A short article from Technology Review written by the inventor of ethernet on wheter IT matters in corporate America was assigned for Infomation Contours. the article itself was a reaction to an article published in the Harvard Business Review by the editor Nicholas Carr. Not having read the original article but gleaning some of its points from Metcalf was that IT, has become a commodity and is like electricity. so maybe the internets are like the electrical grid and we know that is rock solid and are never in need of patching, upgrading, repairing or monitoring, but i digress. i’m inferring that he means if you got IT you got it and you should be spending as little on it as possible as long as you got it. There is no need to innovate or purchase new products or strive toward more efficiencies because the cost of these are prohibitive. He argued about excesses of spending in IT. well yeah, if you are mis-spending, your capital you are doing poorly, but Metcalfe’s concern was the ‘message’ of article summed up by it’s title “IT dosen’t matter” and the content of the article mearly summed up some points about successful companies spending a lower percentage on IT than unsuccessful companies. my guess would be successful companies spent their dollars better. as always the medium is the message, the HBR arrives in the hands of powerful barons of business in dead tree form on a monthly basis, Metcalf downloaded his copy of the original article from Amazon. i’m inclined to see a future where IT in peoples hands rather than old bastion corporations creates a cultural profit for us all. Carr, in his position seeks to keep the currently powerful in business and powerful, Metcalfe as a venture capitalist is always looking toward the future. it is my hope that Metcalfe’s view is taken seriously and innovation isn’t relegated to the back burner. by the way, i’m reading a photocopy, of a printed page.

Written by admin (contact).

It was written on February 4th, 2005 at 3:19 pm
Filed in the Category orphan