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Re: USENIX Large Installation Sysadmin of Windows NT Conf (LISA NT) - CFP (fwd)
In comp.org.usenix, folks are discussing (in a nutshell) how Unix
professionals should deal with the increasing NT job market.
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Newsgroups: comp.org.usenix
From: [email protected] (Scott Hazen Mueller)
Subject: Re: USENIX Large Installation Sysadmin of Windows NT Conf (LISA NT) - CFP
>>Just because cats are the most popular pet in the world is no reason
>>for me to want to learn to herd them.
>If water buffalo were the main herd animal, and you were a professional
>herder, you might want to learn how to herd water buffalo... even if
>you considered them nasty, foul-smelling animals with vile dispositions
>and few redeeming virtues.
While Henry is frequently right in what he posts, he misses one important
element. Due to demand, proffesionalism, history and so forth, herding cats
(such nice clean sleek animals anyway) pays considerably better. The water
buffalo breeder gives out Buffalo Herding certificates to practically anyone,
thus ensuring a near-infinite supply of poorly-qualified herders to push the
going rate down (since the sort of manager who buys water buffalo doesn't
understand the difference between good and poor quality anyway).
In that economic market, it makes no sense for a skilled cat herder to invest
significant time in the water buffalo unless you sincerely believe that the
cats are going to be overrun. Under the circumstances, since we all prefer
cats anyway, it would make the most sense for us to invest our effort and
group dollars in ensuring that cats stay a viable herd animal rather than
spending them on water buffalo training. That would also argue for including
alley cats in our focus as well as our traditional breeds, since alley cats
are at least cats and not buffalo.
So, while I sympathize with our colleagues who are plagued with water buffalo
infestations, I think we as an organization would be well-advised on
developing the market for herds of cats of whatever stripe (or spot or so on).
\scott
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