Herds of cats (was: Guido at Google)

[Cameron Laird]

In article <1135273624.592241.180820 at g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>,
Nicola Musatti <nicola.musatti at gmail.com> wrote:
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>Ah, the closed source days! Back then you could just buy the company
>and be done with it. Now you have to chase developers one by one all
>over the world... ;-)
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You propellor-heads (I write that in all fondness, Nicola) are
all laughing, but I'm certain that the right elaboration of 
that proposition could make it into the *Harvard Business Review*
(or *IBM Systems Journal*, which seems to have tilted irreversibly
in that direction).

Actually, there's already a considerable literature on how pro-
grammers are like other nasty professionals in exhibiting more
loyalty to their community than to their employers.  Generalize
as desired.