From: pedregal@eternity.cs.umass.edu (Message Meister)
Date: Mon, 13 May 1996 09:50:01 -0400 (EDT)

Greetings. First, an announcement for the graduate students, via Timur
Friedman: Several candidates in the GEO election will be coming to the
MMC. They will mingle and chat with people to hear their ideas for GEO and,
of course, lobby for votes.

We in the Valley are sensitive people, but are we really putting our money
where our mouth is?  We may well be at risk of making this watch list...
Examine your conscience!

SEVEN SOFTWARE COMPANIES ADDED TO "WATCH LIST"

New York, NJ, May 13 -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Software (PETS)
announced today that seven more software companies have been added to the
group's "watch list" of companies that regularly practice software testing.

"There is no need for software to be mistreated in this way so that companies
like these can market new products," said Ken Granola, spokesperson for PETS.
"Alternative methods of testing these products are available."

According to PETS, these companies force software to undergo lengthy and
arduous tests, often without rest for hours or days at a time. Employees are
assigned to "break" the software by any means necessary, and inside sources
report that they often joke about "torturing" the software.

"It's no joke," said Granola. "Innocent programs, from the day they are
compiled, are cooped up in tiny rooms and 'crashed' for hours on end. They
spend their whole lives on dirty, ill-maintained computers, and are
unceremoniously deleted when they're not needed anymore."

Granola said the software is kept in unsanitary conditions and is infested
with bugs.

"We know alternatives to this horror exist," he said, citing industry giant
Microsoft Corp. as a company that has become extremely successful without
resorting to software testing.

PETS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of software
programs and promoting alternatives to software testing.

--
(author unknown)