"Stan Sieler" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Re:
>>  "Hewlett-Packard talks about the HP e3000".
>>
>>  Nice words, Carly, Ann and Duane.  Congratulations to the folks who
>>  put this nice 2-page PDF document together.
>
>I feel a little guilty complaining, since *someone* showed some
>good initiative in putting the document together.
>
>but...
>
>Could Carly have sounded any *less* enthusiastic?  Her quote sounds like
>she's reluctantly speaking at the wake for the HP 3000:
>    ...a product that has been praised as one of the computer industry's most
>    enduring success stories."

Funny that Stan should mention this...  I have received several private
messages (and I have had several telephone conversations) on the same topic.
The words "condescending" and "patronizing" were used a lot by linearly
independent individuals.

A typical comment:

   They should have quit on the first page.  I think the second page
   actually does damage to the 3k's image because of the condescending
   and patronizing tone (as everyone commented during the Philadelphia
   keynotes themselves).


CONDESCEND
intransitive verb: condescended, condescending, condescends.
1.To agree to do something one regards as beneath one's rank or dignity; deign.
2.To deal with people in a patronizing or superior manner.
[Middle English condescenden < Late Latin condescendere: Latin com-
(intensive) + descendere, to descend. See DESCEND.]


Does anybody have a handy ANTONYM dictionary?  We could give it to Carly & Co.
for the holidays :-)


At a loss for words in Sun Valley,


--


Alfredo