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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