Hey, thanks for the input. I thought about your comment of the flea market vendors. There's one group that I look out for every year. And every year they are back. It's those "as-is" guys. You know, the $15 Ahtlon XP 1500s with scorch marks on the core. As-is. The $40 P-4s with hairline fractures. As is.
Conversations I have with those guys go something like this: Me: Hey are these prices for real? Vendor: As-is. Me: Do you have a warranty? Or a DOA guarantee? Vendor: No. Me: Are these CPUs still under manufacturer warranty? Vendor: No. Me: If these don't work, can I return them? Vendor: No. Me: Can I test them before I buy them? Vendor: How about you buy them before you test them? Me: Do you have anything at all to substantiate these? Vendor gives me an evil look, which is my cue to leave. I wonder why they keep on doing this preying on consumer stupidity, and then I wonder why TCF continues to ALLOW them to do this preying on consumer stupidity. >From: "J.D. Abolins" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: Tao Tan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: TCF - Thoughts? >Date: Mon, 6 May 2002 16:30:29 -0400 (EDT) >MIME-Version: 1.0 >Received: from hotmail.com ([65.54.237.125]) by hotmail.com with Microsoft >SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.4905); Mon, 6 May 2002 13:44:01 -0700 >Received: from ns3.biznetindia.com ([203.200.89.83]) by hotmail.com with >Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.4905); Mon, 6 May 2002 13:43:08 -0700 >Received: (from listserv@localhost)by ns3.biznetindia.com (8.11.3/8.11.3) >id g46KgJn06904;Tue, 7 May 2002 02:12:19 +0530 >Resent-Date: Tue, 7 May 2002 02:12:19 +0530 >X-Authentication-Warning: ns3.biznetindia.com: listserv set sender to >[EMAIL PROTECTED] using -f >Old-Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >In-Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Resent-Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Resent-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >X-Mailing-List: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> archive/latest/468 >X-Loop: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >List-Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >List-Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=help> >List-Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=subscribe> >List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?subject=unsubscribe> >Precedence: list >Resent-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Return-Path: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >X-OriginalArrivalTime: 06 May 2002 20:43:09.0642 (UTC) >FILETIME=[A1EB62A0:01C1F53E] > >I agree with Tao Tan that this year's TCF was disappointing. > >It's not only the economy and the dot-com bust but also saturation of >computer shows and sales outlets. There is a computer show in the region >practically every weekend. > >In earlier years of TCF, TCF was THE place to go for good computer deals >and hard-to-find techie items. People would save up for the May shows and >buy lots of techno goodies. Now, people will quickly go to the Internet >and look for bargains or they'll go to the CompUSA and Best Buys. (Not >knocking it. I just bought an LCD monitor at BB this morning so I won't >have to lug the conventional monitor to the meetings. I didn't find any >good deals on the LCD monitors on Sunday at TCF.) > >The flea market was also getting skimpier. SOme of the good vendors I >dealt with last year did not show up. > >It is a shame because TCF has been a great instituion for computing all >these years. (It has also given me some speaking opportunities to keep in >the circulation.) But I don't believe it is a particular fault of the TCF >organizers. It's more of a matter of trends in computing and economy. > >By the way shout outs of thanks to Jerry and the other people who came to >my presentation. I wish I could have known that it would have a lot of >Linux users in the audience so I would have skipped all that Windows >stuff. > >J.D. Abolins _________________________________________________________________ Join the world�s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com
