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.

[Kelly Martin]

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 was Brion's boss, which I've always assumed was done because Sue couldn't be bothered to supervise Brion (who needed supervision; Brion is a technically gifted individual but his organizational and management skills need a lot of honing). It remains to be seen, I suppose, if this individual will also report to Erik das Wunderkind.

I've always assumed Brion's decision to leave was predicated on two things: one, his job mutating from "hack on interesting things" to "prepare budget projections", and two, having to report to Erik. Wikimedia needs a CTO with management experience more than it needs technical wizardry. I honestly believe she was chosen, however, primarily because she's female. Wikimedia is very very upset at the low rate of female participation in Wikimedia projects, and I think this is part of their program to boost that. In addition, she is socially well-connected to the San Francisco open source scene, which is, of course, the playground Jimmy and Co. want to play in.

From the standpoint of her role as a CTO, I don't think she adds a whole lot to Wikimedia. However, in the social networking game that Wikimedia is playing, she probably adds quite a lot.

[anthony]

From the standpoint of her role as a CTO, I don't think she adds a whole lot to Wikimedia. However, in the social networking game that Wikimedia is playing, she probably adds quite a lot.

So, would it be fair to say she's the Mike Godwin of computer scientists?

This post has been edited by anthony: Sat 30th January 2010, 1:34am