MTL MOST Sale to GE-- an addendum

One of the things I found interesting, and had some difficulty understanding, honestly, about the MTL MOST divestiture was that MTL were going to keep the Wonderware distributor, "Wonderware West." When I spoke to Graeme Philp about it, he said, "We were in danger of coming from a very narrow part of the business, intrinsic safety, and we wanted to broaden our view of what the industry wants and needs. What could be a better way to keep our finger on the pulse of the end user than to own a company like Wonderware West?" So it isn't an anti-strategic sore thumb after all, but a very canny play. I like that. Fact is, many companies talk "voice of the customer" and more than that simply know that they know best for their end users. Which is, of course, arrant balderdash. End users complain constantly, to me and anyone else who'll listen, that the vendors NEVER listen to them. A very small part of that is whining that probably shouldn't be listened to...but most of what end users say should be listened to, and reacted to, as quickly and as definitively as a vendor can do it...and the vendors who do it right always win. Always.