Communicating (Re: Spectrum doesn't suck :)

["Seth D. Kadesh" <thes+@CMU.EDU>]

I am not for or against either company (Procyon or Seven Hills), but
this blatant abuse of the English language must stop:

[from the post made by Henrik]
: : >break it under those systems.  But the only system that multi-tasks is The
: : >Manager (but it requires TMv1.1 which isn't available yet). 

If SHS wanted to say, "the only system that Spectrum multi-tasks with
is The Manager," then they should have said so.  It is nigh impossible
to derive my sentence from the one posted by Henrik.

Further examination of the sentence posted by Henrik shows that it is
not constructed properly at all:

: : >But the only system that multi-tasks is The Manager (but it
							      ^
What is this 'it'?  According to the sentence structure, the 'it'
refers back to the subject of the sentence, which is 'The Manager'.
So if we substitute:

	But the only system that multi-tasks is The Manager (but The
	Manager requires TMv1.1 which isn't available yet).

We're left with a confusing sentence.  Why would 'The Manager' require
TMv1.1 (which is 'The Manager')?  Are they saying that the current
version of 'The Manager' doesn't multitask, and that TMv1.1 will?

Let's go back to the original sentence.  Just for fun, I've included a
little more....

: : >d) Is Spectrum compatible with GNO and SI?
: : >Probably so, but not tested.  We haven't done anything to intentionally
: : >break it under those systems.  But the only system that multi-tasks is The
: : >Manager (but it requires TMv1.1 which isn't available yet).

Notice the first 'it' ('intentionally break it').  This 'it' refers
back to 'Spectrum'.  Conceivably, the author of that sentence could
have been sloppy, and used 'it' for 'Spectrum' the second time ('but
it requires').  So if we make that substitution we have:

	But the only system that multi-tasks is The Manager (but
	Spectrum requires TMv1.1 which isn't available yet).

This makes no more sense than any other interpretation.  This sentence
has two distinct (and unrelated) ideas.

1) The only system that multitasks is The Manager
2) Spectrum requires TMv1.1

So, no matter how the original sentence is interpreted, we have to
conclude that

a) SHS thinks that The Manager is the only system that multitasks
b) SHS needs someone better to write their press releases

This is just symptomatic of much of the world today; if we all learned
how to communicate better, we might have a lot less problems.

(I'm no better than anyone else; I'll make a mistake occasionally....)

  Seth ---> thes+@cmu.edu		It is not enough to watch.
"I said 'Forget Topsoil, Think Tinfoil, There's tons of kids who want
to get tanned.'" - Think Tree