Hello,<br><br>First, could everyone stop posting how good LW was?<br>....it's bad enough I missed it... :-) ;-P<br><br>You know, I think Jon has made a comment here worth expanding on:<br><br>>"Fly? They don't need to do that. So what was his point?"
<br>This CIO is letting someone else work out what is best for him.<br><br>His view of the world is a result of marketing and not fact.<br>He see no value in a bird that can't fly. <br><br>For this CIO:<br><br>Bird=Things that Fly cos that is what I read.
<br><br>instead of <br><br>Bird=Things with feathers, that may or may not fly, that come in many colours and shapes. Some swim, some do not.<br>Some run. Some eat meat, others eat flowers. Some are ugly, some are breathtakingly beautiful. .etc...
<br><br><br>FOSS is a different approach to IT development. It achieves results on it's own merits. Open Source processes allow IT in business to<br>embrace change and more importantly, offers OPTIONS.<br><br>The article in CIO magazine basically says to me:
<br><br>"I want the world to stand still for me. Everything must always remain the same and everything must fit into my pattern."<br>.....in our industry, this thinking is a road to nowhere, a slow and painful death.
<br><br>The MARKET will look after this dude. I don't think we need to do anything beyond making a statement that is the equivalent of a<br>"shrug and titter". The MARKET will bang his head against a brick wall one day because these sorts of statements have narrowed
<br>his options. He will never look at FOSS with anything more than a cynics eye. <br><br>Going to press with anything remotely negative plays into this sort of persons hands. <br>There are many CIOs out there that look for things like this to bolster their own arguments against.
<br>Going for the jugular in the press will only re-enforce their rather narrow thinking.<br><br>A press release that says:<br>"Hey we acknowledge that there are a lot of you out there that think like this guy....<br>
but can your company afford to be so close minded in an age where their competitors have more<br>than likely reaped the benefits of FOSS?"<br><br>Turn the tables. Make a statement that basically talks to a level above this CIO.
<br>The target audience for a response should be the Board. <br>Is it right that they have someone running their IT who will not look at the latest developments? <br>Do they really think that their competitors will do the same? Is it good business to allow a single
<br>vendor to dictate what is "best" for them? <br><br>In other words, any response should concentrate on the fact that this sort of "mono culture"<br>is very, VERY bad for business. If I was a shareholder of this company I would sell....and tell my friends!
<br><br>Rgds<br>BW<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 4/7/06, <b class="gmail_sendername">Jon maddog Hall</b> <<a href="mailto:maddog@li.org">maddog@li.org</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br><a href="mailto:mbp@sourcefrog.net">mbp@sourcefrog.net</a> said:<br>> [...] it takes a bit of effort for an albatross to get airborne.<br>> However, when they do they become an aeronautical marvel. A bird that is
<br>> capable of flying nearly 2000 kilometres in a single day.<br><br>True, but he missed an important point, that of the fact that penguins can stay<br>months or years at sea maturing and fishing, returning to land only to mate,
<br>lay eggs and raise young.<br><br>Fly? They don't need to do that. So what was his point? I think he had his<br>head stuck in the sand, like another bird that does not fly.<br><br>md<br>--<br>Jon "maddog" Hall
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