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From: anderson@macc.wisc.edu (Jess Anderson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: *** Top Prize Winner - IMPACT Software Contest ***
Message-ID: <1991Apr25.143604.3979@macc.wisc.edu>
Date: 25 Apr 91 14:36:04 GMT
References: <1991Apr25.130046.26086@cs.cornell.edu> <1991Apr25.134348.25432@ni.umd.edu>
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In article <1991Apr25.134348.25432@ni.umd.edu>
louie@sayshell.umd.edu (Louis A.  Mamakos) writes:

>Does anyone else think that this posting, and the ones
>before it are just a little bit too commerically oriented to
>be appropriate for this USENET newsgroup.  Especially the
>last "batch" of them?

Since you ask, yes, I do.  I've been wondering about this
ever since the first solicitation to sign up for an Impact
Card.  To tell the truth, what got me was that the form for
the card asks for the Social Security number.  Maybe I'm a
bit old-fashioned, but it used to be that only you and God
had to know your SS number.  Then the tax people decided
they could force you to use it for financial transactions of
a certain type (they prevailed in court, I believe), and now
just anybody thinks of it as a personal identification
number.

No point protesting, but it *is* annoying.

Now wrt Impact, there are a number of issues.  One, it seems
to me, is that they are using a Cornell account to transact
a clearly commercial enterprise.  Excuse me?  I'm quite sure
that is a violation of NSFnet appropriate use guidelines.
If they are a business (it seems *very* likely they either
are or soon intend to be), they should at least register in
the *com domain and not abuse the *edu domain.  But, having
no love for the cop role, I'd prefer to leave that up to
the net.enforcers at Cornell.

Other vendors appearing in this newsgroup seem reasonably
fastidious about these matters, and while Impact may still
be largely a start-up (one does wonder who's really back
there, behind the screen), they should get this part of the
act together pretty soon, I would think.

But I also have some divided loyalties wrt Impact, since the
idea of giving small prizes to adventuresome developers
seems such a good one.  Also in their favor, they are
apparently planning to centralize and publicize the
distribution of certain software at modest prices.  That
would certainly seem to be a contribution to the general
welfare of NeXT users.  To the extent the card is an
innovative idea, it seems a useful one, and should probably
be explored further.

My impression is that some thought has already been given to
the whole set of things Impact represents, and likely they
have some arguments and explanations at the ready for just
such questions as are here being raised.  If so, I would
like to see them.

<> People often find it easier to be a result of the past
<> than a cause of the future. -- Unknown

Hm.  Seems pertinent in both directions.
--
Jess Anderson <> Madison Academic Computing Center <> University of Wisconsin
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