On Thursday 12 June 2003 11:04, Fred A. Miller wrote:
On Thursday June 12 2003 1:58 pm, Ben Rosenberg wrote:
This is a good one.
http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20030603S0012
According to Nathan Hanks, managing director at Continental Airlines Linux developers are a bunch of potheads.
Communication sent to Continental investor relations regarding the recent statements by one Mr. Hanks. ##################################################################### Nathan Hanks was recently quoted in an article on the technology website "www.techweb.com" wherein he made some rather inflammatory remarks. These remarks were blatantly uncalled for and not based in any real fact. furthermore, the nature of the statements slanders not only a whole subsection of a population but also those of a specific nationality. One of the statements Mr. Hanks made said "All the guys hacking Windows are Linux guys." I have no idea how he came to this conclusion or by what provable evidence he has to back up this claim. So, I am to understand that he and Continental Airlines believes that IBM, SuSE, Redhat, Novell, etc are system crackers (cracker is a term for a malicious hacker the cause damage or theft to a system - hacker is the guys and gals that wrote 100% of the software you use - including you email reader)? Not only is this inflammatory, it could be viewed by some as act of liable. Then in the last paragraph quoted from Mr. Hanks he makes a blatantly prejudicial and perhaps racists serious of remarks that are as follows: "Having one vendor throat to choke is helpful in crisis situations, Hanks said. An IT pro can't go to the CEO and say that a server is down, "and hopefully some guy in Amsterdam" will get to a fix when he gets back from the "dope house," he said." So, I'm and others are to assume that both Mr. Hanks and Continental Airlines are of the opinion that all the software developers, or at least those that do so for Linux are addicts and users of illicit drugs that are incapable of assuming any responsibility or standing as a professional because they are all doped up and therefore unreliable, as well as any product that they produce? These statements have set of a fervor of anti-Continental sentiments throughout the Open Source and Linux community. In light of the trying times that many of the airlines are experiencing and the amount to which many are on the verge of insolvency, one has to wonder if this is a prudent public relations strategy. I would garner to say not. At present there is a very real possibility for a boycott campaign based on this latest slight to a fairly large segment to the population. A population that has a well established record of both high domestic and international commuting habits. I would recommend that perhaps Mr. Hanks, and more over Continental, would be better served by avoid these sorts of public statements. Whether or not his comments are actionable is debatable. But I'm sure you may agree that they are not prudent or warrented statements that put Continental in a positive light. I'm also confident that Continental's policy is not one in which unsubstantiated accusations and comments are views as a effective means of eliciting customere loyalties and further patronage. Please consider the possibility of a retraction, or at least a clarification of this statements. I have a hard time believing that the upper management at Continental share the views or tactics that Mr. Hanks obviously does. Thank You for you time. Respectfully. Curtis Rey. ######################################################################## Sorry, but I just felt too compelled to let this moron go without trying to bring a little heat back his way. Cheers, Curtis