Sugar-Coated Reporting?

In the November BYTE Letters, Don Leamy points out that PCs can never be PnP (Plug and Play) due to built-in deficiencies. He criticizes BYTE for not being up-front and frank in its assessment and for not "telling it like it is." Tom Halfhill excuses BYTE's lack of candor, indicating the decision not to provide the whole truth was due to reasoning, "Why burst their bubble [of mistaken judgment and ignorance]?". Might I suggest that BYTE tell the real truth as it is--not the half-truth or sugar-coated truth?

Joel Amkraut
Los Angeles, CA

I did not mean to imply that PnP won't work. PnP will work and will make life easier for millions of PC users. PnP is a kludge, but it does work. My rather flippant comment--"Why burst their bubble?"--doesn't mean that BYTE should avoid telling the truth. It doesn' t matter if the Macintosh has better plug-and-play capabilities than the PC because most PC owners aren't going to sell their systems and buy a Macintosh. It matters only to people who haven't yet decided between a PC and a Mac. But the tens of millions of current users deserve a solution, too. So far PnP is the best solution to make PCs easier to use, while preserving as much of PC owners' current investment as possible. --Tom Halfhill