[TriLUG] Where is Linux today?

[Cristóbal Palmer]

On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 9:59 AM, Jim Tuttle <jjtuttle at trilug.org> wrote:
> Man, I thought that book, Here Comes Everybody, was kind of lame.  Clay
> Shirkey is in that talking head realm with Siva Vaidhyanathan and Corey
> Doctorow.  Sooo over-rated.  I recommend books by any of them if you
> have a table you need to level on the cheap.

Would you care to explain? I'd like to know what in particular you didn't like.

I have some complaints about the book myself, including the fact that
the book's thesis lacks much if any predictive power. Given a set of
tools and a certain social backdrop, what does Shirky tell us will
happen? Putting words into his mouth: "Something interesting. Not what
you'd expect." Yes, but what? "We'll find out." I don't think the book
is worthless, though, since it arms you with examples and metaphors
that you can use to reject the logic of people who are stuck in
top-down, hierarchical models. It's also accessible to people who
aren't Free Software nuts, engineers, whatever. You could talk about
this book with a manager or the HR people. There's value there.

So do you have any real criticisms?  BTW, It's "Shirky", not "Shirkey".

Cheers,
-- 
Cristóbal M. Palmer
"Small acts of humanity amid the chaos of inhumanity provide hope. But
small acts are insufficient."
 -- Paul Rusesabagina