NewElitism

Came across this video a few weeks ago. Watched it a few times since then and it’s still great.

Two points about the video come to mind:

1. What was the Bataan death march?

A rather unpleasant episode during the war in the Pacific. Tens of thousands of Filipino and American POWs werde marched from one camp to another in the Philippines in 1942 and many thousands died due to cruel treatment and wanton executions by the Japanese army as well as malnutrition, dehydration and disease. Check out Wikipedia.

2. How does this relate to the upgrade cycle of proprietary software?

Although I admit that the comparison is quite drastic, there is some truth in it. Using proprietary software exposes companies (and to a lesser extent individuals) to a business strategy that is crucial for many makers of proprietary software: The Upgrade Cycle. Whenever a new version of the product is released, its users can decide if the want to upgrade.

Now, because it is customary to end support for an earlier version of a product some time after a new one has been released, this decision is not a real one. Instead the customer is ‘helped along’ by deliberate little incompatibilities that make it just a little easier to use the current version than the old one.

A very nice example is provided by Microsoft with its ‘Office’ line of products. Nearly every version has been incompatible with its predecessor and to avoid these annoyances companies upgrade and consumers get the new version from that friend that always gives them copied software.

This of course, besides being an annoyance causes corporate IT departments a lot of work ( I know, I’ve worked in one) and prevents them from having any kind of long-term strategy. They are slugging along the (death) march of the upgrade cycle and are forced to spend money on software, hardware and manpower while dancing to the manufacturers beat.

There are of course gradual differences. If you look at commercial UNIXes that are being supported for decades it’s a whole different thing. But the problem doesn’t lie in the duration of the support. The customer should get to decide how long he will use a particular system. If you want to keep using your old fleet of company vans because you like the way they look, you can just pay a car mechanic to keep them running for you. Sure parts are going to be harder to find as time goes by but it’s just a question of how much you’re prepared to spend. The point is that YOU get to make a real decision.

The proprietary software industry is one where the customer definitely is not king.

photo by Steve Webel