4 ms·

Certainly corporate IT guys sometimes take the flak when stuff breaks, but the really good* corporate IT guys manage to turn major breakage into a justification

Certainly corporate IT guys sometimes take the flak when stuff breaks, but the really good* corporate IT guys manage to turn major breakage into a justification for a bigger budget. "...blame the big software and infrastructure providers, who haven't yet collectively invented a robust global IT architecture where risk can reliably be localised to the user at fault." So many of the problems of building a robust global IT architecture have already been solved in the Internet itself. When Big Enterprise resists using the Internet as it's designed, as a loosely-coupled system, with rules (RFCs, etc.) then it ends up with the sorts of problems in browser testing like the OP is talking about. "Or step up and do something about it and get very rich..." That's the best thing in your comment. I would have upvoted you just for that. If my previous thesis has any value, that a big problem with corporate IT is attitude, how do we fix it? Send everyone to reeducation camps in the gulag? I can't think of how to profit from that, though it might be fun to watch :) *Depending on the interpretation of "good."

Silhouette 15y ago
I get the feeling you're mocking me. :-) But I'll play along... > So many of the problems of building a robust global IT architecture have already been solved in the Internet itself. Ironically, I think the Internet is a fine example of what I mean. Before the Internet, no-one could DDoS a whole business out of existence, because business models weren't vulnerable to that sort of instant mass attack. Before the Internet, you didn't get rapidly evolving viruses that could sneak into your corporate networks because one user clicked the wrong Facebook link during their lunch break and cause you weeks of grief to remove because they could propagate quickly throughout a whole section of your LAN. Before the Internet, one executive doing something dumb didn't result in every confidential report to which that executive had access being uploaded to someone who would extort money from you to keep it quiet. Before the Internet, your database front-ends were in-house, and one error in a front-end didn't leave you vulnerable to having all your customers' credit card details stolen. Does this mean the Internet is a bad thing? Of course not, it's overwhelmingly positive on balance. But it presents many fine examples of what can happen if the damage causable by a single rogue element isn't effectively contained. > If my previous thesis has any value, that a big problem with corporate IT is attitude, how do we fix it? Exactly. You are assuming that the problem here is the attitude of corporate IT groups, and not their choice of tools. I am suggesting that Firefox and Chrome are making themselves into unsuitable tools and the responsible thing for corporate IT to do is to not use them, presumably going back to using a stable IE version and Microsoft's well-developed management tools instead.
- ratsbane 15y ago
  I didn't mean to mock you and I really did like your comment about how do we profit from this. That really is the important question for HNers. That and "how do we fix it."

Silhouette 15y ago

I get the feeling you're mocking me. :-) But I'll play along... > So many of the problems of building a robust global IT architecture have already been solved in the Internet itself. Ironically, I think the Internet is a fine example of what I mean. Before the Internet, no-one could DDoS a whole business out of existence, because business models weren't vulnerable to that sort of instant mass attack. Before the Internet, you didn't get rapidly evolving viruses that could sneak into your corporate networks because one user clicked the wrong Facebook link during their lunch break and cause you weeks of grief to remove because they could propagate quickly throughout a whole section of your LAN. Before the Internet, one executive doing something dumb didn't result in every confidential report to which that executive had access being uploaded to someone who would extort money from you to keep it quiet. Before the Internet, your database front-ends were in-house, and one error in a front-end didn't leave you vulnerable to having all your customers' credit card details stolen. Does this mean the Internet is a bad thing? Of course not, it's overwhelmingly positive on balance. But it presents many fine examples of what can happen if the damage causable by a single rogue element isn't effectively contained. > If my previous thesis has any value, that a big problem with corporate IT is attitude, how do we fix it? Exactly. You are assuming that the problem here is the attitude of corporate IT groups, and not their choice of tools. I am suggesting that Firefox and Chrome are making themselves into unsuitable tools and the responsible thing for corporate IT to do is to not use them, presumably going back to using a stable IE version and Microsoft's well-developed management tools instead.

ratsbane 15y ago
I didn't mean to mock you and I really did like your comment about how do we profit from this. That really is the important question for HNers. That and "how do we fix it."