Re: OT: IBM's view on "Legacy Transformation" and how my philosophy parallels some of the keypoints


Tim Clarke wrote:
> "Dan-the K" <kaliushkin@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:1129820273.593029.257380@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Hi Dan...
>
> Mind you legal "language" is much worse, I think, for
> being excessively impenetrable. The initiatives for the use of "simple
> English" haven't made a lot of headway yet.
>
Legal language isn't a black and white issue. Yes, sometimes people
twist the words around in a way that makes it sound serious but is
really just poorly written. E.g. "subsequently" can be replaced by
"afterwards" or "at a later time". OTOH, sometimes it must be that
way. Legal pleadings are required to be a certain way.

A story might make the point. Soon after Sonny Bono bacame a
congressman, he was involved with marking up a certain bill. After
about a week, he said "ok, we've agreed on everything, now lets write
it without the legalese." His fellow congressmen looked at him as if
he were crazy. A bill must use legalese. There are so many factors
and possibilities to consider that it must be precise.

I have no tolerance of legal writings that are unnecessarily
convoluted. The point is to convince the court of the merits and the
better written your documents are, the more likely the court is to see
things your way.


> > I'm reading some OS/2 material from about 1995, and find it amazing
> > that some expressions have since gone through three or four
> > transformations. Even the Warp Server "Up and Running" points out
> > expressions used for IBM LAN Server 4.0 which have been replaced with
> > newer expressions.
>
> Well, I guess you could say that indicates a consistent approach and
> philosophy?

What I was thinking of was "OS/2 Requester" is now "Client." Or is it
the other way around?

What harms IBM in the long run is frequently changing positions. They
were deeply committed to OS/2 until the time of OS/2 Warp 4. Then the
emphasis was on networking. Now it not "that networking" but "this
networking" (WebExplorer). Its hard to believe in a company that keeps
changing its mind.

>
> > I think IBM kept software bloat down by putting it into documentation.
> > Entire sections are word-to-word copies of other sections, except for
> > the exact feature being discussed.
>
> Hmm, there is a certain amount to be said for that. I just wish the
> marketing department(s) wouldn't keep re-inventing/re-branding the software
> every couple or three years. It makes keeping current on changes and updates
> very hard when the product you refer to is "no longer
> marketed/sold/supported" because it goes by another name now!

> Regards,
> Tim Clarke (a.k.a. WBST)

Dan

.

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