This will be my last "Evangelist Diary" entry on this site. After six years
as an evengelist and road warrior for Sun Microsystems, I've decided
hang up the wings, as it were, and focus other activities.
This site has been a reflection and sometime travelouge of those six years,
providing a means
whereby I could express ideas and beliefs in tandem with my
role as a traveling technology evangelist. To that end, the
site has served a valuable purpose. But this particular
diary, which admittedly has not always focussed on technology issues,
was created in order to serve that particular purpose. Now that
that particular purpose has been fullfilled, so too has the purpose of
this journal.
This is not to say that I'll stop writing for this site. I may,
in fact, write even more for this site in the future...especially
considering how little I've had to say in the past several months.
But the intent and title
of those coming entries will be different, and these "Evangelist Diary"
flavor of entries will be archived as such.
I have long been an impassioned proponent of the ephemeralizing
impact that computer software has on all human activities.
But over the past couple of years, I've come to believe that software
has now become a commodity, which is an inevitability in any maturing
industry.
The computer industry has gone through waves of innovation.
The early days of innovation in the birth of any industry is filled
with a bevy of players, all competing to survive and grow.
As some players succeed, others fail, but the industry itself
grows. Product cycles generally feature early adopters, then
sales increase as aspirational purchases kick in. In time, market saturation
occurs,
with ultimatly commodity status is the fate of any product. The same is
true of industries themselves.
While the utilization of software will continue to
enhance productivity and give rise to incredible innovations in
years
to come, the frameworks and tools we use to create application software have,
for the most part, become true commodity offerings in an economic sense.
As such, in my view, the software industry itself has grown increasingly less
interesting in recent years. As such, I've come to the conclusion
that I've done enough, and that there is really very little more
I can or should do with respect to software platforms.
My work as a traveling Technology Evangelist for Sun Microsystems
is therefore concluded.
The focus for me going forward will be more on the 'humanity' side of the
equation, and how hope, perhaps through the application of software, is still
a viable bet. But it is hope itself which is the means and the end. I
still enjoy public speaking and will likely find other appropriate venues at
some juncture, though I must admit, I've experienced sufficient
international travel for time being.
My six evangelical years represent a significant period of career time
and contribution for me. I am well pleased, in retrospect, to have had
the opportunity. I am still employed by Sun, though I am considering other
opportunities, both within the firm and on the outside. Regardless of
my official employment status with Sun Microsystems going forward,
I am proud to have served one of the finest firms on this planet,
and will remain a proponent of Sun wares, commodity and otherwise.
If
there's hope for humanity it's in software