[ale] technology/politics correlation?

[James P. Kinney III]

On Sun, 2004-12-05 at 15:00, Jeff Hubbs wrote:
> The attitude of this developer is something I encounter a lot, and I
> absolutely loathe it.  At the risk of sounding Cosby-esque, is this what
> we (meaning the collective breadth of the IT industry) worked so hard
> for?  I cannot understand what must go on in the minds of the people who
> promulgate, encourage, and passively accept this.  
> 
> I wouldn't even like there to be a "company standard" Linux, even though
> I know that goes on all the time - there are people who just can't
> accept freedom even when it walks in the door and sits on their couch. 
> Let me be clear:  standardize on STANDARDS, not PRODUCTS!!  Standardize
> on TCP/IP, SCSI, Postscript, Ethernet, PCI, ASCII, letter-size paper,
> IPSEC, NTSC, 120VAC!  
> 
> Whenever vendors try to hijack a standard or create a standard that
> competes with an open one, end users lose.  The vendors sometimes win,
> but only for a while.  End users win and win for good when open
> standards work well and remain open.

YEAH!! WHAT HE SAID!!! <appluase from audience><standing
ovation><talking head comentators are speecheless><flowers thrown from
the balcony>

I am in a rather unique position. If a client requires a solution, I get
to find the one that gives them the most flexibility by means of
STANDARDS. If they insist on something else, I don't have to support it.

And I don't. When their anti-standards application breaks and they call
me, I walk them through the rest of the system to verify that it is
_just_ the bad app that is broken, then tell them to call the support
line for the bad app.

Once they go through phone support hell a few times, they start asking
for demos of the open standards solutions I proposed in the first place.
What _many_ businesses are discovering the hard way is: Unless they have
given the non-standards application company at least $100,000 in the
last 6 months, they get basically no suppport. By the time the problem
is solved by the NS app crowd, it's in an upgrade version that they have
pay more for. Meanwhile, the client has had to find a work around for
the problem. They had to fit their business to the software.

They don't like doing it that way! Once they understand that open source
software means they can have a free to use platform customised to suit
their needs for often the cost of the NS app that doesn't fit their
needs, they get very happy!

At some point in the not-to-distant future, the OpenSource way will be
the norm. Until then, tantrums caused by bad policy written by dumb
people should be the norm. IT is hard enough. We don't need our hands
tied behind our backs by morons.

> 
> Jeff
> 
> On Sun, 2004-12-05 at 13:54, James P. Kinney III wrote:
> > On Sun, 2004-12-05 at 13:27, Brian Stanaland wrote:
> > > I installed Firefox on my work PC and surf with it exclusively. 
> > > Except, of course, for the web-based applications written in-house,
> > > which do not work with Firefox.  I pointed it out to the guy who wrote
> > > it and he said..."It's a good thing IE is the 'Company Standard' so I
> > > don't need to worry about other browsers."
> > 
> > At the risk of sounding lik an A&&****, your company's developer is a
> > moron. So far, every application/website I have found or developed that
> > looks and works well under Firefox, looks and works just as well under
> > IE. 
> > 
> > The converse is not true. There are numerous things that IE supports,
> > and bone-headed developers use (or totally moronic managment requires)
> > that have not been accepted as a web standard primarily for reasons of
> > open accessability by W3C.
> > 
> > We have an abundance of youth. What we need is a fountain of smart.
> > > 
> > > Brian
> > > 
> > > 
> > > On Sat, 4 Dec 2004 15:42:13 -0500, Pete Hardie <pete.hardie at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > //snipped//
> > > 
> > > > 
> > > > I keep trying to get my work IT to realize that IE and Outlook are the
> > > > cause of 90% of their pain, but it's slow going.
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > --
> > > > Better Living Through Bitmaps
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > Ale mailing list
> > > > Ale at ale.org
> > > > http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> > > > 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://www.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> 
> !DSPAM:41b3691e279823452414224!
-- 
James P. Kinney III          \Changing the mobile computing world/
CEO & Director of Engineering \          one Linux user         /
Local Net Solutions,LLC        \           at a time.          /
770-493-8244                    \.___________________________./
http://www.localnetsolutions.com

GPG ID: 829C6CA7 James P. Kinney III (M.S. Physics)
<jkinney at localnetsolutions.com>
Fingerprint = 3C9E 6366 54FC A3FE BA4D 0659 6190 ADC3 829C 6CA7
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part