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Unrelated, Swirling Thoughts

- Up first: the sad situation at the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where several top execs--including the president-- have resigned because of systems failures. Other executives are facing salary cuts. We will likely be hearing more about this story over the coming weeks, including the exact nature of the glitches. As unfortunate as this whole mess is, I have to applaud the sense of personal responsibility. I mean, could you imagine that happening here in the U.S.? Let's imagine that a multibillion-dollar enterprise has some problems with its manufacturing systems, and so its distributors are out a bunch of money. Do you think the CEO would step down? I seriously doubt it. He'd probably take the disaffected guys out to lunch at the club or something, but that’s about it (unless it got to the lawsuit stage, of course, but even then it's only money--and it's sure not the CEO's). One huge difference is a culture in Japan that not only prizes hard work but also necessitates taking ultimate responsibility for one's actions. But there's more to it. The Japanese corporate structure is much flatter than our own, with fewer levels of management and a salary structure to match. So the top person is much closer to those on the lowest rung of the ladder. Which is to say that the president is much more closely aligned with everyone in IT, as he is with everyone else in the company. It's much different than in the U.S., where there's a chasm between IT and the upper execs that technologists have been working for over 20 years to bridge. This story makes me wonder how much of this long-discussed business-technology gap is, truly, surmountable, with things structured the way they are in American business. Yes, things have gotten better on this front--but how much better can they really get?

- Next up: Web sites exist to allow people to send E-mails to themselves in either a few or 30 years hence. I have to admit that my first reaction was much like that of Paul Saffo, the famous futurist, who's quoted in the story as saying the whole notion is kind of 'sad.' And hey, if anyone would be into this kind of stuff, you'd think he would. The more I thought about this, though, the more I figured that first off, even if it's a little wacky it's not hurting anyone. Second, as numerous surveys have pointed out, this is truly the first 'wired' generation. Being connected is considered a birthright, a necessity that comes right after food and shelter. So if Gen X-ers 'process their lives' by sending themselves E-mail to remind themselves to go out and win that Nobel prize in medicine by their 35th birthday, I say--why not? Is it any stranger than the dozens of yellow stickie notes many of us midlifers have on our PCs that most of our great-grandparents would think a little odd?

- Third story: the comments of RIM chairman James L. Balsillie, who talked about NTP's misuse of the patent and legal systems while throwing around words like "dishonor" and "mistrust." These are strong charges, indeed. And on one hand I can't blame the guy; the U.S. Patent Office has sided with RIM a couple of times now -- that is, it's ruled that NTP doesn't have a patentable leg to stand on in its battle. Still, a federal jury felt differently and sided with NTP, and now RIM's getting bashed by folks wondering why the whole mess hasn't been settled yet. And what's up with that super-secret RIM 'workaround' in case the judge orders BlackBerry service halted? Why won't the company talk about that? Further, no less than the judge in the case has castigated both parties--and these are my words, not his--for being giant stupid-heads about the whole matter. Please. I think there's more than enough 'dishonor' to go around.

- Finally, here's an example of technology having an interesting side benefit. RFID, long used for tracking inventory and other physical assets, is becoming popular in anti-counterfeiting circles. An event-promotions firm in China is embedding RFID tags in its tickets primarily to thwart copying. The side benefit: the company now can begin promoting an upcoming tennis tournament really early--as much as five months in advance--to help it sell more tickets and to raise awareness. I'm betting that's an advantage nobody originally envisioned with RFID. Isn't it fun to watch technology take on new and unexpected uses?

As always, feel free to weigh in with your thoughts below.

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