That's a rabid Libertarian for you...will say anything, even in contradiction of the facts, or the evidence, to make it seem as though individuals are primarily responsible for everything good, and collective endeavours are primarily responsible for everything bad, and that economies of scale and similar group efficiencies just don't exist. (Ever have an argument with one of these rugged individualists about rural electrification initiatives and other loss-leaders?) Goodness knows that with Mr. Raymond, ideological considerations trump everything else, including the facts and good manners. :)
"From my humble point of view, the IT industry is not one industry, but a relationship of connected industries. "
Ah! Major light-bulb-over-head time (coupled with a "Doh!"). Sort of like the quote about "computer science" not being a single discipline. I think I'm going to stuff your observation back into my QotD file to get posted on its own later.
"will say anything, even in contradiction of the facts, or the evidence, to make it seem as though individuals are primarily responsible for everything good, and collective endeavours are primarily responsible for everything bad"
I don't get that from this quote. All I see him saying here is that IT is different from what a lot of naive observers expect. (Whether he's right about other people's expectations is another question...)
Political bias?
Interrobang
Re: Political bias?
From my humble point of view, the IT industry is not one industry, but a relationship of connected industries.
We have:
- commodity components (chips, ram, etc)
- commodity assemblers (pc's, scanners, printers)
- mass software (Microsoft, Quicken, etc.)
- Industrial components (massive raid arrays, medical chips, signal processors)
- industrial assemblers (routers, medical equipment, massive computers)
- industrial software (accounting systems, radar systems, factory system)
- artisan software (shareware, small cooperatives)
- local software (small business)
- custom applications (web pages, web games, small markets)
- information publishing (web pages, encyclopedias, etc.)
- research
- small merchanting and servicing (your local computer store)
- mass merchanting and servicing (BestBuy, CompUSA)
- accessories
- massive cooperative ventures (Linux, free stoftware)
Damn, I'm not even done the list of niches. You get the idea. Oversimplification = Not Useful to a Meaningful Discussion
Re: Political bias?
Ah! Major light-bulb-over-head time (coupled with a "Doh!"). Sort of like the quote about "computer science" not being a single discipline. I think I'm going to stuff your observation back into my QotD file to get posted on its own later.
Re: Political bias?
I don't get that from this quote. All I see him saying here is that IT is different from what a lot of naive observers expect. (Whether he's right about other people's expectations is another question...)