Ron writes:

<snip>

Any NDA amounts to limiting the work of the press. This is the first
time in this user group's history that its chairman feels like he
will need NDAs to get HP's communication of strategic information.
It's a slippery slope that Interex has taken, downward and away from
independence. As a member, I'd like to know how those board members
running for election this month feel about this.

<snip>

That's a fair question.

As a long time member of SIGSOFTVEND, I have executed many NDA agreements
with HP.  As a vendor of enterprise backup, I have executed many NDAs with a
variety of vendors over the years.  Before that, I was support manager at a
VERY large HP 3000 site and lived under NDA during a good part of the 1980s
WRT Spectrum.  All this to say that I am no stranger to NDAs.  I know the
reasons behind the NDA.  I know the good side of NDA, getting a peek into
the future to make a better strategic decision and the dark side of the NDA,
can't tell anyone about a huge mistake in time to influence the decision.
But my word is my word.  When I sign an NDA, that's it for me, I become a
tomb.  One has to learn to keep secrets secret or one quickly loses the
confidence of others.  Also, when one signs an NDA, there is usually a
company involved in the NDA.  Even if I talk about certain aspects of the
issue within our company, the company and its employees are still bound by
that NDA.

I do have to disagree with you on one point however, 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.

Next week, I am attending the HP-ETS event in St. Louis.  That is the
erstwhile Compaq users group, nee Decus, meeting.  I am, as I write this,
going through the NDA requirements for the meeting.  There are 62 sessions
one can attend only after executing an NDA.  I want to see how this whole
NDA thing works out for a setting of more than 20-30 people, such as
SIGSOFTVEND.  I want to understand why they feel the need for NDAs for
various sessions, what is actually revealed in these sessions and who
receives said revelations.  Finally, I want to see the level of enforcement
of these NDAs.  No, I will not break them, but I want to understand who,
what, where, when and most importantly why and how.  I also want to see the
impact on the press.

In the publishing world, usually an NDA has a short time frame.  The vendor
will say, you can prepare your articles on this gadget, but you cannot
release it until such and such a date, or whenever we tell you that you can.
I read many trade magazines and some writers like to rub your nose with the
fact they are one of the cognoscenti by virtue of having signed an NDA and
you are not.  On the other hand, some magazines now simply refuse to execute
any NDAs, saying that if they cannot freely write about it and tell people
about it, they don't want to know about it.  They understand they may be
shutting themselves out of some very early reports, but they more than make
up for it by in-depth, professional reporting on the issues when they become
known along with some very good guessing and prognosis.

So, in answer to your question, NDAs are nothing new to HP, Interex, the
users, and probably even you.  What is important is when, how and why it is
applied.

Denys...

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