a crank's progress

The New Challenge to Microsoft

[ . . . ] outside programmers have long complained that Microsoft makes it hard for them to create software compatible with Windows-based computers.

The government’s antitrust lawsuit was aimed at solving these problems. If it fails to do that — a ruling on a proposed settlement is expected soon — the best hope may be Linux. Since Linux software is free, hundreds of dollars could be cut off the price of a computer. No less important, since Linux’s source code — the intricacies of how it works — is publicly available, programmers don’t have to get permission or assistance from anyone.

But how many IT shops can exploit the power of Open Source code? Take a bunch of earnest young techs with fanny packs full of CDs, armed with the latest server packs and hot fixes, who always seem to fall back on “format and reinstall” as their problem solving technique, and picture them trying to manage Linux. There’s the command line to deal with, the lack of paper manuals, and the painful requirement that one think and understand the system as more than a disposable collection of licenses.

Too harsh a view? I’ve worked in a software development environment that was unable to leverage unencumbered code: would I expect the average MCSE at a non-technical firm to do better?

It’s interesting to monitor the drumbeat of these articles as they sound the deathknell for MSFT’s unquestioned dominance, but it’s hardly credible. Linux, FreeBSD,et al, are not as revolutionary as the personal computer was in the age of Big Iron.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Wake-up call

It was at this point that the generals and admirals monitoring the war game called time out.

“A phrase I heard over and over was: ‘That would never have happened,'” Van Riper recalls. “And I said: nobody would have thought that anyone would fly an airliner into the World Trade Centre… but nobody seemed interested.”

I agree with the idea that a knockout blow in the 1st day of a 14 day exercise doesn’t mean everyone goes home, but scripting and meddling with the opponent’s chain of command tells me you don’t think you can win any other way.

Being exposed to and possibly trounced by unorthodox tactics is exactly what we should expect in these exercises. The USS Cole, the WTC were both unorthodox, and successful: I don’t suggest we use suicide pilots but we should expect others to and we should have a defense against that.

<from Rebecca’a Pocket>

How to Get Bad News to the Top

What exactly is it about bad news that makes leaders want to ignore it? “There’s a bias for optimism in humans and in organizations,” says Chip Heath, a professor at Stanford Business School who studies how bad news circulates. “Individuals don’t ever go looking for bad news, and we don’t like telling it to others. So bad news is unlikely to get to the people who can actually do something about it.”

This is quite common, unfortunately. For all the useful tips in the FastCompany article cited above, if the powers that be are not willing to accept that reality isn’t living up to their expectations, you have your own cognitive dissonance to work through: do I stay here and help them work it out or do I take care of myself?

According to cognitive dissonance theory, there is a tendency for individuals to seek consistency among their cognitions (i.e., beliefs, opinions). When there is an inconsistency between attitudes or behaviors (dissonance), something must change to eliminate the dissonance. In the case of a discrepancy between attitudes and behavior, it is most likely that the attitude will change to accommodate the behavior.

If ever a book could benefit from Amazon’s “Look inside!” feature, Pete Frame’s Complete Rock Family Trees is it. It’s a fantastically detailed, accurate road map of the formative years of rock music

The family trees were a staple of music magazines in the early 80s: they were fascinating and shed a lot of light on the careers and relationships between musicians over the years.