Posts by proops 9 publicly visible posts • joined 31 May 2007
We've all just proven the author to be correct: because we're using legacy systems, we're demonstrating unproductive legacy thinking.
I'll show this article to the CEO whose strategy is increasing 7-digit profits by over 5% every year and tell him I now plan to change all our software on a 6-monthly rolling basis.
I think the problem with this article is its starting point: "Legacy systems tie you to unproductive legacy thinking and lead to stagnation."
There's a huge assumption that because it's old it's going to be disrupted by something better. But systems aren't just about technology: they're about people, both within your organisation and beyond it: customers and business partners. How many businesses are ready for their IT department to jeopardise those relationships?
Believing that legacy systems are the only way forward will of course lead to stagnation, but given that this forum is IT-focussed I don't think there will be too many Luddites here.
Disruption is already a cliché despite being thoroughly unproven in the enterprise. Certainly entrants have disrupted long-standing business models and those are easy to reel off. But how many businesses have successfully disrupted themselves to conquer new markets without losing existing customers? Amazon EC2 is all I can think of and it's not an easy model to emulate.
And more relevant to this article, how many existing businesses have done that by buying a new piece of software? Would the author care to offer any examples?
I never said enzymes were hormones. Try reading my post again.
I know the difference between neuroendocrine and other forms of pancreatic cancer. I didn't get it from wikipedia but from first-hand experience. Part of the problem with these kinds of cancers (neuroendocrine and carcinoid) is that they're classified by primary location instead of behaviour (check out the common scientific outline), which is why people -- even biochemists! -- jump to the wrong conclusions.
I strongly recommend you educate yourself here: www.netpatientfoundation.com/?page_id=71 or here: http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp?page=29811
I don't have Steve Jobs' histology report, but I have had an email conversation with him about it.
Now, who's a bigger idiot?
Actually, Jobs has neuroendocrine tumour. Just because it was in the pancreas doesn't make it pancreatic cancer. It's very different from adenocarcinoma and it's highly unlikely that Jobs is diabetic even if he had some of his pancreas removed.
He would almost certainly suffer from enzyme deficiencies however, which makes putting on weight very difficult.
Anyway, these cancers often - but not always - emit hormones. These can be used for treatment using octreotide and sandostatin (which are hormone-based). So it's probably an iPod-white lie... he'll be getting hormone-based treatment for a spread of his tumour, which in turn will make him feel ill.
Steve's one of the lucky ones. These tumours are so rare and variable that very little data exists on appropriate therapies.
Once you've finished sucking up to iGadgets and big cat operating systems, you find out more about the condition here: http://www.netpatientfoundation.com/?page_id=2
Does anyone actually think about these policies before proposing them? If it were true that tax dissuaded business from trading in a country, and that led to increased impact on the welfare state, every economy in the world would simply scrap all taxes to have full employment and then not need to provide public services, because we could all afford health care, etc.
The company I own pays corporation tax, but there are so many ways around it that it doesn't bother me in the slightest. In fact, it bothers me that I don't pay enough. I do actually want to contribute to other people getting a better education, for example. And education is related to taking people out of benefits and improving the general economy, not just the wealth of a few shareholders.
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