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Subject:   Bash not, want not
Date:   2003-09-02 19:57:17
From:   gdaniels
Response to: Don't worry about sellouts

IMHO, you should always take credit for statements like that, Mr. (or Ms.) Anonymous. :) While I (as the developer in question here) surely do agree about being motivated by excellence, I think there are a lot of people at Microsoft who are just that way, Don among them. Have you really *talked* to some of the guys over there? They're *sharp*. And Microsoft has played a huge role in the "XML revolution" of the past few years, not just by following but by leading; they were key players on a lot of the WG's at the W3C, and they whipped out parsers and toolkits faster than most. Ditto for other technologies. I'm not claiming that they're anything but the enormous organization they are, and thus subject to all the bureacracy and ill-conceived ideas that their size and history begets, but you can't paint the whole organization with a single "no innovation, money means everything" brush.


That said, I do think it's really important that we keep a healthy ecosystem of LOTS of companies and organizations contributing to the growth of software technologies, and not concentrate all the intellectual energy in just a few "supernodes" (under just a few management hierachies :)). Corollaries to this include "not all good ideas come from Microsoft/IBM" and "just because it comes from Microsoft/IBM doesn't necessarily mean it's a good idea".


So there you have it - Microsoft ain't all bad, but neither would I ever want all (or even most of) the clueful people working there. The next few years are going to be really exciting, and a lot of that excitement is going to come from it getting easier and easier to hook your stuff up to everyone else's. The integration/WS party is a big one, and while Microsoft is certainly a high-profile presence, there are a lot of other companies with great things to contribute - which is why I'm headed to Sonic! Party on, dudes. :)


--Glen
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  • David A. Chappell photo Bash not, want not
    2003-09-03 10:47:28  David A. Chappell | O'Reilly AuthorO'Reilly Blogger [View]

    Yeah....what he said. Bravo on that response Glen! Dave
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