Re: Information Anarchy

From: Garry McGonigal (cecwin@MNSI.NET)
Date: 11/03/01 

Message-ID:  <5.1.0.14.2.20011102193118.0ac793f0@in.mnsi.net>
Date:         Fri, 2 Nov 2001 19:50:51 -0500
From: Garry McGonigal <cecwin@MNSI.NET>
Subject:      Re: Information Anarchy
To: NTBUGTRAQ@LISTSERV.NTBUGTRAQ.COM

Reflecting on the expressed outrage against Microsoft, I an just imagine
the reaction of some of you folks if you had to deal with the variances in
Operating Systems of the big boys -- past mainframes and the like. This
'hack attack' view is *** cat with those past (and they are still
present) problems. When nuances in the operating system (new release)
would have the Cobol compute verb not add 1 and 1 properly, and very large
scale applications would choke, it was roll back time very quickly, get the
software manufacturer in real fast, and take it from there. When a
computer room temperature variation would cause insulators to change and
short out components, not fun. When an electrical grounding was not done
properly in the electrical room, and your consoles and tape drive
controllers would go strange, finding the problem and getting it resolved
was a better course then yodeling.

But one prime directive always ruled. You had a test environment. And you
tested and tested any change, including application change orders, before
rolling into production. Maybe we had a wee bit more time and a wee bit
more tech. support staff to work this than say now, but the principals
still remain now. I don't let anything new into the production environment
until my folks feel very comfortable and we have a fall back. I remember
what it was like in the application development area before
Windows. Because it is so popular, it is vulnerable. Folks point at Unix
and Linux as being 'safe'. Not really...they have and still go through hacks.

So, put yourself in a room with folks from Microsoft and start screaming at
them how their product is 'holy' (that is the hole in sock one) and how
they are bullies and the like. After the first paragraph of yelling, they
no longer listen to you. Therefore, invest your efforts on
getting positive attention from them. if one of those MS folks was your
neighbour and you invited him or her over for a barbecue, would you take
the first opportunity to rip 'em. No, because they would not be over again
nor would they answer your telephone calls. Pick a different tack and see
how you can get them to see your way of thinking.

Always remember one thing when it comes to marketing some products. Swing
the pendulum far over to one side, see what the resistance is like, bring
it back a bit, and bring it back until the resistance stops. In doing so,
you got some great attention and free advertisement, and if you bring it
back far enough it looks like you listened to the masses. And if that
point where you brought it back is close to where you really wanted to be
with the product, approach, whichever, then from a marketing perspective,
you have done very well. And, if through this effort you got more folks
from the outside world involved in the product 'development or evolution'
that also means you may now have won over those who could have been
potential enemies. You also may have gained the respect of your employers
and/or clients.

But if you were one of my managers or technical specialists, and you came
roaring in saying we should dump MS immediately because of this and this,
the soft "noooo" you would be hearing might be your pink slip.

Just some thoughts to consider.

---------------------------------------
Garry McGonigal
1748 Hebert Street
Tecumseh, Ontario Canada N8N 4G2
Tel. (519) 735-9449 Fax. (519) 735-1245
Email cecwin@mnsi.net