Re: [xml-dev] Microsoft's deeply cynical appealto"standards compliance"

[Gary Stephenson <garys@ihug.com.au>]

Steven,

Agree wholehearedly!

Many thanks for posting this - most encouraging!  Now if only a few million
more people (particularly those holding positions of power) would start to
understand and appreciate the import of what you have written, things might
start looking up for planet Earth.

Of course, the cyni^H^H^H^Hrealist in me refuses to allow me to hold my breath
whilst waiting! <g>

thanks again,

gary


----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven R. Newcomb" <srn@coolheads.com>
To: <dms@sosnoski.com>
Cc: <joshuaa@microsoft.com>; <ricko@allette.com.au>; <xml-dev@lists.xml.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2001 3:49 AM
Subject: Re: [xml-dev] Microsoft's deeply cynical appealto"standards
compliance"


> [Dennis Sosnoski:]
> > This isn't exactly encouraging for a site that bills
> > itself as an ecommerce leader (if they can't get this
> > straight, I shudder to think what their security is
> > like on the purchase pages).
>
> There is no shortage of organizational incompetence.
> I'm shocked at how much trouble I've had with my
> oughta-be-very-simple customer relationship with AT&T
> Broadband, for example.  It shouldn't be necessary to
> spend man-days wrangling with AT&T just to get a
> telephone line that does what it's supposed to do.  But
> it does, and consistently.
>
> <sermon type="inspirational" fundamentalist="no">
>
> The lesson I'm learning is that the burgeoning
> complexity of civilization has made it quite fragile
> and hard to maintain.  Right now, we're all very
> vulnerable to unforeseen situations in which
> civilization must adapt rapidly or die.  Our lives
> depend on the robustness of the systems that put
> breakfast on our tables every morning.  When a "public"
> website like MSN.COM is made to exclude popular
> browsers, it's as though someone has deliberately
> weakened a part of civilization's brain.  Such weakness
> is bad for everybody, including those who maintain that
> part of civilization's brain.
>
> It's true that Microsoft is not in the habit of
> offering products and services whose designs
> demonstrate serious concern for the health and welfare
> of civilization, humanity, or even its own customers.
> But, let's be honest: Microsoft is not the real
> problem; Microsoft's irresponsible behavior is a
> *symptom* of the *real* problem.
>
> The real problem is a spiritual one, and it is inside
> us, not Microsoft.  As we play our business games, we
> too often lose sight of the fact that the products and
> services we provide are defining significant details
> about how many human beings will live.  We need to be
> thinking about the effects of our actions.  We need to
> be hoping for a better future for our planetary
> civilization.  We need to be seeing ourselves and our
> organizations as the living cells and organs of a
> living larger body on whose life our own lives depend.
> When opportunities present themselves, we need to be
> moving things toward that hoped-for future, rather than
> just letting things drift in whatever directions they
> may happen to go, purely in response to the current
> demands of the marketplace.
>
> Hope for a better future is not a luxury; it is a
> spiritual and physical necessity.  It is a deadly error
> to regard the marketplace (or money itself) as some
> sort of deity who infallibly knows what's best for us.
> We will inevitably be disappointed by that deity's
> wisdom and mercy, regardless of what Louis Rukeyser and
> the other zealots of capitalist fundamentalism say they
> believe.  (Religious fundamentalism is frequently
> invoked in order to justify all kinds of irresponsible
> and stupid behaviors.  Even though capitalism is
> generally beneficial, it can be invoked just as
> foolishly as any religion can be invoked -- which is
> pretty damn foolishly.)
>
> Hoping, thinking, and acting as individuals on behalf
> of our planetary civilization will probably not make us
> rich, but it may well save the human race from
> extinction.  Even if we can't measure the difference
> between ongoing life and extinction in U.S. dollars, it
> still counts for *something*, doesn't it?
>
> </sermon>
>
> -Steve
>
> --
> Steven R. Newcomb, Consultant
> srn@coolheads.com
>
> voice: +1 972 359 8160
> fax:   +1 972 359 0270
>
> 1527 Northaven Drive
> Allen, Texas 75002-1648 USA
>
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