Thomas Otter

Some blogs I read for pure wit, others for tight prose, or up to date tech news, or because they are writing about issues and people I care about. 

Let me highlight two blogs because I think they ooze wisdom. They make me stop and think. 

A couple of extracts from Irving Wladawsky-Berger’s blog.

His advice on blogging and why he blogs

  My IBM colleagues encouraged, and finally convinced me to start this blog.  I was not sure what I was getting into, but what the hell.  I liked the idea of being part of this fast growing blogosphere, which at the time felt like something very romantic.  Three months into blogging I wrote:  "So, we are back to the birds and the bees, not this time to learn how our species propagates, but to learn how birds, bees, wolves . . . and humans like to be part of communities and contribute to them.  I find it truly fascinating that far from being, as I thought, a mere exercise in "narcissism", blogging ends up being a primal, noble - even altruistic - experience, showing humanity at its very best."  Perhaps a bit naive, but heartfelt.

And some of his thoughts on Innovation, R&D and education

Innovation and talent are the critical ingredients for leadership in the knowledge economy.  Any country that aims to attain a strong position in innovation and talent must seriously invest in research and education.  This is what the US did after 1945, and it is a major reason that we won the cold war and achieved such a leading economic position in the world. 

There are now many new opportunities amidst an intense, global competitive environment.  The stakes are high.  There is a lot to do and everyone must do their part.  Perhaps state and local governments, the private sector and academia cannot rely on the federal government to the extent that they did in the past.  But, given the highly important and complex challenges ahead, and the extensive resources required, US leadership in the knowledge economy will continue to require the serious contributions of the federal government.  Let’s hope that this is a top priority for our new administration

And on virtual worlds

For the last three years I have been quite intrigued by virtual worlds and all the various capabilities we group under this term.  I believe they are ushering a new paradigm for user interfaces, as well as a whole round of innovative, more human-oriented, intuitive applications.

While many are excited by these possibilities, others remain skeptical.  Virtual worlds continue to be most popular in video games and massively multiplayer online environments.  Despite our high expectations, the number of virtual world applications in serious areas like education, business, and health care remains small.  Some think that this is just one more example of the kind of hype that the IT industry comes up with from time to time.

At this early stage, both fans and skeptics are right.  The promise is there, but it remains to be realized.  I, most definitely, remain positive.  Let me attempt to explain why. 

The other blog I’d like to mention is J.P. Rangaswani’s Confused of Calcutta- He is a CIO who blogs about information,cricket and other important things.

Here he writes about data ownership.

So when you give me your private mobile phone number, you trust me with that information. I am not empowered to give it to anyone I feel like, you trust that I will use that information wisely. It isn’t my information. It’s yours

And on legacy systems and the new generation

Well, today’s kids are different. Generation M is different. The generation entering the workforce is different. They are used to RSS, to feed readers, to Google, to iGoogle, to Netvibes, to Pipes, to relevance and ranking, to wild cards.

And they won’t put up with our trashy way of doing things.

Not even for money.

So next time you look at a humongous monolithic system using arcane meaningless codes and chundering out pages of tripe, start planning to replace it. That’s if you want to attract employees from the coming generations.

And by the way, do bear this in mind: Generation M has no border: India and China and Chile and Mexico and Russia also have kids who think the same way. You’re not going to be able to offshore this sucker for long.

Come to think of it I reckon it is time to kick off a meme here on the Gartner blog network.  I tag Jim Holincheck,  Ray Valdes, Nikos Drakos and Lydia Leong to name a blog they like and say why, and then tag some other folks.  After all, it is Friday.