appears to be working as evidenced by their business successes and that they have indeed addresses this issue over the years and the notion that I personally have concluded that I need to address this issue by creating the best product (as a means of responding to the issues) so I can gain some earned influence with the actual decision-makers. All we're talking about here are different strategies and IMO not much more. If you wish to castigate me for taking my approach I'm comfortable with that. I know my own mind and this is IMO the best approach for me to take.

As far as my suggestions that there is more than one approach to influencing Microsoft is somehow inferring slavish adherence to Microsoft I can assure you that this is not the case.

Casting others who may disagree with one's self in an exagerated position may be good polemics but it's lousy as far as communication skills go.

Sounds like you need some chocolate. <g>


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>>>People like Jim who do not accept this situation, although like the rest of us, he could work around most of the bugs.
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>>>My 2 Euro cents of dead horse...
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>>>Marc
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>>Well, look.. When you figure out how to convince a company that has been successful enough in the marketplace to bank some 40 billions of dollars that their policies need to change please let me know. <g>
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>Doug;
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>Well Doug, you are saying money talks! You must be correct as just look at the income of the United States Federal Government. How could the Feds do anything wrong? They collect more money than any entity on the face of the earth. Now that is a great means of justification and a right wing approach to an issue. Might makes right and all that. If someone or some entity is rich it can do no wrong.
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>The concern about bug reporting as it relates to Microsoft has taken a few twists. The same argument can be made by just interchanging the players in this case United States Federal government and Microsoft! The greater your income the more “correct” you must be. Love it or leave it (find a different software company – like go to the Linux world). Now if anyone disagrees that the United States (Microsoft) is always right they “must have a problem”. Your country (software provider) can do no wrong! If you speak out against our government (Microsoft) you are a pinko communist bastard (disloyal software developer)! Shucks the commies are not the threat they once were – except for some cigar maker in the Gulf of Mexico and a large Asian country plus a few small Asian countries. So it must be alright to be a commie these days.
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>There were many loyal Americans who dared to speak out against American policy. Many ended up in jail for daring to express his/her thoughts. If you are familiar with the term “Anti Sedition Act” (there have been many) you know about this already. In Microsoft’s case we have two camps. One camp suggests improvements be made in the bug reporting mechanism provided by Microsoft and the other camp which will not hear of any blasphemy against their god.
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>When all is said and done on this issue perhaps nothing will happen at Microsoft on the issue of bug reporting. It is easy for a giant to disregard the existence of a problem by just waiting out the argument. Microsoft has greater resources than any developer. Therefore there is no problem. It seems like a simple equation to me.
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>There is no such thing as a perfect world and I accept that. I also accept some people think they are perfect. Such things from the minds of men and women (leave out no one) mean little to me.
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>I recall when Jim and I expressed concern over the 28 or so bugs “fixed” a few days after VFP 7.0 was released. As I remember we expressed concern that more testing should have been done. In our opinions it looked bad for VFP 7.0 to come out and about a week later to have bug patches. People were pissed off at anyone who suggested waiting to see if there were any show stoppers – just go ahead and use the new product because it is “out of the box”!
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>I remember VFP 6.0 and its problems! Yes but does anyone else remember? C5 was a common issue until service pack 3 was released. It seems like that was about 18 months after VFP 6.0 was released.
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>So the world is not perfect. Now how do we address the bug reporting issue as it exists at this point in time? We can bury our heads or chastise each other. I still do not see any movement towards resolution but rather the usual personality clashes. Attempting to express concern around here is not appreciated by some over vocal egotistical assholes. Not until we get our collective acts together will we get anything positive out of all this due to fragmentation and chest pounding.
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>The attitude of “I have no problem therefore there is no problem” and the inference that anyone who has a problem is incompetent is disgusting! Some people just have an over developed super id to express his/her “superiority”. I am therefore you are not!
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>Oh well it is Monday morning and we have another full week looking at us. Have fun everyone!
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>Tom