[PLUG] O'Reilly Open Source Convention "Locals Only" UG Discount (fwd)

[Alex Daniloff]

On Wednesday 12 May 2004 07:08 am, Paul Heinlein wrote:
<snipped>
>
> O'Reilly is a for-profit company. No one, from Tim on down, has ever
> been anything less than forthcoming about that. The convention is
> being held at a major hotel, and all the speakers are presumably being
> paid and having their travel expenses covered. O'Reilly has at least
> eight employees whose salaries are funded to some extent from
> conference proceeds.
>
> So, yeah, O'Reilly, the speakers, and the hotel are all making money
> on this thing. Does that really call into question the integrity of
> O'Reilly publications? Do *you* work for free?

First of all - Have you ever seen a vendor who charges potential customers for 
demonstration of his products? 
Have you ever seen a car dealer who ask you to pay for a test drive?
Why don't you pay for every sales pitch?  
O'Reilly in this sense is no different than any other vendor who strives for 
your business. All this fluff and bluff like five star hotels and speakers 
are the vendor's business expenses not his customers'.
I'm not working for free but nether I'm asking for an additional pay every 
time I demonstrate completed projects to my customers. 

Alex