Michael: > I think most people wouldn't have a clue what quality > meant in situations like this. I think people have a rather good, but possibly somewhat limited, idea of what quality means when it comes to software. The problem is ... > - the computer can't do anything at all unless you are willing > to pay dearly ... that they believe it is impossible to make high quality software. > Consider all the ramifications of the "I Love You" > virus, and also of the endless Y2k discussions. How > would a lay person really understand what was really > going on? It would be rather hard, but certainly not impossible. I was in a panel discussion on the national Danish radio [1] with a "sales engineer" from Microsoft and a computer scientist just after "I Love You" hit, and I think we - with a lot of help from the two journalists - managed to give people a fair idea of what went wrong. But sales people just keep trying to talk themselves out of the corner they are in, even when it should be impossible. > BTW - this is the local DC NPR station, and this show > has unusually well- informed panels and listeners. One > of the callers to this show asked whether there is > danger in eating food that's been heated in a microwave > even. How on _earth_ can the tech industry ever learn > how to speak clearly to the public? By trying - and trying - and ... And probably most importantly by working with journalists. I work a bit with the journalists on the radio, and give "interviews" on Open Source topics (slightly more often than "once in a blue moon"). It helps a lot seeing/hearing how journalists turn and cut a story to make it worthwhile for the listeners. And as always: Expect your audience to be intelligent but uninformed on your topic. (one thing I learned as an undergraduate) Jacob 1) As an Open Source representative. Ada doesn't get as much press yet. -- "The current state of knowledge can be summarised thus: In the beginning, there was nothing, which exploded."