My soul-crushing introduction to the realities of Enterprise Tech

Posted by james4s on August 10, 2012 12:12 pm 8

Where did the future go?

via www.cio.com

A recent verge forum post reminded me of a discussion with a good friend that occurred around the time of the original iPhone announcement. We were juniors in high school and were overwhelmed with the feeling that "We live in the future!" Since then I can recall having that feeling on many occasions after using or reading about different tech innovations. For about a year after I left college, I worked in a retail-based PC repair position (no black ties involved), and I was regularly excited by the new innovations that I saw flowing through the electronics department.

I happily ditched that job and took a position in the IT department at the corporate office of a fairly large public company. While not my primary responsibility, a large percentage of my day-to-day work involves assisting with desktop support. Suddenly I found myself installing Blackberry Desktop Manager on Windows XP. Coming to work now gives me the same feeling I get when I visit my grandparents' home and see my grandfather's laser disc player proudly displayed on the the entertainment center.

It's beginning to seem to me that any "Enterprise Solution" is just a bloated, obsolete and overpriced way to achieve something that is often effortless and free of charge to everyday consumers. The thing that is most shocking to me is that these enterprise technologies are often less efficient and reliable than free or inexpensive consumer options.

So I can't help but wonder what the net cost of out-dated tech is across our economy. Will the average corporation ever offer technology that creates that we-live-in-the-future spine tingle?