7/6/01 clarification

Vea Culpa, Corrections editor
Friday, 6 July 2001 Reader Stewart Berman asked an important question:

Is the faithful reader John Gray you quote at the beginning of your article the same person that is one of the MS employees running the Windows XP technical beta? If he is you should have identified him as such. If he is not you should also have made it clear that he has no connection to Microsoft as many folks will assume that it is another Microsoft orchestrated article upon seeing the name. (Please not that the reference to the flat in Britain is not sufficient as the MS John Gray could very well spend a great deal of time anywhere in the world.)

Gray convinced Vmyths.com he does not work for Microsoft. Rosenberger mentioned Gray's British roots because he once worked for a John Gray in the U.S. He didn't want to confuse his former coworkers. Rosenberger believes he would have followed Berman's suggestion if he'd known a John Gray works for Microsoft. Vmyths.com believes Berman raised a legitimate concern when he said "many folks will assume that it is [just] another Microsoft orchestrated article." Rosenberger claims Microsoft doesn't "orchestrate" his columns. Vmyths.com has no quid quo pro relationship with Microsoft, and Rosenberger has no NDA relationship with them. In the spirit of full disclosure, Rosenberger claims he purchased 33 shares of Microsoft stock on his birthday in 2000; he owned 23 shares when he wrote the column in question.