To understand the IT industry, start with On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt. Prof. Frankfurt poses, but doesn't answer, the question of why there is so much B.S. in our society. He compares his subject to shoddy construction, and that's an analogy we can work with, because in software we're working at the thrilling edge of language and craftsmanship. We have the tools for dealing with B.S. in computer languages. Try to B.S. a compiler and that's a bug. It's time to tackle the B.S. problem head-on and start reporting bugs in human communications too.

Consider this filler, I mean essay, to be a bug report on the big companies that are doing Linux for the desktop. "Let's 'position' Linux as a simplified desktop for 'transactional users'", they say. That's right-employees, if your company gives you Linux, that means Management thinks you're a human servlet. Decision-makers and content creators get a proprietary desktop OS.

Of course, offending the employees' pride might not show up on a TCO spreadsheet. But no executive would want to admit to running a division full of transactional, replaceable, outsourceable "human resources".

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