[mindcrime]

BTW, on this note.. the book In Search of Stupidity makes an interesting argument about marketing high-tech products... the idea being that the race goes to the entity that avoids making the stupid, crippling mistake. In other words, you don't have to be faster, smarter, stronger, etc. than the competition; you just have to be patient and avoid that one big f%!#-up that takes them down.

Ok, that's paraphrased slightly, but that's the gist of it. For more:

http://www.insearchofstupidity.com/

[limist]

For anyone who grew up with 80's and 90's computers and software, there could hardly be a funnier recap of those wild-West early days than this book.

Besides the humor, and admonitions against arrogant stupidity (yah, redundant), In Search of Stupidity made clear that competent technical leadership is vital. IIRC, Joel Spolsky's introduction in the book points out that only Microsoft stayed in the top 10 of software from the 80's through the end of the 90's, in large measure because billg understood the importance of e.g., personally advocating for OLE with his software team; while his competitors were busy with yachts and alienating their developer communities.