? Prevent bad IT investments?

Ok, I understand that the IIUG needs to make some money to cover the short fall in IBM 'marketing' dollars. But pimping out the IIUG mailing list to Vendor Rate? C'mon! I guess OnePoint (Ron) or Oninit (Paul) either couldn't/wouldn't stump up the cash for the mailing, or they didn't meet Stuart's strict requirements. :-) Seriously, I do think that Vendor Rate is worth $129 a year? I mean no offense to the company willing to spend $$$ to advertise via the IIUG, but c'mon lets get real. Anytime I have had a question about hardware/software, I tend to ask people that I trust. (Like posting questions about SSDs here). Why can't we ask Sun Micro to advertise here? I mean if the EU continues to block the Oracle deal, that will mean that they will have to find another suitor. I'm thinking Cisco would be a great fit. ;-) But hey! What do I know? Its not like Larry Ellison couldn't afford to bribe the EU decision makers. (No, I'm not saying that he would or that they would accept the bribe, just that he's got the billions to make it happen. ;-) (Oh and you think IBM is the only company that has senior execs that get arrested for insider trading or bribing officials? Ok... add Intel to that list too. 8^0 ) [Its a joke people!] -G _________________________________________________________________ Bing brings you maps, menus, and reviews organized in one place. http://www.bing.com/search?q=restaurants&form=MFESRP&publ=WLHMTAG&crea=TEXT_MFESRP_Local_MapsMenu_Resturants_1x1