Hello Friends:

I haven't kept up with all of the 3000-L traffic, so I'm catching up. 
But I thought I might address this message, even belatedly.

Wirt Atmar writes, in just about the only response we got to our 
podcast about 3000-L member Brian Donaldson:

>Ron writes:
>
>>  We've got a report about one of the 3000-L's own, Brian Donaldson,
>>  and his debut on National Public Radio last week. Our five-minute
>>  Monday podcast about that radio show, which includes Donaldson's warm
>>  praise for the HP 3000, is something you can listen to in your
>>  browser or in iTunes.
>
>Ron is definitely going to get the Pulitzer Prize that covers putting the
>best possible face on a bad story. The complete story is at:
>
>    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5023788
>
>The few words of "warm praise for the HP 3000" that Ron selectively
>emphasizes seems to me to be a core part of the problem. The caption 
>for Brian's
>picture in an NPR Hunger in America series of articles reads, "At 52, Brian
>Donaldson has poor health and outdated job skills."

I guess there's nothing like believing one source of information, and 
no other. Since my Pulitzer feels like it's in jeopardy, I better 
start putting a better face on Wirt's post.

I should begin by noting that the blog entry I was hawking already 
included the NPR link that Wirt discovered to "complete" our report: 
I had posted on the blog:

"You can also listen to the original NPR broadcast, which has some 
"untruths," according to the HP 3000 expert quoted in it, out at the 
NPR Web page:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5023788"

See for yourself: 
<http://3000newswire.blogs.com/3000_newswire/2005/11/be_thankful_you.html>

We weren't trying to report less than the full picture - although 
that picture from NPR has some errors of its own. In contrast to 
where the core of the problem "seems" to Wirt, I offered a bit of my 
first-hand reporting, by way of direct e-mails to Brian along with 
his responses. His version of his story paints a less desperate 
picture than the one NPR's reporter delivered. The food bank where 
Donaldson works hooked him up with the reporter, and now he seems to 
regret the connection and subsequent generalizations.

Brian says:

"I lost my first job up here (in SF) because of the dotcom baloney; 
lost my 2nd job because of the crummy company I chose to work for 
(name withheld for obvious reasons) --  not that the 3000 got dumped. 
My miserable health has nothing to do with me not being able to find 
a job. I am still programming on my 917 even as I write this email."

But heavens, why believe the man's own account, after he's been 
profiled by NPR about his personal situation? We are to believe that 
errant report by Elaine Korry serves as the only complete story about 
his cause of his condition. Of course, Brian doesn't subscribe to 
that theory. Even Korry promised him a correction on minor details 
she muffed, like where he was born. And after Korry's story linked 
the 3000's demise to the dot-com bust, Brian told me:

"She has said she will not be changing the part about the 3000 being 
phased out because of the dotcom bust. She says she did 'research' on 
the HP3000 by reading a lot of reports put out by HP themselves, and 
those parts remain. She says it is "open to others' interpretation," 
whatever that means. I wasn't too happy with the broadcast as it 
makes me look like I'm a victim, which I can assure you I am not by 
any means."

As for our "selective emphasis," I am not in the habit of 
re-reporting NPR's news unless it contains mention of the HP 3000. I 
only discovered the NPR report when a friend told me that he'd just 
heard  praise for the 3000 on his radio, and thought I'd be 
interested. Interested? Astounded is more like it. This passes for 
news, as well as another way of looking at things.

Like everyone who tells a story, journalist or not, I had a point of 
view to share. Watch the film "Rashomon" by Japanese director Akira 
Kurazawa for the classic expression of how the same set of "facts" 
can yield various versions of a story.

I expect I'll be waiting on the Pulitzer awhile longer. While I'm 
waiting I'll keep doing reporting on my own, rather than just pass 
along what I read.

In an era when the 3000 has ample undertakers, deserved or not, 
praise for the system on a national outlet always qualifies as news 
to me. At the moment the 3000 market is a bit slow on news, while we 
wait for HP to decide about MPE's afterlife in 2007. In the event 
that the 3000 community receives any kind of post-2006 license 
whatsoever, I expect to hear more about selective emphasis and 
whistling past the graveyard.

I'll be glad for whatever response our next report brings. It's good 
to know we're being read, even when a reader disagrees with our 
perspective. Your comments are always welcome, though they might 
spark some reply.

-- 

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

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