Open Source, Open Seas

I have a question that’s been bothering me.

But first, I think you should know I am fairly new to this game, by which I mean the email security/archival game, and as my last company got bought up and by luck a good friend of mine happened to have a kickin’ email product and a fine company in need of an e-wordsmith, which as you’ve probably figured out, is me.

As you may have guessed, I hark from another industry, but as is my want, I always try to jump into any new task heels first. And all I’ve got to say so far about the internet industry, people sure do got to swim mighty hard to stay afloat in this info-ocean.

I mean, I kind of feel like Neo in the Matrix, when he’s just going through his ordinary day-to-day life and suddenly some stranger shows up and peels back the banal reality to reveal the endless stream of 0s and 1s which makes up the Matrix.

Only I’m coming at it from the other side, all I can see is an endless stream of 0s and 1s, and every time I think I’ve got a good understanding about what’s going on, well, it reveals itself to be something completely different. And I wouldn’t exactly call myself Neo, I’d call myself Neo-phyte.

So here I am, in the middle of this info-ocean, an ocean bigger than any I’ve ever seen – about the size of the Atlantic and the Pacific and 2/3rds of the Indian Ocean added together – and all I’ve got is a tiny rowboat and the sun is high overhead and I can’t see any land in any direction. Looks like I’ve got me some rowing to do.

Which brings me to the question: if, when driving on a stretch of blacktop on a sunny day you always see a shimmering pool of water up ahead, does that mean when you’re in the middle of the ocean on a sunny day you see a patch of paved road up ahead?