[WEB4LIB] Re: need technology news not business news

[Daniel Messer]

Dan Lester wrote:

> I also don't see it as whining.  But the fact that companies are
> buying each other isn't surprising, as an industry that is/was filled with
> startups consolidates. There used to be hundreds of auto manufacturers
> in the USA (to say nothing of elsewhere), just as there used to be
> thousands of local telephone companies.  Evolution happens in
> technology and business, just as it does in the biological part of the
> world.  The strong survive, the weak die out or are eaten by the
> stronger. When times are tough (because too many weak
> critters/companies are fighting for the scraps available), more of
> them die out and are consumed by others.

Good analogy, and quite accurate.

>
> He should work hard because he wants his company to be one of the
> survivors.  He should work hard because he has pride in his own work.
> She should work hard because she knows she has a great idea and if the
> project doesn't make it with this company, it will with another.  She
> should work hard because when the current company is bought out the
> manager of the new one will recognize what a great project it is, and
> it will get carried through to fruition.

I don't know if I can completely agree with this. I've got some friends in R&D and
sometimes their world mimics the world of Dilbert. Working hard for pride is a wonderful
thing and I agree whole heartedly with that. Yet in a rational sense, pride doesn't feed
the family. And in many circumstances, the first thing to do in a corporate buyout is to
either fire, lay off, or demote the former management so that they can be replaced by
the new company management. I think you have the right idea and I hope your vision is
correct 90% of the time. Yet I also think it's very utopian to say that the new people
will wander in and look everything over and just agree with everything they see. With
friends and family being in positions where the companies that they worked (notice the
past tense) for were bought out, this quite simply did not happen. The circumstances
tended more toward the "clean sweep and fresh start" process where everything is
scrapped and people are given new projects, new positions, and new titles. Those that
aren't, are politely shown to the door.

> Those same conditions exist in the public sector as well.  Most of us
> have had great ideas that no one else recognized, there was no funding
> to implement, the boss didn't like for some personal or political
> reason, or whatever.  People, politics, and money are factors in all
> aspects of life, at least for non-hermits.

Gospel truth, and it explains much of the whys about what I detailed above.

> I'll pass on that, but I'll take a Diet Coke from the vending machine
> if you've some spare change.

Diet Coke, man! Are you insane? That stuff tastes like malted battery acid! :) But to
each their own!

Dan
--

Mondai wa
The subject in queston...
---
Daniel Messer
Technologies Instructor
Yakima Valley Regional Library
102 N 3rd St  Yakima, WA 98901
(509) 452-8541 x712
dmesser at yvrls.lib.wa.us
---
On your mark, bokura ga
soredemo yamenai no wa
yume no shamen miagete (itsuka wa)
yuke-sou na ki ga suru kara
     Chage & Asuka "On Your Mark"