>> Believe it or not, some people *are* afraid of embracing new technology (I'm not one of them).

I'm one of them. Specifically I'm quite mistrustful of new, untested, never deployed technology that, from the outset, bypasses all the important and required steps of all technology lifecycles, and moreover is hyped as best-of-breed by billion dollar marketing budgets beginning even before the Alpha release stage.

Actually, years ago, I used to be not so wary of embracing new technology (translation: less afraid of embracing the pioneering costs that come with early use of new technology) but as the stakes get much larger, my customers pay me to avoid mistakes, and to keep them safe from research-oriented development over which they can never have reasonable control.

So it's not so much about embracing new technology as it is about being realistic in assessing and assuming technical risk.

To put it another way: Last year the slogan was "The Software made the systems merge seamlessly" and this year the slogan is "Achieve 1 degree of separation between you and < name here >", both of which are patently false and demonstratively bull, and most certainly cannnot serve as framework for technology decision making.

To put it still another way, make sure "embracing technology" isn't confused with "embracing the recent output" of hundreds of millionaires, few of which have any real stake, either way, in the successful business outcome of the technology into which ordinary people, developers and customers, risk proportionately far, far more.

**--** Steve (sorry, just cynical today)