Instead of a form letter stating that my request has been forwarded,
    I wish they would have just mailed the CD. MY belief is that
    most distributors don't want to bother with you unless you have a large
    order ready for them.  Forget it if you are only a hobbyist interested
    in ordering small quantities.

This is perhaps true, but not necessarilly.  For example, Analog Devices
still has a fond place in my heart for the time they sent be a freebie
A-D converter for my college senior design project.  (and of course I've
NEVER had an opportunity to specify an A-D converter SINCE then...)

It would be nice if you could be honest, and have your request tossed on
a "low priority" pile instead of the "have a salescritter follow this up
immediately" pile, and still get your CD or Sample or whatever.  What is
really annoying is when the company spends more sending you useless stuff
(line cards, form letters, marketing fliers, etc) than the part/doc you
wanted in the first place would have cost.  (Really - A CD costs less than
$1, and should mail for less than $1 too.  They should hand them out like
hotcakes (and they HAVE, at trade shows.  It really hurts when a company
spend $4 to mail a massive catalog that probably cost that much to print
as well, when what I wanted was a sample and datasheet for a $2 part.
And the number of salesmen that bug me thinking that somehow a software
engineer has some "in" with which crystal oscillators purchasing buys
(after I've told them "not") is pretty amazing, as well.  Likewise, some
get excited and want to set up MEETINGS just cause I filled out some bingo
card...  Sigh.)

It sounds like there was some sort of blockage in Microchips flow of CDs,
and it sounds like they're fixing it.  That's excellant.

BillW