[Ipg-smz] Not the greeting I was expecting ...

Tue Nov 5 19:06:20 UTC 2019

Gotcha. My misinterpretation. Sorry.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ipg-smz <ipg-smz-bounces at netpress.org> On Behalf Of Tom Henderson via Ipg-smz
Sent: Tuesday, November 5, 2019 11:20 AM
To: ipg-smz at netpress.org
Cc: Tom Henderson <thenderson at extremelabs.com>
Subject: Re: [Ipg-smz] Not the greeting I was expecting ...

Howard,

Read my reply. I don't ask how to "do it".

I'm telling you for a fact, that enterprise product reviews are almost gone. No one has the infrastructure to do them, or to emulate enterprise-level systems.

There are no publications "doing it". No one assaults a product with 100K hypothecated users. No one slams routers with terabit traffic. 
We've done all these things and more.

Instead, vendors control much of their spin. Viz hpe.com, Microsoft's spin control.... the list is long. I can get a collective groan from this audience by just mentioning Apple Inc.

Networking contacts are one thing. We do private research that never sees the light of day, including competitive analysis, load testing, and non-destructive test/NDT.

But in the publishing sector, very large enterprises tests have all but evaporated. Large test facilities are gone. I watch my competitive landscape. Poof.

I hope you continue celebrating. I'm kvetching because I see the loss of independent test facilities at a time when vendors are spraying foam and goo at heretofore unseen volumes.

Certainly there are pros out there. Only a very tiny handful have the hardware and infrastructure to truly emulate enterprise-level infrastructure for non-vendor aligned independent publications. Vendors very seriously want to control their spin, and independent tests are not something where they can control the outcome, and now eschew if they can. Trouble is-- they can.

Tom

On 11/5/19 10:13 AM, Howard M. Cohen via Ipg-smz wrote:
> Tom, perhaps you should read some Viktor Frankl. You ask how to "do it" and the answer is to always be developing your network. My postscript on every email is "the more good you do for more people the more good finds its way back around to you." I believe that, and I live by it.
>
> You mention twenty years ago a few times. Perhaps it would serve you more to look forward than back. I see new media channels opening up all around us. You just need to be willing to adapt to changing needs.
>
> To your last snarky comment I can only say that I am a full-time freelancer for ten years following thirty in the IT channel. When I say a vibrant, vital community I'm talking about professionals, not part-timers, hobbyists, or retirees. Not a one in the bunch. I feel badly for how you're feeling about our industry and hope you'd expand your thinking. If it's really as bad as you describe, perhaps its time for a career change. I'm still celebrating mine ten years later.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ipg-smz <ipg-smz-bounces at netpress.org> On Behalf Of Tom Geller 
> via Ipg-smz
> Sent: Tuesday, November 5, 2019 12:21 AM
> To: ipg-smz at netpress.org
> Cc: Tom Geller <tom at tomgeller.com>
> Subject: Re: [Ipg-smz] Not the greeting I was expecting ...
>
> On 5 Nov 2019, at 08:01, Howard M. Cohen via Ipg-smz <ipg-smz at netpress.org> wrote:
>
>> many of us have changed who we write for
> If you write for a vendor, are you a "journalist"? Open for debate, but I'd say "no", and my comments here reflect that. Certainly the consensus answer was "no" twenty years ago.
>
>> Ours is a vibrant and vital community.
> Arguing against that:
> * Far lower freelance rates, down over 75% from the 1990s.
> * Far fewer staff positions, probably down over 90%.
> * Far less care and oversight (copyeditors, managing editors, etc.). Again I'd say 75-90% shrinkage.
> * Far fewer publications, so less mobility.
> * For less exposure from each piece (shorter pieces, in the public eye for only days or hours).
> * Far less publication revenue from our work, causing all the above.
>
> I'll grant that it's a "vibrant and vital community" -- of part-timers, hobbyists, and retired folks looking to stay busy (*ahem*). But for only a tiny number is it a profession nowadays.
>
> It's nice work if you can get it. And if you get it, won't you tell me how?
>
> ---
> Tom Geller  *  Writer & Video/journalist  *  http://tomgeller.com
>         Rotterdam, The Netherlands, +31 (0)6 87071468
>              Oberlin, Ohio  *  +1-415-317-1805
>
>
>
>
>
>
--
Tom Henderson
ExtremeLabs, Inc.
+1 317 250 4646
Twitter: @extremelabs
Skype: extremelabsinc

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