"Through networking, blogging, downloading, internet calls, gaming and God knows what else in 2007, new digital technology defines ever larger parts of our lives. It is, to anybody over 18, bewildering. But it works and consumes little energy. If we all spent our lives on the net and talking on mobiles instead of driving and flying, global warming would cease to be a problem. But, also, to be honest, I like this stuff. It makes me oddly happy, even though I am too old to grasp even 10% of what is going on. Much more is to come. I think this is good news. So there you go, an upbeat ending. The new year burns bright on the horizon. Have a good one. But, hey, let’s be careful out there."
This is Bryan Appleyard writing in the Sunday Times.
I like Bryan Appleyard, the writer. I always seek out his articles in the only print paper I buy (yes, Murdoch's tome). I don't mean my liking for Appleyard to be taken in a childish way i.e. to mean that I follow him, or even less that I always agree, or even always admire. I don't. But he always interests me. He's always a good bet. He writes loosely, sometimes. Sometimes he is tight.
He is, in the vernacular, class.
One day, maybe we will get him to Manchester and I will find out what he likes to drink. Consider yourself invited, Bryan.
There is so much in the cited article that resonates with the bigger themes of our course. Please read: agree, disagree, like, dislike ... but this is a great siren for the year that is ending. This year in our age of asymmetry.
The title and photo are Ezra Pound. A little light is enough, sometimes.
6 comments:
Ezra? Is that Conrad's sibling?
Thanks, you won't have to work very hard to get me to Manchester. It's my home city.
Nice technology, Mr Appleyard. Who needs MySpace?
See you in the Business School in 2007.
Thanks, Peter, for drawing our attention to Bryan's article. It really is a cracker.
I liked the statement that Microsoft is "a company with zero marketing instincts".
Hmmm, how did Mr Gates get all that dosh that he is now giving away, then? They must have got something right in their marketing, surely?
Working with public sector audiences, I sometimes host a 'leadership debate.' I ask the audience to choose between a list of modern-day figures, designating one as most deserving the label 'leader.'
My usual list is Gorbachev, Geldof, Thatcher, Gates and Clinton (Bill). Gorbachev has been given the title more than any other, but only Thatcher still stands on a duck. So far, Gates has always been well-received. He is praised for his technological prowess, business-nous and philanthropy.
That's a public sector audience. Now, when I turn to an IT audience, it is a very different matter. They immediately don the uniform of the Bill-baiter. And then they go away and install/buy/maintain his systems.
I think the ICT community resent Mr Gates because they dislike the methods Microsoft used to gain their dominant position.
ICT professionals would like to believe that software products win in the marketplace because they are technically the best.
From its inception until quite recently, Microsoft products have been technically inferior to their competitors most of the time. ICT professionals (including me) have probably wasted 10% to 20% of their professional lives trying to make this stuff work. Microsoft never picked up the tab for all this effort, but we could never get anyone else to understand just how frustrating this was.
We were like dumb animals who got blamed for all the problems, but could not explain why we had so much trouble.
Microsoft got where they are by brilliant marketing of barely adequate products, exploiting the herd mentality of the people holding the purse strings and the general public.
However, over the last ten years, they have raised their game technically, so that their products now are as good as, or better than, those of their competitors.
Most ICT professionals haven't yet noticed this!
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