PC Gone Amok?
Letters to
Visual Studio Magazine are
welcome. Letters must include your name, address, and daytime phone number to be considered for publication. Letters might be edited for form, fit, and style. Please send them to Letters to the Editor, c/o
Visual Studio Magazine, 2600 El Camino Real, Suite 300, San Mateo, CA 94403; fax them to 650-570-6307; or e-mail them to
[email protected]. Note that the views expressed in the letters section are the opinions of the letters' authors, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of
Visual Studio Magazine or those of 1105 Media.
PC Gone Amok?
Help me understand: What has Patrick Meader been ingesting besides Kool-Aid to lead him to the conclusion that he needed to write a sniveling-crawling-on-his-belly-abject apology to a people who haven't existed for the last few thousand years [Editor's Note, "On Stereotypes," October 2007]? Every reference he found indicates there are no identifiable direct descendants of the Philistines, and the relation to Palestinians is in the historical name of the area in which they live, yet he "can't rule out" that he might have offended somebody?
If so, it's also impossible to rule out that we are all descended from some single-celled organism in the primordial soup, or a slime-worm that wriggled its way ashore. Patrick should be cautious about what he writes about those, too.
Larry Linson
received by e-mail
Of course, Patrick Meader meant "Philistine" in the manner it has been used in literature and even by Daffy Duck--to mean "a person who is guided by materialism and is usually disdainful of intellectual or artistic values"; or "one uninformed in a special area of knowledge," according to Merriam-Webster online.
By that definition, David McDonough would also be a Philistine, a joke I definitely got (whether intended or not). Thanks for the laugh today!
Angie Pepoit
received by e-mail
Patrick Meader's apology for using the word "Philistine" was a waste of good paper. I would imagine that 99.99 percent of VSM's readers knew what he was talking about. I went back and re-read the article just to be sure. Even re-reading it--and this after having re-read the apology--I still know the context of his statement. There was nothing wrong with it.
I have reached the point that complaints of political correctness fall on deaf ears. I say what I think. If people complain, I acknowledge their right to a different opinion, but as far as I know, I still have the right to have and express my own opinions.
Instead of an apology, Patrick should have pointed out to this man that he had the right to his opinion, but also, according to the research Patrick had conducted and cited in his editorial, there were no longer any Philistines to disparage.
Robert C Taubert
received by e-mail
I'm still shaking my head at Patrick Meader's response to the person who complained about his use of the word "Philistine." It would have been much better if Patrick had had the guts to say: "These days you can't say anything without offending someone. To the one or two people I have actually offended by using a term that has simply become part of the language: Please don't renew your subscriptions. I'd rather lose the 50 bucks than have to deal with your crap."
Jeff Johnson
received by e-mail
Keep Your VS All Stars Coming
Just a quick reminder: VSM will soon be introducing a new department it calls Visual Studio All Stars. We want to profile interesting applications created using the Visual Studio suite of tools, with a special emphasis on apps created in VB.NET and C#.
We've received a number of interesting submissions already, but we're still looking for more. If you're interested in having your application profiled, write to us at [email protected] or [email protected] and put "VS All Stars" in the subject line. Be sure to tell us what the app does, who it is for, how many people use it, how many developer hours went into the app's creation, and other details you think people would find interesting. Also be sure to include the telephone number of someone who can be the point person for the project.
Also, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions about the current direction of the magazine and what you'd like to read about. Whether you love the changes we've made, hate them, or just don't care, we want to know about it, as well as your reasons why. Send these to [email protected] or [email protected].
VisualStudioMagazine.com Is Live!
Hooray! Our new Web site redesign at VisualStudioMagazine.com has officially gone live! It was a massive effort but we think it was worth it. Hopefully you'll like the new look, the new content, and the new features, as well as being able to read the magazine online, search the archives, and download code as always. Let us know what you think of the new look or what you think might be missing by sending your comments to [email protected].
Correction
The October 2007 What's Hot column ["Get Critical VB6 Updates"] included information on where to learn more about the recent
critical updates for Visual Basic 6 and its OLEAUT32.DLL. The URL for where to get this information was changed accidentally
while in layout. The correct URL for finding this information is http://tinyurl.com/2paysc. VSM apologizes for the error.
Correction
Statement of Ownership: 15.d.(1), No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to filing Date stated 35,566 and should have been 32,566.VSM apologizes for the error.
About the Author
This story was written or compiled based on feedback from the readers of Visual Studio Magazine.