I mostly agree with your article apart from two points: 1) It’s not Apple’s fault that everyone is copying them rather than inventing their own technology (although Microsoft is now doing some interesting things). 2) The issue of sharing data is the carriers’ fault here in the U.S., not the phone manufacturers. Almost all handsets are capable of being fast Wi-Fi hotspots, you just have to pay (extra) for the privilege of sending data you have already paid for onto another device, and most people object to the user fee.
Piers Denney
United States

A fix for Cisco
Hi Alan, I wanted to ensure your readers knew that Cisco has taken multiple steps to address the issues you describe (re: “Zeichick’s Take: Undesirable consequences of automatic firmware updates,”) since Joel Hruska wrote his story for ExtremeTech. In fact, Joel updated his own story to reflect what Cisco has done. You can read it here. For background, here is a comprehensive update from Cisco outlining the changes we have made to address our customers’ concerns.
David McCulloch
Cisco

Clarifying REST
Re: “Developer Populism is changing the face of ALM,” on “open standards,” I might clarify that REST is really just an architectural style, and by just doing REST does not just give you integration. OSLC actually defines implementable specifications based on REST-style and Linked Data architecture, and defining vocabularies for various ALM resource types.
Steve Speicher
OSLC

Learning through SpaceChem
Re: “The Trouble with Gerrold: Lessons from programming languages,” for a look at a beautiful example of a visual programming language, take a look at the game SpaceChem. And I am suddenly reminded of programming a mass spectrometer interface using LabVIEW many years ago.
John Bushnell
United States

Who to trust for APM
Re: “The diverse market for performance management,” this means that you’ll have to be actively engaged with APM for some time to come. APM is not a discrete, localized purchase in the way, say, DNS or firewalling can be; to sign with a vendor and assume it will take care of all your APM needs puts you at risk of missing a lot of the opportunity APM offers.

At the least, you must stay in touch with your trusted vendor(s) to ensure that your strategic priorities are properly met. Track the terms of that fulfillment as your organization’s priorities evolve, your vendors update, and new developments and practices appear in the wider APM marketplace.
Tom McKeown
United States