I sent the following to Representative Mabrey earlier this morning: -------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Representative. Mabrey, I would like to respond personally to two of your questions during our committee hearing for HB2892. Your first question asked effectively, "if I am procuring breakfast cereal for the state's prison system and I had a choice of trusted brand names, such as Post or Kelloggs, why would I ever choose "Mabrey's Muslix?" The answer, Representative Mabrey, is that in the real world, "no one ever got fired for buying Kelloggs." The truth is that IT decision makers are often compelled to choose a particular cereal not because it is the most nutritious or is the best value, but because it has brand recognition. Second, you followed up your question asking, "if I know that Kelloggs brand cereal is reliable and someone asks me to try a relative unknown, such as "Mabrey's," why would I ever want to do that?" As a 10 year cereal industry veteran, I know exactly where you are coming from; I would never risk my production data on an unknown brand of cereal. Fortunately, "Mabrey's Muslix" is actually _very_ well known and backed heavily by IBM, Hewlette Packard, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, and many others in the breakfast cereal industry. Further, "Mabrey's Muslix," powers the fifth largest "prison system" in the world! Moreover, many prominent "prison systems" use "Mabrey's Muslix" in their production environments. Amazon.com, Morgan Stanley, and Intel to name just three. Here are three references to a long list of "Mabrey's" customers: * http://news.com.com/2100-1001-275155.html?legacy=cnet * http://www.vnunet.com/News/1138359 * http://www.zdnetindia.com/techzone/linuxcentre/stories/78512.html Personally, I found your questions very pertinent to the matter at hand. While we used a tongue-and-cheek analogy, these issues are very serious. I tell you truthfully that I would not have backed HB2892 had I any doubts that we could dramatically increase the effectiveness of the State's IT system while at the same time significantly reducing costs. Representative Mabrey, I encourage your support of HB2892. Oregon will surely benefit by saving the state millions while at the same time generating revenue for local Oregon businesses. Very Truly Yours, Cooper Stevenson Em: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Www: http://www.mwvlug.org _______________________________________________ Eug-LUG mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mailman.efn.org/cgi-bin/listinfo/eug-lug
