You read incorrectly.  I said  "I seem to remember some sessions or some
side events at past HP Worlds and Interex events in the past where NDAs with
from HP where required in order to attend."  I did not say NDAs were
required in the past at HP World and Interex conferences.

The reason you never heard about these special sessions and side-events with
NDA requirements is probably precisely because you are part of the press.
These events were by invitation only.  At any rate the NDAs were never with
Interex, rather they were with the companies doing the revealing, such as HP
and others.  I do not recall that Interex has ever asked for an NDA from any
attendee or member.

Also, I mentioned that the press also uses NDA simply because the magazine
Maximum PC discussed this very issue in a series of editorial earlier this
year.  They did not call it an embargo, they called it an NDA.  I repeated
their comments as I read them.  I never made any pretense of having deep
knowledge of the publishing world, but I would think that Maximum PC has
some of that knowledge.

Your comments about the interesting part of a conference being the users are
right on the mark and that is why such conferences are so important to the
well-being of the industry and why they need to continue.


Denys...

-----Original Message-----
From: HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of
Ron Seybold
Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 2:34 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Letter to Interex Members

Hello Friends:

Twice today I've heard references to NDAs being required in the past
at HP World and Interex conferences. I've been to 18 of these yearly
shows in a row, and many others outside of North America, and I
haven't ever signed an NDA. If Interex has required NDAs at its
conferences, I don't believe anybody has signed them since 360K
floppies were your standard desktop storage medium.

Perhaps a return to nostalgia is driving this need for extra secrecy
:) Who knows, in time we could revive the 029 punch decks, and and
other long ways around the information path.

In the publishing world we don't call them NDAs, because they're not.
Both the vendor and press calls them "embargoes," and they expire on
a given day. We have honored these as needed at the NewsWire. They
can be necessary, but they don't cut us off altogether from reporting
like an NDA does. They only delay the inevitable report. No
professional reporter would sign an NDA in the course of publishing
news. That's because NDAs and publishing have incompatible goals.

(It's always a little baffling to watch people describe your work
without ever having done it, been trained at it, or even interviewed
you about it -- especially while they're telling you that you've
described your work incorrectly.)

Frankly, I think it's something of a stretch to point out 20-year old
NDA policies, and the most exclusive Special Interest Group --
Software Vendors, talking futures with HP about unreleased MPE
versions -- to claim that Interex has used NDAs in its mission.
Business as usual for the last few decades, and for 98 percent of the
Interex SIGs, has been in the open. Now we have the New HP, and new
policies in its shadow.

As for the "unlimited press access to HP officials," I spoke with
Computerworld's reporter about his interview with Ram Appalarju, the
Director of Marketing for HP's E-Services Software Environment. Ram
introduced himself to me as "the person who Dave Wilde works for."
The Computerworld reporter said that Ram told him "everything has
quieted down" about the 3000 community's reaction to EOS. While we
sat in the press offices, the reporter grinned. "Everything was fine,
of course," he said. The news is always good from Marketing. Similar
high spirits were observed from Ann Livermore, he added.

The real interest in user conferences isn't from HP. It flows from
the users, and my 18 years of watching the users in give and take
with the vendor has been entertaining and illuminating. It's too bad
that Interex seems to see the need to put that light under a basket.

--

Ron Seybold, Editor In Chief
The 3000 NewsWire
Independent Information to Maximize Your HP 3000
http://www.3000newswire.com
512.331.0075 -- [log in to unmask]

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *