__/ [ Mathew P. ] on Tuesday 28 March 2006 15:30 \__
> On 2006-03-28, Roy Schestowitz spake thusly:
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>| The lax dress code of the open-source community is one of the reasons
>>| behind the software's slow uptake in commercial environments, says
>>| former Massachusetts chief information officer (CIO) Peter Quinn.
>>|
>>| [...]
>>|
>>| He pointed to the "sandal and ponytail set" as detracting from
>>| the business-ready appearance of open-source technology and
>>| blamed the developers for the inertia for business Linux
>>| adoption.
>
> URL SNIPPED
>
> I have one word for Peter Quinn: Bullhockey. In the first place, who
> cares what a programmer(s) like to wear, or for that matter, whether
> or not they have a beard (RMS). The only people that care about this
> are the suits, who don't know carp about quality programming or
> evaluating the robustness of a platform/OS. CIO or otherwise.
>
> OS dosen't mean free sh*t, although it is often free. OS means
> freedom. Freedom to know what the code is doing, how it's
> doing it, and the ability and right to modify it as you see fit.
> It also means that the so called "business ready look", which amounts
> to shrink wrap and a card board box, is meaningless and a liability
> in the work environment, due to the fact that it's propriatary
> software.
I could not agree more. The fact that suits go for suits (see Microsoft's
photo stock for their Web pages) is what got them all deep under mud (Win-
dows) in the first place. Moreover, it is natural for a money-lusting
businessmen to expect everything to be handed in for a cost. Beyond this,
I haven't much to say, but I dress up quite decent, which appears to help.
It's not fair, but it's a necessary evil. Like many, I still hate to comb
my hair and shave on a regular basis. I don't enjoy caring for some tempo-
rary looks (goes void overnight) and I have better ways of spending my
time, even if it involves just 5 minutes.
This tends to remind of an Ally McBeal episode (come on, laugh all you
want) that I watched as a young teenager. It involved a bunch of profes-
sionals who were quite eccentric, which repelled the clients. Ultimately,
they were left in the back room, away from the customer's sight. Perfor-
mance was not a factor as important as superficial first impressions. As a
contrary example, I would like to praise Steve Jobs who tours around in
flip-flops (look at Woz!) and encourages employment of eccentric fellows.
The quality of products and innovation at Apple is a million miles ahead
of Microsoft, despite the differences in business scale. Google likewise.
Have you seen any photos from the Googleplex recently? I recall going to
an interview at a consultancy at Oxford when I was 21. Every bl00dy moron
was forced to wear a suit. Putting the resemblance to Tux, it is not just
uncomfortable, but also impractical for people who work in a shared office
clicking on keyboards and pushing papers around.
Any client that has expectancies regarding the workers' dress code is ut-
terly clueless. These people do not shake hands and sign papers with a
$10,000 Parker pen. They write code, document, communicate and sometimes
promote.
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | "Free the mind, the source will follow"
http://Schestowitz.com | SuSE Linux ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
5:35pm up 20 days 7:20, 8 users, load average: 1.60, 1.00, 0.71
http://iuron.com - Open Source knowledge engine project
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