Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucsd!ames!ncar!asuvax!mcdphx!mcdchg!ddsw1!ddsw1!karl
From: karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.i386
Subject: Re: _UNIX_Today!_ hits a new benchmarking low
Message-ID: <[24fd5faf:193.3]comp.unix.i386;1@ddsw1.MCS.COM>
Date: 31 Aug 89 17:00:05 GMT
References: <16054@vail.ICO.ISC.COM> <123997@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>
Lines: 48

>Response 2 of 2 (193) by plocher%sally at Sun.COM on Thu 31 Aug 89 01:39
>[John Plocher]
>(53 lines)
>
>I too was astonished by what seemed to be a blatent ad for Bell Tech
>Unix (BTU) It seemed that the "reviewer" must have had old copies of
>ISC and Microport sitting around and used them for comparison with a
>brand new copy of Bell Tech.
....
>The real laugh came when reading the author's background:
>
>	Bob Morein is a software author and is well-known for his
>	versatile benchmark- ing tools.  He is a frequent contribu- ter
>	to computer publications.  Morein can be reached at
>	bob@utoday.
>
>Versatile Benchmarks?  With a methodology like he used in this
>article?  Yes, I see.  His benchmarks can prove anything he wants them
>to! :-)

I too was disgusted with this so-called "Benchmark" or "review".  It is at
times like this when one wonders just how interested in objective reporting
these trade magazines really are.

The damage done by "reviews" like this is incalculable.  Sure, you can tell
those people who call you why the review is bogus, and that the writer is an
idiot.  But those who _don't_ call, simply because they took the advice in
the article and bought what was "recommended", are lost forever.  It does
every vendor who was so maligned a great amount of damage.

The question I have for Unix Today! is "how and why did you let this get
by?"  If this was not deliberate, and I have to assume it wasn't without
some evidence to the contrary, then it simply smacks of not caring about 
the accuracy of the information reported.

Other trade publications have done this kind of thing before.  I expected
better from Unix Today.  I guess they're just another pulp magazine like the
rest of them.  So much for their credibility; I guess you can't trust them 
either.

Oh well.  I am forwarding this entire thread to bob@utoday.  I suggest those
of you who are similarly outraged to the same; vendors who were maligned
should demand a retest and retraction, as well as a public apology from both
the author and magazine.  IMHO it's the least they owe you.

--
Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, <well-connected>!ddsw1!karl)
Public Access Data Line: [+1 312 566-8911], Voice: [+1 312 566-8910]
Macro Computer Solutions, Inc.		"Quality Solutions at a Fair Price"