Brian Jones has listed his ‘perfect world’ wish list from a system administrator’s perspective over at Linux.com. While we all will not agree on all points, he certainly raises some core issues we all deal with or dwell upon.
Much like any other broad-stroke issue, utopia will never be reached, however, the more we find in common as system and web administrators, the more we have a growing common voice. By putting our collective positions into the marketplace, we do help drive some of the innovation that will address some of these concerns.
We are seeing innovations now that attempt to start addressing Jones’ points, including:
- Operating systems that co-exist on networks with reduced levels of complex configuration
- Standards-based organizations gaining momentum, both non-profit and private groups (W3C, Mail Abuse Working Group, ConsortiumInfo.org and more)
- PDA and smart phone makers taking mobile functionality and web-based services to the next level
Rather than crumbling over differences, technologists of all stripes need to find common ground issues and lobby for them tirelessly. It does make a difference. Personally, rather than expending energy on rant sites and griping about what we do not have, I believe we should shift that opining to politicians and their staff around the world and insure government bodies ARE properly educated about technology issues.
Blane Warrene
