At 02:44 PM 08/16/00, Wirt Atmar disagrees:
>I believe the $1000 limit to be fairly important. In the years prior to the
>Boston "riot", several vendors pushed very hard for many years to get HP to
>change it's mind about a number of things, and many of those issues then were
>the same as they are now. Nonetheless, the reaction from HP, right up to the
>moment that they walked off the stage at Boston, was that it "was just a
>bunch of noisy vendors trying to save their own asses."
...

>I do believe that the number of contributors is more
>important than the dollar amount. The ad can always be reduced to a half-page
>or quarter-page if sufficient funds can't be raised. But the number of
>contributors remains the key.

I understand that it is vital that this is in both reality and appearance a
community effort.  I do think that if enough companies and individuals (and
even dogs) contribute, raising the limit to $7000 will not give the
impression that is being pushed by a few self-interested vendors -
especially since the contribution amounts are being kept confidential.

So, I disagree with your disagreement.  I think that the limit can be
raised to $7000 without harming the cause.

Tom Brandt
Northtech Systems, Inc.
http://www.northtech.com