<snip>

>I don't actually know where Russ got his list, but it's not unheard of for Microsoft to supply conference organizers with the list of registered VFP developers. Would you consider one message sent to that list spam?

Yes.

>On a similar note, Microsoft also will give a user group information about registered users in their geographic area. Is an email from a user group for a product you've registered telling you about the next meeting spam?
>

Yes.

I guess I just disagree with most folks over the definition of spam. To me, it's very simple and quite consistent. Spam is mass-generated email from a company with which I have had no dealings; or mass-generated email from a company that has otherwise stated that they would *not* send such mail.