Speaking of business schools, I think I'm qualified to discuss the matter. I
graduated from one. In 1983, but there's hardly anything new under the sun.

Nowhere in most business schools can you find a subject that openly and
candidly discusses integrity. Most courses I took that bordered on
discussing integrity were more legal stuff, business law, contract law,
workplace law (a field by itself, here in France), not
intellectual/philosophical subjects. 

The closest I came to discussing the roots of integrity, and integrity
itself, was at a seminar called "Dynamics", which was a 1-week affair that
was hosted by our English teacher. It had nothing to do with dynamics (after
all, we were a business school, not a physics school), but everything to do
with negotiation, meeting handling, group dynamics (hence the title), and,
apart of the fact it was done entirely in English, little to do with foreign
languages.

Bottom line : integrity is deep-rooted in persons. It's like most human
virtues, you have it or you have not. But you don't learn it. Most like the
right stuff.

Christian

> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : HP-3000 Systems Discussion [mailto:[log in to unmask]] De la part
> de John Lee
> Envoyé : mardi 30 août 2005 18:03
> À : [log in to unmask]
> Objet : Re: [HP3000-L] OT: Interex bankruptcy
> 
> I agree with Wirt.  They must teach alot of this in business schools now
> since it is so widespread.  Isn't it refreshing when you occasionally do
> business with someone who is upfront and honest?  I think we used to call
> that integrity.
> 
> John Lee
> 
> 
> 
> 
> At 03:48 PM 8/24/05 -0400, Wirt Atmar wrote:
> 
> 
> >There is nothing in the world that I hate more than being lied to, and
> it's
> >been obvious for a great long time now that Interex and HP have been
> lying to
> >us. For more than the past decade I've been asking for a complete public
> >accounting of Interex's finances, including all staff salaries and
> benefits.
> >Interex's response has been "that we used to give out that information
> but
> >no one
> >seemed interested."
> >
> >That statement is the classic misdirection and disssembling of someone
> who
> >clearly has something to hide, and it is a completely unacceptable
> answer.
> >
> >I became disgusted with Interex in 1988-1989, when it became obvious that
> >they were in the backpocket of HP and began strongly advocating that
> >people move
> >off of the HP3000 and onto HP-UX. Interex was originally formed as an
> HP3000
> >users' group, but they never made a peep of protest when HP first wanted
> to
> >kill the HP3000. It was only after the "Boston riot" of 1990 that did
> Interex
> >take on the mantle of an "advocacy group" after getting a sense of anger
> >in the
> >user community over HP's decision, but they had absolutely nothing to do
> with
> >the advocacy themselves.
> >
> >By the late 1980's it was clear that Interex saw themselves as nothing
> much
> >more than a marketing and exposition services organization, another
> Greyhound
> >Exposition Services, and they would have "promoted" anything so long as
> it
> >worked to save their own skins.
> >
> >I hate lies, and I have absolutely no use for liars. In a very similar
> vein,
> >Winston Prather's statement that the decision to kill the HP3000 was his
> alone
> >still infuriates me. It clearly wasn't true, and it was part and parcel
> of a
> >fundamentally dishonorable act on his part. As general manager of CSY, he
> >should have fought the decision to the point of resignation -- or he
> >should have
> >told the unvarnished truth. The death of the HP3000 was part of the
> Compaq
> >merger program, a deliberate trimming of the product lines. Either tact
> >would have
> >sufficed. Instead, Winston lied for upper management, and as a result, he
> was
> >given a substantial "retention bonus" (essentially a bribe) to serve on
> the
> >committee to decide who was to be fired as a result of the merger.
> >
> >This form of "loyalty" is rarely rewarded however, and I would not be
> >surprised to hear that Winston is looking for another job in the near
> future.
> >
> >I've also gotten very tired of marketspeak. Google recently announced
> "that
> >in order to serve its advertisers better, it was going to "simplify" the
> rules
> >as to how its advertisements were placed." I knew from the outset that
> that
> >"simplification" meant that they were going to raise their rates, and
> this
> >last
> >week, they did that, doubling, tripling, or quadrupling their costs at a
> >minimum, and in some cases by 100 times.
> >
> >Slathering bullshit is no way to win loyal customers, especially when the
> >truth is so plainly obvious.
> >
> >HP is currently lying to OpenMPE as well. While it was gracious of CSY to
> >host the "virtual Interex" meeting a week ago, it was also obvious that
> >OpenMPE
> >has become a fool's errand. HP is not going to cooperate in any
> meaningful
> >way.
> >
> >What's the best way to lie to somebody? Use a patsy, and Mike Pavinen is
> >currently that patsy. I don't know Mike particularly well, but the sense
> I
> >have of
> >him is that he is someone who tries quite hard to do the right thing,
> thus he
> >makes the perfect foil.
> >
> >What signs exist that HP is just stringing the users along? Mike's slides
> >haven't been updated in two or three years. And they still say the same
> >thing: NO
> >source code and NO release of the SSCONFIG. Those two items alone are
> death
> >to the long-term support of the HP3000, and while OpenMPE has grand plans
> for
> >people contributing significantly large amounts of money to its further
> >operation, I wouldn't invest a nickel (either literally or figuratively)
> >in betting
> >on its future success.
> >
> >After listening all day to last week's "virtual Interex" meeting, I
> became
> >only more convinced that the HP3000 has no future, and that if you're not
> >planning to be off the platform by 2010, or are intent on holding out
> just
> >long
> >enough until you retire, you're not doing your organization any favor.
> >
> >Wirt Atmar
> >
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