Re: [OS:N:] play hardball - no

[<jadams01 sprynet com>]

On Thu, 5 Sep 2002 13:08:31 -0400 Bob Houghton <houghton email wcu edu> wrote:

> Anything is not OK. You can't effectively
> challenge Microsoft's unethical practices by
> becoming unethical.

Agreed.

> >        1.)  Place copies of Lynux on top
> shelves, when visiting stores.

Not unethical.

> >        2.)  Squeeze copies of windows VERY
> FIRMLY (they are known to break)

Obviously unethical, and can amount to a sale for Microsoft at the expense of
the retailer.

> >              as you put them back (turned
> around) on the bottom shelf.

Marginal.

If you mess up a major display which a retailer worked on, you're doing a bad
thing.

If you see a shelf where various items are competing for space, facing _a few_
out and spining _a few_ others is okay _within reason_, but it's very easy to
Go Too Far.

Keep in mind that someone will have to follow behind you and fix these, and
that person will be annoyed--possibly annoyed enough to start playing hardball
with _you_.

If that person does ordering, shelving, sales, they can hurt you more than you
can hurt them.

It's much better to talk to the people who do these jobs and try to
_influence_ them favorably.

Speaking as a former bookseller, I was not particularly annoyed by authors who
put their books face out without asking me--and that usually meant something
else got spined.

Someone who damaged a competitor's book would have been eighty-sixed without
appeal.

> >        3.)  Anything else you can think of?

Well, now, this depends.

Obviously,

          John A
          see me fulminate at http://www.jzip.org/