On Mon, 11 Jun 2001, E.B. Dreger wrote:
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 12:16:36 -0400 (EDT) From: Travis Pugh <tpugh@shore.net>
That sales BS is probably prompted by customers telling sales people that they won't buy service from anyone but a "tier 1" provider. This leads to many creative definitions of tier 1.
So, how firm is the "transit-free" definition? (That's what I always thought was the proper definition, but it's been obliterated in the past couple of years...) Firm enough to slap abusers with false advertising suits? ;-P
Eddy
I also subscribe to the "transit-free" meaning of Tier 1, from a technical standpoint. However, when talking to suits, I find that I have to constantly explain the difference between the technical definition and some competitor's marketing definition. Have you ever told the marketing department that they can't call themselves Tier 1 but their competition (which isn't tier 1) can? If confusing people in suits makes you laugh, it's a blast. The part that really drives me crazy is that nobody seems to have played the "tier 2 and proud" card from a marketing standpoint. I can think of a few reasons why I'd rather not be transit free right now, and could probably successfully pitch those reasons to customers if I wanted to change careers. Since I'm not a lawyer, I really can't comment on a false advertising suit, but you could file one against a lot of people if you got the urge. cheers. -travis