CompuServe Messages

Good lord! I didn't expect to get flamed! As I explained, it was not part of the original plan at all. And, in fact, I did keep my readers appraised of the progress and delays on Taming The Wave. I even quoted excerpts from the darn thing so people could get an idea of what it was shaping up to be. Let's see other companies give away details of products that they are still developing as I did both in my columns and in the calls I received. You know, John, as well as I do that magazines do have lead times, even mags with a turn around as fast as VTU. Preparing the ads and publishing them when we did was an important marketing move that drew attention away from the other tapes that were starting to come out and showed people that they had an alternative. The bit about Gun For Hire cashing the checks came to me as just as shocking news as you point out. At the time, however, with the entire fate of the project in their hands, I could do nothing more than protest the fact that they did it, which I did constantly. As far as "slipperiness" in my columns, have you read a review of any other training tapes in my column? No. Not because the magazine wouldn't allow it, but because I felt it was improper to do while releasing one of my own. Equally, I have not seen any of my competitors' tapes except for the two that originally inspired me to make my own. My decision was based on the fact that I BOUGHT those tapes (as opposed to having them sent free of charge which is a benefit most every journalist has) and felt that I had been ripped off. As I told anybody who called to complain during the delays, we will happily refund the entire amount AT ANY TIME. Nobody chose to take us up on that offer. Our purposes were not malicious, and you are correct in it being a legal matter. We seem to have dealt with the problem in a matter satisfactory to all involved and learned a valuable lesson at the same time. If, and that's a big IF, we produce another tape, the approach will be handled much differently. David Hopkins