On Fri, Sep 10, 1999 at 11:22:27PM -0400, Donald L Burdette wrote:
> This is just one more reason to follow the Prime Directive:
>
> NEVER believe what ANYONE says about the future.
>
> (and only half of what they say about today).
>
> Most manufacturers (myself and probably you too) don't always deliver
> what they promise when they promise it.  It's just a fact of life.

While I'm quite aware of this, while I'm all for accepting
responsibility for my own mistakes and not looking for
scapegoats, while I agree with others who say that
jumping ship because of a mistake like this is foolhardy
and short-sighted, I have to add that I'm sick to death
of companies that think they can -- nay, *have to* --
make promises they can't keep, while at the same time
accepting no need to apologize or otherwise take responsibility
for *their* own mistakes. Where I come from, this isn't
the way that grown-ups act. It may be the way that the
industry works, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
"Everybody else does it" doesn't work for my daughter,
and it won't work for a vendor, either. (Understand, please,
that I personally have never been in a position to be
burned by Microchip like this, but I certainly have
with some other vendors over the past fifteen years, in a
couple of cases with significant damage done.)

Certainly it is a bit of an overreaction to completely drop
a supplier because they are late with a delivery. But I
think it entirely fair to let the supplier know that you
are investigating other options as a result of their
actions -- not the being late part so much, but the use
of snake-oil sales tactics with people who they know full
well could be severely hurt by their failure to come
through on a promise.

Sure, the more cynical and battle-scarred among us might
be so distrustful of such promises as to never believe
them, but OTOH, vendors such as uChip are unlikely ever
to see a need to curtail the promulgation of such rose-
colored views as long there doesn't appear to be any
cost to it. AFAIK, the primary cost that is likely
to register on such vendors is an erosion in their
new design-win rate. If their entire customer base
simply takes a "boys will be boys" attitude, then why
would they ever think twice about promising things that
could well be impossible?

Just my $0.02 on the issue.

--Bob

--
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Bob Drzyzgula                             It's not a problem
bob@drzyzgula.org                until something bad happens
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        http://www.drzyzgula.org/bob/electronics/
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