Heh—there are a few "funny facts" pertinent to the referenced release:
1. The evaluation author was not a qualified Y2K software reviewer or Y2K developer or Y2K engineer or Y2K expert, nor did he have any apparent Y2K experience. He was an employee of a car dealership in Texas whose apparent "computer qualifications" consisted of making a few web pages.
2. The product was not in "beta" stage, as referenced in the release. It was an "alpha" stage as later acknowledged. This is an important distinction in software development cycle.
3. The product never came close to the "intended" target release date, nor could it have. The date was grounded in fantasy. A later review in the Summer, by a more qualified, experienced, and independent reviewer showed that this product was not ready for market as a viable, usable piece of software having value to satisfy it's intended purpose. In fact, the software was not ready until Winter 98/99, the first mass-production copies actually being shipped in February of this year, if I recall the thread history (I'm citing from memory right now).
4. In a seperate release, again distributed by Business Wire, CSHK states that its software will run on ATMs (presumably Automated Teller Machines). The only problem is—ATMs don't run on Win 3.1/95, for which this software was designed. ATMs run on UNIX, with a some instances running on NT. #reply-3589196
No, I don't expect Business Wire to "police" this stuff—it's not really their job, and it wouldn't be fair to expect them to adequately verify the claims of their clients. I do believe, however, that their legal intimidation of a group who seeks to point out the "Caveats Of Investing", in a helpful manner is at best, harrassment bordering on "actionable" according to local legal opinion, depending on how much further they wish to make themselves look foolish. |
