The Industry choice

[Steve Holden]

Cameron Laird wrote:

> In article <pan.2004.12.31.11.29.03.517333 at chello.at>,
> Christopher Koppler  <klapotec at chello.at> wrote:
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> 
>>Manager culture is still very much mired in rituals that may in one form
>>or another go back to hunter-gatherer days (or maybe even further); that
>>'the industry choice' is more often than not something backed by a *major*
>>company is part of a ritual complex based on relations to the alpha male.
>>Small companies ingratiate themselves with their perceived betters by
>>using their products, even when technically far superior products would be
>>available. When the 'market leader' produces a new toy, everyone who wants
>>to be in his favor must use it _and_ also damn the toys available from any
>>of those competing for leadership, viz. the ongoing state of cold war
>>between Sun and MS and their respective worshipers. Toys that have not
>>been sanctioned by the leader, or that are, even worse, de facto unknown
>>to him, are met with ignorance, scorn, or even repression.
>>
>>[snip]
>>
>>>For Python a Big Thing would happen if some Major Vendor
>>>embraced it as its Official Language(tm). Python language
>>>itself could turn into a smoking crock the very next day, but
>>>everybody who doesn't live under the rock would still be 
>>>writing in it.
>>
>>The moral is, of course, that either the Python community's alpha geeks
>>need to get access to controlling interest in a *major* company (or to
>>become successful enough with their own companies to register on the
>>current *major* companies radar as potential competition) or as you
>>say, Python needs to be embraced like Linux was. That's the way to win the
>>hearts of software companies' managers.
> 
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> I like repeating the description which emphasizes culture
> and phenotype over the rationality of business schools.
> 
> Let me add a cautionary note, though:  Big Companies, 
> including Oracle, Software AG, IBM, Cisco, and so on, have
> adopted Tcl over and over.  All of them still rely on Tcl
> for crucial products.  All of them also have employees who
> sincerely wonder, "Tcl?  Isn't that dead?"
> 
> I offer this as a counter-example to the belief that Adop-
> tion by a heavyweight necessarily results in widespread
> acceptance.

Indeed. This is. of course, because they adopt the technology to achieve 
their business goals, and couldn't make money (using their traditional 
business models) by promoting the technologies they themselves rely on.

Would anyone undertake to give a "Hidden Technologies" talk at PyCon, 
outlining how this phenomenon operates against the adoption of 
technologies that the big boys effectively keep to themselves by keeping 
quiet about? Google's use of Python , while not a closely-kept a secret 
as Oracle's use of Tcl, certainly isn;t as well-known as it deserves to be.

regards
  Steve
-- 
Steve Holden               http://www.holdenweb.com/
Python Web Programming  http://pydish.holdenweb.com/
Holden Web LLC      +1 703 861 4237  +1 800 494 3119