[wplug] [OT] Why /. doesn't matter -- my apologies ...

[Burt E Reany]

BJ:

   No apologies required for a cognative expression; you wouldn't be living
down to your title without an occasional expression of concern for the
welfare of our common species.  In our family, the most powerful insult
that you can utter against another is that they are "Boring". I now follow
your postings more quickly.

Coot_jg.

"We all go a little mad sometimes" - Norman Bates.


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             "Bryan J. Smith"                                              
             <b.j.smith at ieee.o                                             
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                                       Re: [wplug] [OT] Why /. doesn't     
                                       matter -- my apologies ...          
             08/21/2007 01:57                                              
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On Sat, 2007-08-18 at 10:27 -0400, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> I got fired up on the /. thing, totally "out of character" for myself.
> I started swinging like a brat, didn't care who was in the way.
> No, no, I then baited everyone with my NASA comments.
> That was just wrong, trolling, childish -- eck, no excuse.
> Really, really poor form for a discussion board.

A few people have made a few comments off-list regarding my comments on
engineering and education.  All were respectable and not negative.  But
I want everyone to understand I didn't mean my comments "in general,"
but rather "specific" -- i.e., largely at the typical "the majority is
right" mindset.

I.e., as a traditional engineer, I'm the first to point out that I
consider [engineering] technologists are often far more knowledgeable
and far more practical than a traditional engineer.  It requires
absolutely no formal education to become a(n) [engineering]
technologist.  This is especially true in the areas of not merely just
IT, not merely enterprise IT, but even some hardware, software and
implementation, including even development, experience and application.
And even field technicians are valuable in providing feedback to
engineers -- because requirements and specifications are not the key to
a good design (especially when even the best design, following all
requirements/specifications, fails to work).

My comments were only directed at my general "/. dislike," most
specifically engineers with a good half-decade to a decade of R&D in the
areas of asynchronous design (semiconductor layout, timing closure,
etc...), aerospace and defense systems (6DOF simulations, engineering
dynamics, etc...) and so forth -- first-hand examples I've seen of
experts I know of when they've attempted to "answer" /. non-sense.
Places where an extensive amount of combined education and experience
are really required to understand concepts, and the lack of respect for
that level of detail is what I absolutely hate about /. -- especially
when an expert (like 1 in less than 100 in the US) comments and gets
modded down.

Most of the other concepts require no engineering education or formal
experience, although I do still get a number of "dumb stares" (more than
I like) when I start talking about the "real costs" of GNU/Linux and
other open source solutions.  E.g., you have to be prepared for the
"costs" of actual GNU/Linux projects, integration, testing,
configuration management, etc... that aren't "free."  As I always say,
"Linux projects don't fail, but Linux consultants fail their projects."
That's about the only other reference I was making against /.

Sorry to re-bring up this clearly-OT set of comments, especially after
my extremely poor form and "rabid" reaction to a merely mention of /.
Just wanted to clarify that I'm not some arrogant, anal engineering
prick, although I've been accused of that more than once -- and in all
honesty, I have to admit that if my comments are taken out of their
context (e.g., my rabid /. reaction) and applied in general (which was
not my intent), it indeed does look that way.


--
Bryan J. Smith         Professional, Technical Annoyance
mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org   http://thebs413.blogspot.com
--------------------------------------------------------
        Fission Power:  An Inconvenient Solution


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