Re: Who's going to call Hesheys?

Wynn,

In a message dated 10/31/99 1:06:47 AM Eastern Standard Time, wynn@praxis.net 
writes:

> I am absolutely amazed that after 50+ years of computing, how nasty and
>  failure-prone these big software projects are.
<<snip>>

RANT MODE(*ON)

I absolutely agree.  I even made the comment at work last week that "after 50 
years of trying to get a decent operating system, we are now trying to 
pretend that we don't have one".  ERRRRRRR!  All in the name of "openness".  
Said "openness" _STILL_ cannot be directly translated between machines 
without a "virtual machine" running.  In the old days, we used to call this 
"emulation".  "Virtual" just sounds so much more "open", doesn't it?  I look 
at it as you "virtually" have a business system.

Yes, C++ and its' ilk have their place -- that place is coding system level 
tasks and operating systems themselves, _NOT_ business applications.  The 
reason that programming moved beyond Assembler in the first place was to 
allow more persons to code business applications without bringing the machine 
down when you made a mistake!  JAVA shows promise but, unless the government 
mandates it at some point (which I _STRONGLY_ oppose), a truly "open" system 
will _NEVER_ be created.  I would use the (overused) automobile analogy to 
refute open systems -- if everyone needed the same car, why are there 
subcompacts, compacts, coupes, sedans, luxury, trucks, and SUV's?  Same with 
computers.  Choose one for what you need, don't try to fit your needs into 
the cheapest thing available.

In the Hershey case, project management wouldn't have helped.  They probably 
had _EXCELLENT_ project management.  Excellent project management that 
Hershey _CORPORATE_ management refused to listen to when they told them that 
the deadline wasn't going to be met.  SAP AG, a German ERP vendor, is trying 
to be "all things to all people", just like "open software" -- they're 
failing miserably, especially in the retail sector.  They now run on multiple 
platforms, most of them poorly except for the mainframe for which the 
programs were originally written.  Two things need to happen in this world 
before IT fulfills its' promise:

1.  Realize that "open" systems aren't going to happen, so get over it.
2.  Quit penalizing IT personnel that give bad news, and respect their 
evaluations.  The latter will save you money in the long run.

RANT MODE(*OFF)

I feel _MUCH_ better now :)...

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"Experience is the name everybody gives mistakes." -- Elbert Hubbard
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