[thelist] What's a Programmer To Do?

[Luther, Ron]

Jack Timmons picked up on Martin's note that:

>>Clients really, really, really hate lock-in.

... by qualifying:

>In my experience, they only really, really, really hate lock-in when they've
>been locked-in to a horrible code base that makes future expanding something
>akin to pulling teeth through the rear, or makes the website suffer
>performance issues/data loss. 


Hi Jack,


I think you're on the right track, but I think it's simpler than that. 

I think it's more:
* Clients really, really, really hate lock-in.
* Except for the ones who haven't yet learned how much they hate it.

Some folks learn faster than others.  But on the other hand, there are always a select few who are forced to learn and re-learn this point multiple times. [1]


Cheers,
RonL.

[1] Take, for example, any CIO with the hubris to spend millions upon millions on development in order to avoid a few hundred thousand in licensing costs.  After all "eating you own dog food" sounds really good in press release sound bites.  [Grrrrr.]