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	Where do you go for insightful commentary on the latest books? In response to author Lev Grossman's essay on reading, and even forging, reviews of his books on Amazon.com, Kevin Mims praises Amazon's open forums as "literary criticism free of cant and professional posturing." Last week, reader Chris Schroen wrote to complain that Salon's Mothers Who Think section had strayed from its editorial mission to provide sharp and sassy commentary on issues related to parenting. "These days the columns don't tend to have anything at all to do with motherhood at all," Schroen complained, sparking a flood of mail that we'll refer to as the Mother of All Debates. Taking the opposing tack, Amanda Cantrell defended Mothers Who Think's numerous non-parenting features, writing: "I believe that Salon's efforts in diversifying the column are important and should be continued, so that issues of relevance to all women can be aired in a forum free of lipstick application techniques and crash diets." Today we publish software developer Dan Read's cri de coeur, a reaction to Tony Seideman's story, "Fortress Microsoft." In addition to the refusal to cooperate with the press that Seideman describes, says Read, the Redmond software giant has also shut out the numerous independent developers who've helped make Microsoft strong over the years.
_______________ FORTRESS MICROSOFT BY TONY SEIDEMAN (03/08/99)
	Thanks for Tony Seideman's story, "Fortress Microsoft." It revealed to me how astoundingly out of touch Microsoft is. Journalists are not the only ones getting stonewalled by the company. I am a software developer who specializes in using Microsoft technology, and I hold certification from Microsoft -- the MCSD (Microsoft Certified Solution Developer). I make a good living using Microsoft's development tools, applications, networks and operating systems. While I cannot speak for my peers, I have felt recently that the Redmond company has lost touch with the Microsoft-centric development community. Microsoft owes a great deal of its success to the way it has flooded developers with information on how to create real solutions with their products and tools. Their Microsoft Developer Network library of articles, online books and product documentation now takes three compact disks to publish, and that does not include the software development kits, free seminars, giveaways, discussion forums, sample projects and virtual reams of Web-based information. Plus, they make some great tools, and a lot of their stuff does 90 percent of what it's supposed to. So why am I complaining? It sounds like a developer's dream. Indeed, I've become a successful, certified software developer, in part, by making use of all these resources. Recently, Microsoft appears to have lost awareness of the fact that there are millions of developers all over the world using these products and tools in the most detailed ways possible. We are stretching their tools to the limit, putting every feature through its paces. We can see all the pimples, and indeed we have to figure them out, fight through them and work around them every day. Microsoft also knows where the pimples are, because you better believe we tell them about what we find. We want this stuff to work. I won't even get into the challenges of integrating all of this Microsoft software with the rest of the world's software and hardware. In this environment, stability is pretty important. Microsoft, however, does not appear too interested in stability. Instead, they flood us -- release after release -- with new features and products that have sex appeal, but are mostly a lot of hype. The releases and "service packs" fix a few of the nastiest bugs, but leave many others unacknowledged and, of course, they introduce dozens more. This flood of "innovation" wouldn't be so bad if Microsoft would also fix the bugs and stabilize the tools, technologies, initiatives and "standards" that we've all bought into, and on which we've based huge systems and bet our careers. I think Microsoft is in a crisis. What has made the company great is no longer working for them. This is true in both the developer crisis I describe, and the public relations crisis that "Fortress Microsoft" explains so well. Microsoft is convinced that if they just keep driving forward, everything will be OK. (This misstep also factors into the recent interest in open-source software: Part of the appeal of free software such as Linux, Appache and MySQL is that there are a bunch of people all over the world fixing bugs and making the products more stable on a daily basis.) To quote the article: "If a company has proven a shade too successful in shaping the business environment to its needs, its mind-set can grow rigid -- and unconsciously, employees will resist adapting to reality and try instead to bend it to match their own vision. That, many reporters say, is what Microsoft seems to be trying to do." That, in my opinion as well, is exactly what Microsoft is trying to do. If they don't realize their error soon, they may find a lot of empty seats on their bandwagon. -- Dan Read Atlanta
	N E X T+P A G E+| "Millennium" kicks Mulder and Scully's butts; I was harassed by a mailing list terrorist