At 12/11/2003, you wrote:
>I post the below message about HSN last week in response the a thread on
>"scams". I was being nice in not mentioning the vendor but now that it is
>hitting home the vendor was Galileo.
Short story about this telescope.
I was introduced to a man who was (is?) president of a company contracted
by NASA to do promotion. The outfit was at NASA/Ames. They were looking
for a telescope to market under the name NASA. I was pretty excited, as
you can imagine, as I had the opportunity to show my CPT to them in a meeting.
My telescope was on the conference table when they walked into the
room. Of course, being shiny and high tech looking, they fell in love with
it. Then, they began talking about price, and their other options (other
vendors). The price point they were trying to reach was $100. I knew I
was in the wrong place. They began talking about the Chinese "Galileo"
telescope, and that due to time limitations would probably go with it for
at least the first year. We talked off and on for a few months, but I
could tell it was not a good fit for what I was making.
But, what I came away with was a very bad taste in my mouth, that an
American institution, something that we, as citizens have (maybe not so
much today, but in the past) taken great pride in, would buy a product from
China, with all the political ramifications that go along with the
potential "labor" situation, there, and stick the name NASA on it, selling
something possibly poorly made and, not even made here.
If I bought a NASA telescope, I would certainly want it to be something
great. And made here.
The Galileo fails on both counts.
Mark