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Re: Pork addicts are pathetic losers


I wish Microsoft took more of its precepts from the world of good
software and fewer from Ayn Rand.  On the other hand, Symbolics (and
Apple Dylan) might have benefited from an astringent spray or two from
the Russian well-poisoner.  

That is to say, good marketing beats good technology every time.

:From: Philip Greenspun <philg@martigny.ai.mit.edu>
:Date: Tue, 25 Feb 1997 13:10:05 -0500
:Cc: Byron_Davies@mesaqm.sps.mot.com, www-cl@ai.mit.edu, clim@bbn.com,
:        common-lisp@ai.sri.com, slug@ai.sri.com, alu@ai.sri.com,
:        lisp-users@media.mit.edu, unplugged@folly.org, digitool@digitool.com
:Reply-To: philg@mit.edu
:
:   Date: Tue, 25 Feb 1997 12:26:16 -0500
:   From: Steve Strassmann <steve@method.com>
:
:   First, let me say that I'm probably as much of a lisp fan
:   as anyone on the planet. If you know me at all, you know this.
:
:   ... 
:
:   If you want to save lisp, make it attractive to real
:   customers who will pay you year after year. Give them compelling 
:   solutions to real-world problems. 
:
:I hear that there is this little company in Washington State that is
:doing well by upholding free market principles.  They don't depend on
:government handouts, intimidation of competitors, or locking in
:customers via ill-specified standards.  Grab
:
:http://www.webho.com/WealthClock
:
:to see if it is paying off for them.
:
:Definitely most of the real money in computers has been made by
:corporations that played fair and didn't depend on government subsidies
:or monopoly power.  God Bless the Free Market.  I like to keep a
:complete collection of Ayn Rand novels next to my MS/DOS and MVS
:manuals, just to remind me of what a wonderful country I live in where
:technological innovation is rewarded by happy consumers choosing freely
:among a world of alternatives.
:
:I wish I could write more but I have to finish re-reading Atlas Shrugged
:(for the 7th time!).
:
:Philip
:
References: