Bruce Marshall wrote:
On Sunday 23 September 2001 15:22 pm, James Mohr wrote:
When someone reads one of my books or articles and then asks my opinion, I am not going to tell them that the vendor who just donated software to me are all incompetent bozos, despite a few who really might be. That's loyalty. This part of the business hasn't changed and probably won't too fast in the near future because the companies typically gain much more than the cost of the product (or even support).
Uhhh I would hope you would be truthful about the situation. To do otherwise is to lose confidence with your readers..... No?
Absolutely correct. However, what "truth" is is relative. I don't lie about a product because I have received free copies. There have been cases where I simply did not mention it because I thought it was garbage. I also don't praise a product simply because I get free copies. That is, it is not a bribe. If I have a product in the hand, it is a lot easier to talk about it than one I don't have. As a "struggling" writer, I do not have the luxery of a huge corporation behind me to buy whatever I want, so I rely on this common practice to help me. As far as the books are concerned, I always (I hope) list the companies that provide me with material. With articles, you typically do not have the space. I also have enough confidence in the competence of my readers that they know that this kind of things goes on. Considering Jerry Pournelle got a number of Byte readers pissed off because he *complained* in one column that one company would not send him free stuff, it is pretty obvious that this is common knowledge. Therefore, I don't see a need to made a big deal about it. It's the same in most any business. You don't "attack" people who give you things. You might not comment on it if what they gave you is worthless, but it is definately bad form to attack them. Regards, jimmo