Microport Buyout ( was: Microport Status )

[Bill Kennedy]

I just gotta stick my oar in, I have bitten my tongue so many times
I can barely taste any more.  If that means that this article is in
poor taste, so be it.  I, like many/all of us was ripped off by
Microport.  I'd call it criminal fraud on their part, but that's a bit
tough to do when you own three copies of V/AT and a V/386 unlimited
with Merge and upgrades.

I never had any quarrel with the tech support staff, I had quit them
before John Plocher arrived, but he did his damndest to give them some
credibility and, thereby, lost some of his.  I think (despite my feelings
for the firm) that John gave it an even shot.  My quarrel is and has
always been with Microport management.  I've been mad at them (remember
that I've sent them some serious coin, that should put my own judgement
into proper perspective) since they were DRI.  I think that they got
their just desserts and I'm glad.

Should we careen headlong into the fray to save them?  That makes about as
much sense as my four paid licenses.  We can't save the "good guys",  they
are gone.  A rush (even though it won't happen) to save Microport will do
nothing more than support the attitudes and policies that put them against
the wall in the first place.  Chuck Hickey (and successors) played us like
a drum.  Do you want to be part of salvaging that which we have bitched
about for three years?  Not me.

It's not enough to stomp on a corpse without suggesting an alternative.
I think it's safe to suggest that V/AT, V/286, whatever, would not be
considered a flagship product.  Let's get farther off the limb and closer
to the tree.  Intel and AT&T (perhaps not in that order) own this product,
why not approach them?  Why not recruit John Plocher since he's one of the
few among us who collected a check (not an invoice) with the Microport
logo?  He's on record as having little loyalty to his previous employer,
he was closer to it than any of us, what's wrong with funding him?  For
some of us V/AT is the only game in town.  The '386 crowd has a number of
alternatives, let's limit this to V/AT.

I propose that each V/AT licensee contribute $10 to fund John to go off
and cut a deal with Intel or AT&T to get us back on the rails.  John, of
course, doesn't even have to acknowledge we exist unless there are
enough $$ to capture his fancy.  ASSuming that we do this and that he does
that, isn't it worth yet another $10/yr to sustain it?  I'd bet there
are 1,000 V/AT users on the net, maybe that many again or ten times that
many outside the net.  What say?
-- 
Bill Kennedy  Internet: bill at ssbn.WLK.COM
                Usenet: {texbell,att,killer,sun!daver,cs.utexas.edu}!ssbn!bill