"Greed is good", as Mr Gekko taught us in 1987. Centralize then decentralize... centralize then decentralize...I think we will continue this for a while...why? GREED!
<short vignette...read on ONLY if you are willing to maintain your sense of humor>
System admins and developers want everything right here so that when the boss comes in and asks for "this" then they can give him "this". Accounting and financial groups want the data to themselves so they can give the boss what they think "this" is. But if the data is here, there and everywhere then getting "this" becomes difficult. So they play around a bit, buy a new package, and give the boss "that". They are pretty proud of themselves since now they can build "that" faster than they ever could have built "this". The CIO hands out bonus' and the world is great. Then the boss says I didn't ask for "that" - I wanted "this"! The system admins say you can't do "this". The boss says you told me I could have "this" not "that"! The developers blame the confusion on the lack of specs and poor documentation and insist that "this" is "that" and muse about how unreasonable the boss has been throughout the project. The boss gets frustrated and orders in a new CIO who says you can't get "this" with "that" technology. You need to get "those". Because, with "those" you can get "this" and "that". The boss is impressed with the young man and offers him twice the salary of the old CIO and promotes the old CIO to "special projects". In the interim, the new CIO recommends bridges between "that" and "those" using "these". Once "that" is replaced, we won't need "these" anymore and all you'll have left is "this" and "that" from "those". After a 7-figure cash infusion the CIO doubles the staff and estimates how long to complete the implementation of "those". He wisely identifies a couple of impressive projects from "those" and his new staff cleverly uses "this" and "that" to get there. He kills about 3 years and while "this", "that", "those" and "these are all humming along nicely, he gets an offer to do "that" somewhere else. Half the staff leaves with him and manager of Special Projects comes in to restart "this". Fortunately, the old boss got canned for allowing IT to overspend the budget and the new boss says "this" really is "that". Everyone stands around wondering why they needed to invest 7 figures when they had "this" all along.
Can anyone guess what "this" is? I'll give you 3 guesses and the first five names don't count!
Oh, and before David chastises me for posting this on a web/400 list, either "this" or "that" was a web application. I don't recall which... :-)
Sound familiar? I guess, as long as there are people who want the data, there will always be a fight about how to handle it and who should own it. No one is right or wrong. But it makes for a great debate!
Forgive me, I couldn't help it! Happy Holidays!
Regards,
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:web400-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of David Gibbs
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 4:02 PM
To: Web Enabling the AS400 / iSeries
Subject: Re: [WEB400] IBM Gives RPG Devotees Their Own Café
Nathan Andelin wrote:
Access from an airplane? I don't know the answer to that - I'll let
the network people figure that out. It would have to be wireless ;-)
My point is that it's not available yet. Yes, you can get network access from a plane ... but it's extraordinarily expensive.
Developers must address the privacy issue by software design, to make
privacy possible, but let service provider's and end-users come up
with a privacy policy that both agree to.
That doesn't really address the issue ... with a email client, the data is yours. It's on your laptop or desktop. Nobody can cut you off from it by simply disabling your account.
Desktop storage? Well, that depends on the application. Is the data
personal or shared? My focus is groupware applications and shared
data, so that interested parties are served from a common database.
On the other hand, I see a need for built-in export capability within
applications, where users can pull data to their desktops on-demand.
Well, if you're talking about groupware with shared data ... then you're not talking about email anymore.
I think desktop computers and applications cost too much. Borrowing
a line from the Bourne movies, "look at what they make you give".
That's a cost / benefit question ... is the cost of a personal computer greater than the benefit of privacy and security of your data.
I'm not suggesting that you NOT develop your application ... I just think that what you propose can, or should, replace an email client.
JMO, of course.
david
midrange.com
