Denys Beauchemin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Alfredo spins a good yarn whilst omitting a few details.  I was indeed taken
>in by the BSOD during Winston's presentation.  It was very well done, down
>to the split second pause with a blank screen before the fake BSOD showed
>up.

...

>I do not mind Alfredo reaching out to the incident to make a rather silly
>point in his post.  I had quite forgotten about it and the remembrance of it
>brought a smile to my face.
>
>What I do mind is Alfredo calling me an "apologist."  That is a pejorative
>and belittling term, which I resent being applied to me.  As a matter of
>record, I have never tried to excuse M$ for any of their deeds or products.
>I have on myriad occasions taken to task people who made unfounded
>accusations and those who told stories about their misadventures with
>Windows.

...

I am sorry about having used the word "apologist" in your case, Denys.

My trusty Mac-based American Heritage English Dictionary (AHED) says:

     Apologist (noun).  A person who argues in defense or
     justification of another person or cause.

This seems to be a neutral term.  When applied to a worthy cause, it is
even an honorable and magnifying term.


>At any rate, to call me an apologist is to put me with the people who for
>the last 9 years have found all sorts of excuses for the excesses and abuses
>in which the ex-president indulged.  Like NOW excusing the rape allegations
>and the many documented assault on women as just a case of sowing wild oats
>and job pressure.  That is what being an apologist is.  I resent being
>called such and I take offence at the slur.

I am sorry that you had associated the word "apologist" with the kinds of
things that you mention in your paragraph above.  I associate the word
"apologist" with what my trusty Mac-based AHED says (and I repeat),

     Apologist (noun).  A person who argues in defense or
     justification of another person or cause.

This seems to be a neutral term.  When applied to a worthy cause, it is
even an honorable and magnifying term.

For instance, I am proud to be an apologist for MPE/IMAGE (and, in my
spare time, an apologist for the Mac, just for fun :-)



   _______________
  |               |
  |               |
  |            r  |  Alfredo                     [log in to unmask]
  |          e    |                           http://www.adager.com
  |        g      |  F. Alfredo Rego
  |      a        |  Manager, R & D Labs
  |    d          |  Adager Corporation
  |  A            |  Sun Valley, Idaho 83353-3000            U.S.A.
  |               |
  |_______________|

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