[svlug] Darnit Chris

[Javilk]

> I doubt you will get past the door. I am serious. These people are in
> business, they are probably not going to stand for a competitor causing
> any distraction or disruption at their event. Remeber, in this game you

     At the shows I was assistant manager for, there were strict limits as
to what we could to with competing show vendors.  As long as they did not
disrupt the procedings, it was difficult to expell them outright; though
we could ask them politely not to bother our vendors. (We also, ahem,
attended some of their shows and passed our our literature there...)  Rule
was, it depended on behavior and what class of show.  We also had to deal
with people trying to sell to our vendors, and other sources of disruption
ranging from crazies, to bunch of crazed state sales tax collectors (more
than one!)  trying to disrupt an entire show at one point.  (They were
threatening to throw our out of state vendors in jail on the spot!) 
Sometimes it got Really Touchy. 

     Number one rule was always to minimize disruption. Keep it quiet and
orderly, and get the party to the owner's office if there was any doubt as
to what to do.

> are not a private citizen, you are acting directly as a business
> competitor. Would a Chevy dealer allow Ford salesmen to give out 30-day
> free trials at the Chevy dealership's Grand Opening? I think not. Remeber
> to conduct yourself as a representative of a competitor.

    It varies from industry to industry; but essentially, this is correct.
They would react in some manner.  We are a direct competitor.  And we are,
by their profit oriented minds, essentially crazy.

> Consider yourself to be there to keep Microsoft honest. Ask questions
> about how well the products interface in a multivendor enterprise network.
> How far has Microsoft gone to ensure that applications and operating
> systems from other vendors can communicate and share data with the
> Microsoft applications. How can Microsoft ensure that their applications
> will be useful in an environment with multiple vendors over the long haul
> ... stuff like that. 

    EXCELLENT!  Ask Questions!  Difficult ones, not insulting ones.

> They need to hear that there are a LOT of users out there that DO NOT WANT
> proprietary extentions to protocols. That doing these things EXCLUDES them
> from more markets than it locks them into.
 
> Forget the Linux advocacy, I think we would be better served by making
> Microsoft sweat a bit on the compatability issue. Ask them tough
> questions. Tell them why their OS is not an option for you. Ask them what
> they are doing about it and make sure that you let them know that their
> actions are seen as a fundamental weakness and not strength.

    Reasonable and polite actions.  Some of us should be diskette
distributors, others should be questioners.  That way, only some of us
will be likely to be expelled.

- javilk at mall-net.com -----------------------------
-------- MS asks "Where do you want to go?" -------
------- Linux asks "What do you want to do?" ------
-- It is doers, not goers, who built this world! --
--------- Member: http://www.svlug.org/ -----------

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