> How old are you and what area of the country are you in?
Connecticut's beautiful vacation shoreline...
Now *you're* reading something into it -- which was part of my point:
because of the anonymous textual basis of communication on the net, it's
VERY easy to write in your OWN nuances, and come up with a very
different meaning from the same words. As the Buddah said, we create the
universe.
Obviously, I'm just as susceptible to this as anyone, and there has
certainly been gross misunderstanding on both sides of this argument. I
have no doubt of the sincerity of your claim of blissful ignorance (in a
perfectly GOOD sense) regarding the larger picture at UOG, and because
of *my* ignorance of *your* ignorance (!), it was certainly a mistake on
my part to ascribe even the suggestion of impropriety, for which I
apologize, both publicly and privately.
That's not to say I don't think you're biased; we're ALL biased. I'm
quite sure from what you've told me, however (and from the reviews I
read on Digital Sportspage -- and not just yours!), that within the
bailiwick of Digital Sportspage, there is no editorial leverage applied
to please potential or current advertisers. I'm of a suspicious and
cynical nature -- there's MY bias -- and the mere possibility of such
commercial pressure often makes me jump to conclusions which prove to be
groundless. This was such a case, and again I apologize, to everyone.
As for
www.aolsucks.com
I mentioned it simply because I think EVERYONE who has an account with
AOL owes it to themselves to check out this site. It's an eye-opener,
and quite a hoot.
As for the rest of the brouhaha, it is still my opinion (which is what
all of this was from the very beginning) that:
MS CPR is a flawed product, the imperfections of which were brought to
MS' attention both internally and externally. MS chose to release it in
spite of these legitimate concerns. The fact that they released it just
in time for the Christmas buying season is -- to cynical and suspicious
people like me -- highly suggestive, to say the least.
Dean Lester came to the RAS NG just over a month ago, heralding the
arrival of "the best racing sim ever", inviting everyone to download the
demo and "make up their own minds", and that he and Microsoft were
anxious to hear everyone's feedback, to help MS CART improve the sim,
according to this message:
Dean Lester
11/5/97:
<<Postings, as always, mainly focus on the negative. Though this is not
necessarily a bad thing - tells us what to work on first! ;)...
And keep sending the feedback - we are working with TRi right now
looking at ALL the postings and email.
fyi - my teams also develop Flight Simulator, and it is through
precisely this feedback process that that Sim has stayed so strong.
And thanks for all the feedback already submitted - it is not being
ignored. Far from it ...>>
When the demo, and later the sim, were released, it was obvious from the
get-go that there were serious flaws, and that people were having
difficulties configuring their systems to get it to even run. It was
later discovered that these problems were also encountered within the
CART Team test group. The AI was roundly excoriated by nearly everyone
who reviewed or commented on the game, including Randy Magruder of
Digital Sportspage.
Dean Lester was very helpful, apparently both in the NG and in private
email, but it became more and more obvious there were technical issues
he had difficulty addressing.
"Eagle Woman" (Alison Hine), after trying to contact Dean Lester
privately, posted a public review highlighting the various problems
associated witn CPR, including her own configurational difficulties.
Dean Lester responded to Alison's review of CPR equally publicly, in
essence saying that the main problem Alison was experiencing was due to
her system configuration, and that all other difficulties in the
"greatest racing sim ever" would be addressed by a
soon(?)-to-be-delivered patch from MS. Dean's comments were, in *my*
opinion and that of many others, quite unnecessarily supercilious,
patronizing, and insulting. Not the "professional" behavior one hopes
for from the representative of a manufacturer who has publicly stated
its desire for feedback, even negative feedback.
A patch, BTW, is a means of fixing a problem with software after it has
been released. Finding a patch necessary so soon after the release of a
major consumer product from a major (to say the least) manufacturer
might be construed by the suspicious and cynical to indicate that the
product was not exactly ready-for-prime-time at it's pre-Christmas
release, but that the manufacturer would get product on the shelves and
deal with the fixes later. This is what's jokingly referred to in the
trade as "consumer beta testing".
As a result of disappointment in "the greatest racing sim ever", a very
vocal percentage of RAS begins questioning Dean Lester about the
deficiencies of CPR. Actually, the questions began with the release of
the demo, but everyone was assured that their concerns would be ironed
out in the final version of CPR -- which may yet come to pass, as this
release would seem (with the necessity of a patch already) not exactly a
finalized version.
At first Mr. Lester fields these questions with as good a grace as could
be expected, but as the technical questions become ever more complex,
and many of the questioners become ever less graceful, Mr. Lester starts
to get rattled. By the time Alison's review hits the newsstands, it's
obvious that Dean Lester has run out of both patience and answers. In
the post-mortem ad infinitum, ad nauseam that follows Dean's decision to
leave, there are many cries of blame, and many offer the useless opinion
that "I wouldn't have taken it as long as Dean did."
Well, it has always been and always will be the unenviable
responsibility of the front man to suffer the slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune. Some do it better than others. My opinion -- and
strictly my opinion -- is that Dean is basically a guy who wants to do a
good job, be well-liked, and not have people mad at him. Unfortunately,
it is ever thus: the front man becomes a symbol and embodiment of the
entity he represents -- after all, that's what "represent" means, in
it's purest form -- and frustrated, confused, and just plain malicious
people start firing arrows by the giant-economy-sized-quiver-full. In a
perfect world, the "representative" would deflect these arrows with, if
not exactly good humor, then at least a becoming stoicism. It's not a
perfect world, and -- again, simply my opinion -- Dean was too
emotionally involved with the success and popularity of the product he
worked so *** and tried so hard to represent in as flattering a
light as possible. He tried to be a friend to the people in the NG who
asked him questions, but when MS delivered a virtual steaming turd to
his friends and they were understandably upset, they turned to -- and ON
-- Dean Lester. It was too much to take, obviously, for someone with a
good heart who just wanted to be appreciated for his work and his help.
It is no condemnation to say he was not cut out for the position of
front man -- very few are, as it takes a detachment from and disregard
for human emotions that's most often seen in the much more lucrative
legal profession.
That's all I have to say on the subject. I intimated the possibility of
baser motivations regarding Randy Magruder's defense of Dean Lester,
Microsoft, and CPR. I believe that to be completely untrue, as Randy was
not even aware of the commercial nature of UGO, the parent of Digital
Sportspage. It's quite obvious from what Randy has told me that neither
Digital Sportspage nor UOG apply even a hint of pressure -- commercially
motivated or otherwise -- to their reviewers. Indeed, Randy's review of
CPR brings up many of the distressing shortcomings in the released
version of CPR. Again, my apologies to Randy and the NG.
Barton S. Brown