So far I am unconvinced that mass collaboration is the wave of the future. Yes, it has changed many elements of the web, and how companies design programs, but those seem like anomalies. One of the creators of Wikipedia left because it became something other than what he envisioned. I am forced to agree with Thomas Friedman’s analysis in "The World is Flat". Speaking of "The World is Flat", Friedman gives a much better description of IBM using open source and the difficulties they initially had. I also find it interesting that Firefox has a rather large following, but when people want an alternative to Windows, they go to Macintosh rather than to Linux.
The authors mention China is adopting open source, which is not a good thing. With China’s history of human rights abuses and control of speech, I wonder how open source can really be successful.
I find it interesting that this chapter covers ERP as open source at the time we are covering it in class. I wonder how successful an ERP can be as open source. As was seen in the Cisco case, if something goes wrong, who do you contact? Since no one owns the IP, who do you sue if necessary?
Right now, I believe that the real reason many companies are shifting to open source is because it lowers labor costs while giving them access to top programmers for free. They only pay if a commercial product comes out of it, saving R&D dollars. Also, companies won’t have to recruit top talent when said talent will work for free in their spare time.
Finally, the writers mention that companies should change their strategy to fit the IT, rather that having IT match strategy as mentioned in class. As we saw what happened last time this was done, I would have to go with the latter.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Chapter 2
My thoughts on chapter 2:
· I liked how the authors point out the arrogance of the music industry, especially Sony. This is similar to how the movie and TV industry treats its content on YouTube. This is not new either. The movie industry fought cable, as they saw it as a threat. Instead, it made them more money. Again with the invention of the VCR, the movie industry fought against the new technology. Now, DVD sales eclipse the box office.
· It is interesting that more companies are opening up their source code. You can now post photos from Flickr onto Facebook. Also, many of the applications on Facebook are now user created.
· I forget the name of it, but there is a new wave in advertising where employees create blogs, and will get involved in other blogs. Once they have a reputation as an authority on a subject relating to the company, they then start pushing the company’s products. Electronic Arts is famous for this kind of advertising.
· The growth in blogs has led to a ‘pajamas media’ where some guy in his pajamas with a large readership now can comment on the news, and set the tone for the discussion in the media. You saw this in the last US election with the Swift Boat Veterans, and the famous CBS memos. I wonder what will happen in this next election.
· Education needs to change for the new economy and the web generation. The current education system is still stuck in the 19th century. The school system of people sitting quietly and regurgitating what the teacher said was to prepare people for factory jobs where learning to do repetitive tasks was necessary. In a knowledge based economy, active learning is required, but schools do not follow an active learning model. Reform is desperately needed in this regard.
· I liked how the authors point out the arrogance of the music industry, especially Sony. This is similar to how the movie and TV industry treats its content on YouTube. This is not new either. The movie industry fought cable, as they saw it as a threat. Instead, it made them more money. Again with the invention of the VCR, the movie industry fought against the new technology. Now, DVD sales eclipse the box office.
· It is interesting that more companies are opening up their source code. You can now post photos from Flickr onto Facebook. Also, many of the applications on Facebook are now user created.
· I forget the name of it, but there is a new wave in advertising where employees create blogs, and will get involved in other blogs. Once they have a reputation as an authority on a subject relating to the company, they then start pushing the company’s products. Electronic Arts is famous for this kind of advertising.
· The growth in blogs has led to a ‘pajamas media’ where some guy in his pajamas with a large readership now can comment on the news, and set the tone for the discussion in the media. You saw this in the last US election with the Swift Boat Veterans, and the famous CBS memos. I wonder what will happen in this next election.
· Education needs to change for the new economy and the web generation. The current education system is still stuck in the 19th century. The school system of people sitting quietly and regurgitating what the teacher said was to prepare people for factory jobs where learning to do repetitive tasks was necessary. In a knowledge based economy, active learning is required, but schools do not follow an active learning model. Reform is desperately needed in this regard.
Chapter 1
Ch 1
An interesting first chapter. Here are my thoughts on this chapter:
· I am surprised the writers never mentioned YouTube, and how it is changing how people are entertained.
· One problem with using Linux as an example of mass collaboration, is that Linux still has not caught on the way Windows has, and likely never will.
· Wikipedia is a great example of mass collaboration. A Canadian newspaper, The National Post did a study and found that Wikipedia had fewer errors per thousand entries than Encyclopedia Britannica
· Some critics compare collaboration to communism, but I though the author could have done a better job of distinguishing the two. I think the stigma of comparing collaboration and communism is going to hold it back, in the US especially.
· I do have to agree with Lenier somewhat with the “Collective Stupidity” idea. Just look at what is on TV today. Not to sound elitist, but it panders to an uneducated, low-brow audience. I watch many British shows, and when the US does its own version of them, they are often dumbed down and lose what made the show appealing in the first place.
· In reference to Gates criticism of offering free products, Google offers all of its products for free, and is extremely profitable.
· I found the MIT example of open classes interesting. I wonder what this will mean for buying case studies, and even business school, in the future.
An interesting first chapter. Here are my thoughts on this chapter:
· I am surprised the writers never mentioned YouTube, and how it is changing how people are entertained.
· One problem with using Linux as an example of mass collaboration, is that Linux still has not caught on the way Windows has, and likely never will.
· Wikipedia is a great example of mass collaboration. A Canadian newspaper, The National Post did a study and found that Wikipedia had fewer errors per thousand entries than Encyclopedia Britannica
· Some critics compare collaboration to communism, but I though the author could have done a better job of distinguishing the two. I think the stigma of comparing collaboration and communism is going to hold it back, in the US especially.
· I do have to agree with Lenier somewhat with the “Collective Stupidity” idea. Just look at what is on TV today. Not to sound elitist, but it panders to an uneducated, low-brow audience. I watch many British shows, and when the US does its own version of them, they are often dumbed down and lose what made the show appealing in the first place.
· In reference to Gates criticism of offering free products, Google offers all of its products for free, and is extremely profitable.
· I found the MIT example of open classes interesting. I wonder what this will mean for buying case studies, and even business school, in the future.
Monday, September 10, 2007
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