RE: Add numbers

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Subject: RE: Add numbers
From: Wendell Piez <wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:11:39 -0400

At 01:06 PM 10/9/2007, Scott wrote:

Heh, and there brings the main point.
> "If you know you need new tools, and you haven't yet acquired them,
you're already paying for them."

"XSLT 2.0, huh? Sounds overly fancy and risky. Do we _need_ it?"
"Well, no, but-"
"Then no. XSLT 1.0 is good enough for now."

I sympathize with that. All depends on the definition of "need". If it means "cannot do without" then the answer goes one way. If it means "quickly rewards the investment and continues to pay off", the answer might well go the other way. Or not. And certainly people do not like the unknown.

But "sounds overly fancy and risky" already has its conclusion built into it. I waited on 2.0 myself for some time while, I supposed, things shook out. Then it became apparent that the risks for my operations were more perceived than real (well: the committee did an excellent job), and what was "fancy" amounted to "clean and efficient" in comparison to what I was already doing to tease functionality out of 1.0.

Admittedly, YMMV, and I'm the first to warn clients that what works for me might not be the best choice for them. And I still work with plenty of 1.0, when 2.0 isn't an obvious or a practical solution.

But one of the nice things about "you're already paying for the new tools you haven't bought" is that it points out that there is a cost to not using better tools (in lost efficiency and lower quality of work) even while it avoids the costs of acquiring and learning them (including the risk of having to go back to old tools if they don't work out).

It wasn't that long ago that the web was overly fancy and risky, and you didn't need it. Still don't, in some places. But I hear some shops are doing well with it.

Cheers,
Wendell


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Wendell Piez                            mailto:wapiez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mulberry Technologies, Inc.                http://www.mulberrytech.com
17 West Jefferson Street                    Direct Phone: 301/315-9635
Suite 207                                          Phone: 301/315-9631
Rockville, MD  20850                                 Fax: 301/315-8285
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  Mulberry Technologies: A Consultancy Specializing in SGML and XML
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