OK, to the naysayers, fencesitters, and even advocates.  I have spent
considerable time during the week with the folks from Client
Systems/3kworld.com on various issues.  Allow me to interject with some
information regarding 3kworld.com as there is a LOT of misinformation going
around here, there was a lot of it on the vendor floor amongst participants,
and so forth.

1.  3kworld.com is the brainchild and put together by Client Systems.  Yes,
Client Systems is a "for profit" entity, as is 3kworld.com.  One cannot operate
something like this without seeing something come back as a return on
investment.  If you make an investment, you expect a return on that investment.
You invest in your IRA, 401Ks, etc - and you want a return right?  Client
Systems invested heavily into this, and expects to see a return.  There's
absolutely nothing wrong with that in our Capitalist Society in the US (and
other countries).

2.  It is just like any other portal - it is funded by advertisers.  WRQ, HP,
Phoenix/3000, Interex, The Support Group, Exegesys (no, I'm not going to do the
upper/lower case thing here, I'll just mess it up :) - and others - are all
advertisers.  Some of these folks are Founders, meaning they put up a
substantial amount of money to get this site going.

3.  To accessors - meaning users - there is no charge to use this.  There is no
charge to use Yahoo!, Lycos, and other portals out there either.  If you use
any of these other "general purpose portals" - consider 3kworld.com a
"specifically targeted" portal - either way, they are in essence, the same
thing.

There is nothing sinister going on here - and given that a good many of us are
used to the conspiracy theory, some try to read that into things that are done
for the good of the platform (ie: when and where are we gonna "get screwed")?
That is not the intention here.

Some people thing that 3kworld.com is going to become either "the next Interex"
or "another Interex, but 'for profit'" - neither can be further from the truth.
3kworld.com is an HP3000-centric portal that has content being brought to one
area.  I would be willing to bet that if Ron Seybold and Dot Lentz thought this
was a bad thing, 3000 NewsWire content would NOT be there (my view, not a fact,
but I think I know them well enough).  Ron and Dot are the most independent
minded people there are when it comes to this, and they guard their content
closely.  To place content on 3kworld.com shows that there is a substantial
level of faith (and I'm sure a certain level of legalities), but if the faith
weren't there, the content would not be there.  Dot and Ron would never "sell
out" (a term heard on the vendor floor - and to those persons to whom I lost my
temper, my apologies.  I meant every word - but I should not have lost my
temper) for a quick buck.

For some reason, a lot of HP3000 folks think that all should come for free.
(As a vendor this year, and exhibiting for the first time -- thanks Alfredo and
Rene!) - this was driven home.  Every user should be in a vendor's shoes for
one show and they will get a newfound respect for vendors.  Nothing in this
world is free.  If it is free to end-users, it must be paid for with
something - such as advertising.  If there were no advertisers, there would be
no revenue, and no 3kworld.com (or Yahoo!, or any other portal for that
matter).

A question came up about registering to use the HP3000-L area of 3kworld.com.
I'll speak with them about this to see if we can lessen the amount of
information to equal what we require on the list, which is your Name and your
E-Mail address.  I have not yet spoken with 3kworld.com about this, but I will
on Monday.  This would not affect other areas though... this is the "price of
admission" - again, just like any other portal.

So - please - put the conspiracy theories aside as there are none.  You have a
company who has a great idea, is trying to execute it for the good of the
platform, and bring the community together.  To try and turn this into some
conspiracy is completely inaccurate and to continue to perpetutate this myth is
irresponsible.

Lastly -- mistakes on the site.  Yes, they do have their share of grammaticial
errors and other mistakes on the site (such as sizings and such).  Hopefully,
Client Systems will realize that a total reread on THEIR content is necessary
and make the corrections.  Allow me to ask this however - how many of YOU put
Version 1.0 systems out without a spelling mistake, or some other bug?  In
other words, constructive criticism is fine - direct it to THEM where it
belongs, but downright complaining to the list about this and that - just look
at your own code for a first release sometime.  Hell - even the app we showed
had a couple of formatting errors in it (one page had $17.00, the next: 1700 -
no formatting).  It was brought to my attention (it was a bit easy to miss as
content comes from a database), I acknowledged it - and it has since been
fixed.

Now - let's give 3kworld.com the breathing room they need.  It will benefit all
of us in the long run :)

Regards,
Joe

PS: For the ones who think we're part of the conspiracy - we are not yet
sponsors.  We are very careful about who gets to use our logo and who gets to
carry our message and would have no problem with being on 3kworld.com.  We just
haven't sat down and looked at this yet.  We do, however, support what they are
doing and will help in any way we can, within our limitations.

====================================================
Joe Geiser, Managing Partner
BizNetTech.net LLC
Phone: +1(215) 945.8100   Fax: +1(215) 943.8408
Toll Free (US/Canada): (877) 945.8100
====================================================