Gentle Listers,
 
One day last week, someone mentioned a problem using an HP product on Windows
95.  I offered to help and asked for more details as I was running the very
same product (Laserom) on my Windows 95 system.  The problem turned out not
to be a problem after all, as the gentleman in question had Laserom running
quite nicely on his environment. It had more to do with deployment of the
product than anything else.  This back and forth was done off-line as it was
not relevant to the list as a whole.
 
However the following message was posted after my initial offer of help:
 
In a message dated 96-01-18 07:22:19 EST, [log in to unmask] (Esko Lahdensivu)
writes:
 
>
>        But of course, it's only a question of the
>
>                DENYS' LAW :
>
>        "The main factor in Windows95 working correctly is the
>        user's attitude : if you have a slightest doubt that it
>        doesn't - well, it's certain to bring you trouble.  But
>        once you start believing in Win95 (and B.Gates) honestly,
>        all your WinXX troubles disappear"
>
>So - start believing !  ;-)
>
>Esko
>
>
 
I must say that this one took me by surprise, so I put it aside for later
analysis as I had work to do and things to attend to.
 
Let me just say that whilst I am flattered that Esko would attribute a law to
me, I must respectfully decline the honor and give credit where credit is
due.  I call it  Esko s Law of Product Introduction.
 
I agree with the first part of Esko s Law and I took the liberty to rewrite
it to illustrate a point.
 
The main factor in Phillips head screws working correctly is the user's
attitude : if you have a slightest doubt that it doesn't - well, it's certain
to bring you trouble
 
If you have a bad attitude towards a product, it is never going to work
properly for you.  If you use a Phillips screwdriver and you hate Phillips
head screws, as I do (I am partial to Robertson screws), you are very likely
to strip the x in the head, or break off the head in a fit of rage and blame
the screw.  Yet other people who have no preconceived notions about Phillips
head screws will have nary a problem.  Oh, every once in a while they will
strip the head, but they do not blame the screw or the tool, they blame
themselves and try to do better next time.
 
The next part of Esko s  law states:
 
But once you start believing in Win95 (and B. Gates) honestly, all your WinXX
troubles disappear"
 
In this Esko is incorrect and displays a marked disdain of successful people
commonly found in socialist environments.  Bill Gates is almost exactly my
age, and he has succeeded beyond anyone s wildest expectations.  Whatever one
may think of Microsoft and Windows and his other products,  one has to
 admire the man.
 
 In our industry, the HP3000, there are several people whom I consider very
successful and whom I admire. I am not going to name anyone because it would
be too long and if I inadvertently miss some, I would feel very bad.  Suffice
it to say, that these people have products in which they and many of their
customers believe.  They built them, they market them, they sell them, and lo
and behold, their efforts are rewarded and they become rich and respected and
people look up to them and many are jealous.
 
Unlike you Esko, I do not hold peoples  success against them, au contraire
that to me, is a good portion of the measure of the person.  Most people
think that one gets rich by cheating and lying and doing crooked deals.
 Apart from the people currently in the White House and some stock traders
and shady lawyers, on the whole, that is not how things work.  If you look at
a successful person,  you are looking at someone who has worked hard, took
chances and still works hard and is committed.
 
If one hates or is envious of Bill Gates, then by extension it is easy to
find fault with everything Microsoft makes, especially Windows 95 and Windows
NT.  On the other hand, if one is impressed with Microsoft and believes they
are committed to making Windows 95 work, one will be more receptive to the
product and will try to solve or find ways around, the problems encountered.
 One may even offer to help others dealing with the problems, and even
participate in a forum where people ask for assistance.
 
In 1985-88, I was under incredible pressure to eliminate the HP3000s at my
then place of work.  I was working with the very first 950 shipped to a
customer, which had replaced one of the few 930 s ever shipped to a customer
site.  The system was going up and down worse than a yoyo.  This went on for
a few years.  I believed in HP.  I trusted HP to be committed to PA-RISC and
I took the heat, lots of it.  At that time, people were telling me, almost
forcing me to move to DEC because they had a better system than HP and it was
already 32 bits and they had been doing for years what HP was trying to do,
and so on, and so on.  (If this sounds familiar, it is because it is.)
 Needless to say, I stood firm and PA-RISC s success vindicated my beliefs.
 
Where Esko is wrong in his Law is that no matter how much you believe in a
product or the builder, it does not make it bullet-proof.  Sorry but all my
Windows 95 troubles did not go away.  When they occur, I dig, find the
problem and resolve it.  More often than not, the problem has to do with a
setting or a driver or just a plain misunderstanding.  This coming week,
Microsoft is set to release the first, and maybe the only service pack for
Windows 95.  I have already downloaded most of the patches (2) from their web
site.  Towards the end of the year, Windows 96 will be available and more
issues will be resolved.
 
Here is Denys' corollary to Esko s law.
 
If you hate a product from the onset, it will never work well for you, no
matter how well it works for other people.
 
Kind regards,
 
Denys. . .