Open Source Diva named CTO Options

[anthony]

So who is this Danese Cooper? I see that David Gerard created her BLP in 2005. On that point alone I'm skeptical.

[Somey]

Seems to me they need someone whose OSS background is LAMP, not Java and OO.o...?

Sorry, I just thought it would be fun to use a few buzzword acronyms.

The main thing to be concerned about now is who drives feature prioritization. If it's still going to be Jimbo and Erik Moeller, then we can probably expect more of the same, i.e., vaporware, or nothing of any value whatsoever. If it's Cooper, then it remains to be seen, but the mere fact that Cooper is female is probably a good sign. Females tend to be more compassionate and less narcissistic, though of course we've seen plenty of exceptions to that in Wikiland. Still, almost anybody is likely to be more compassionate and less narcissistic than Erik Moeller and Jimbo.

Anyway, it's always best to give people a chance to show what they're about before assuming the worst. I say we give her at least a couple of weeks before concluding that her tenure as CTO is a complete failure.

[dogbiscuit]

Seems to me they need someone whose OSS background is LAMP, not Java and OO.o...?

Sorry, I just thought it would be fun to use a few buzzword acronyms.

The main thing to be concerned about now is who drives feature prioritization. If it's still going to be Jimbo and Erik Moeller, then we can probably expect more of the same, i.e., vaporware, or nothing of any value whatsoever. If it's Cooper, then it remains to be seen, but the mere fact that Cooper is female is probably a good sign. Females tend to be more compassionate and less narcissistic, though of course we've seen plenty of exceptions to that in Wikiland. Still, almost anybody is likely to be more compassionate and less narcissistic than Erik Moeller and Jimbo.

Anyway, it's always best to give people a chance to show what they're about before assuming the worst. I say we give her at least a couple of weeks before concluding that her tenure as CTO is a complete failure.

I'm confused, wasn't Erik chosen as the GodKing of technology? Presumably, at least we can conclude that HIS tenure as CTO was a complete failure? Presumably he gets to hang around on a nice salary.

[Somey]

I'm confused, wasn't Erik chosen as the GodKing of technology? Presumably, at least we can conclude that HIS tenure as CTO was a complete failure? Presumably he gets to hang around on a nice salary.

Erik is the Deputy Director - Brion Vibber was the CTO. Other than that, you probably presume correctly...

If the job mostly entails keeping the servers running, and/or keeping the back-end software up-to-date and so on, then Cooper has the wrong background - she seems to be a software development person whose expertise is in Java stuff, not LAMP, which is what I believe Wikipedia runs on. I did notice on her blog (linked directly from her BLP) that her last job was essentially with a "cap-bait" operation. In other words, someone with a million dollars hired her to provide name-recognition (i.e., credibility) in his effort to get a startup company to the point at which he could obtain 10 million dollars from someone else, and once the 10 million was obtained (I'm making wild guesses as to the numbers) he "let her go," since he now had the money in hand and no longer needed someone with a recognizable name. (That isn't quite how she described the situation, but it's fairly obvious, reading between the lines.)

An experience like that can turn a person into a cynic very easily - and it's easy to see why she'd be drawn to the WMF CTO job, since the WMF calls itself a non-profit and therefore doesn't look like a cap-bait operation, at least on the surface. However, it is still a fairly small operation, and if she's going to be working under the same terms as Brion Vibber, i.e., answerable to Erik Moeller, that could be worse than unemployment.

[GlassBeadGame]

I'm confused, wasn't Erik chosen as the GodKing of technology? Presumably, at least we can conclude that HIS tenure as CTO was a complete failure? Presumably he gets to hang around on a nice salary.

Erik is the Deputy Director - Brion Vibber was the CTO. Other than that, you probably presume correctly...

If the job mostly entails keeping the servers running, and/or keeping the back-end software up-to-date and so on, then Cooper has the wrong background - she seems to be a software development person whose expertise is in Java stuff, not LAMP, which is what I believe Wikipedia runs on. I did notice on her blog (linked directly from her BLP) that her last job was essentially with a "cap-bait" operation. In other words, someone with a million dollars hired her to provide name-recognition (i.e., credibility) in his effort to get a startup company to the point at which he could obtain 10 million dollars from someone else, and once the 10 million was obtained (I'm making wild guesses as to the numbers) he "let her go," since he now had the money in hand and no longer needed someone with a recognizable name. (That isn't quite how she described the situation, but it's fairly obvious, reading between the lines.)

An experience like that can turn a person into a cynic very easily - and it's easy to see why she'd be drawn to the WMF CTO job, since the WMF calls itself a non-profit and therefore doesn't look like a cap-bait operation, at least on the surface. However, it is still a fairly small operation, and if she's going to be working under the same terms as Brion Vibber, i.e., answerable to Erik Moeller, that could be worse than unemployment.

I think the CTO has quite a challenge ahead. It can't be easy to justify the expenditure of the bulk of $10,000,000 per year to accomplish exactly what had previously been achieved for $300,000. A better choice might have been the toilet seat guy at the Pentagon or the GM executive who coined the term "burn rate" to described corporate sending in the run-up to bankruptcy.

[Cock-up-over-conspiracy]

Social entropy typical of big time voluntary sector operations. First the idealists burn out then a second class of individuals move in. Obviously a bit part of the game is, "we have to spend the money to attract the type of candidate commensurably to the job at all" because ... obviously ... we need someone responsible when we are dealing with these types of money.

In other words, we have to pay them so they pay be well. And we will keep squeezing it upwards. Altruism in the higher echelons goes out the windows and, gradually, the operation keep requiring more and more time, energy and money in ... and more and more to bring it in ... give less and less out ... and become less and less relevant.

The only ones that last are one that actually do some good ... it will be interesting to see if the Pornopedia can actually deliver.

I, personally, doubt it right now.

Expenditure of $10,000,000 per year ... gosh, that is easy. All those consultants and experts and reviews and meetings and new furniture and own trumpets to blow. Spending is what this second class of individuals are good at.

Hell, they could even spend a few hundred bucks on making the software better and easier for modest, ordinary, informed people ... imagine how much that will cost in consultants to review and oversee?

Are all dem gurls now even going to push for a little race and gender equality amongst contributors? It oughtn't to have been boy toys Lacriox watches in golf magazine ads ... it ought to have been handbags and women's lifestyle magazines.

This post has been edited by Cock-up-over-conspiracy: Fri 29th January 2010, 3:36pm