Sorry if this is a bit much for a single email (this isn't the hole story)
but following the *car* analogy of late made me thing of some reading I had
done ...... if anyone would like the entire article I would be happy to
post or send it out ... this is a snip of it ........
Customers come to this crossroads in throngs, day and night. Ninety percent
of them go straight to the biggest dealership and buy station wagons or
off-road vehicles.
They do not even look at the other dealerships. Of the remaining ten
percent, most go and buy a sleek Euro-sedan, pausing only to turn up their
noses at the philistines
going to buy the station wagons and ORVs. If they even notice the people
on the opposite side of the road, selling the cheaper, technically superior
vehicles, these
customers deride them cranks and half-wits.
The Batmobile outlet sells a few vehicles to the occasional car nut who
wants a second vehicle to go with his station wagon, but seems to accept,
at least for now,
that it's a fringe player. The group giving away the free tanks only stays
alive because it is staffed by volunteers, who are lined up at the edge of
the street with bullhorns,
trying to draw customers' attention to this incredible situation. A
typical conversation goes something like this:
Hacker with bullhorn: "Save your money! Accept one of our free tanks! It is
invulnerable, and can drive across rocks and swamps at ninety miles an hour
while getting a hundred miles to the gallon!"
Prospective station wagon buyer: "I know what you say is
true...but...er...I don't know how to maintain a tank!"
Bullhorn: "You don't know how to maintain a station wagon either!"
Buyer: "But this dealership has mechanics on staff. If something goes wrong
with my station wagon, I can take a day off work, bring it here, and pay
them to work on
it while I sit in the waiting room for hours, listening to elevator music."
Bullhorn: "But if you accept one of our free tanks we will send volunteers
to your house to fix it for free while you sleep!"
Buyer: "Stay away from my house, you freak!"
Bullhorn: "But..."
Buyer: "Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?"
Let me know if anyone is interested in the entire article =)
Lonny Selinger
