Still some consideration about Gemini. In the last few days, I’ve seen some interesting posts and comments.
Chris is still worried about the lose of control, and I agree with him that metadata are a key part of a complete BI solution, and today we are missing it – this is one of the reason that inspired many choices of the SQLBI Methodology.
Chris still doesn’t agree with Amir Netz, who commented on my and his blog with another analogy (“analogy game” in the title explained) that is so interesting (you might agree or disagree – but it’s a funny game) that I hope it deserves more visibility than in a blog comment.
In many ways, today’s BI world behaves very much like a 1920’s centralized communist regime. The central BI government owns all of the legal supply side. It believes it knows better than anyone what the citizens needs and wants and set up to provide everyone’s needs. While it does not have the capacity to handle anything close to the full needs of the population, it prefers that some will go hungry and barefoot rather than let them supply their own needs. In fact, it will prosecute anyone who shows any enterprise spirit offering an alternative supply route. It will demonize the free enterprises, call them “capitalist pigs”, “traitors of the cause”. The central goverment believes its suppression of the free enterprises is for the “common good of the motherland”, even at the cost of the suffering of the citizens, without realizing that the motherland is supposed to serve the citizens first and foremost.
The central regime will find itself with an endless attrition war against the population. The black market will thrive unless ruthless measures are taken. Back to our BI world – these iron fist measures are mostly unacceptable in today’s enterprises. Therefore the central IT government often finds itself without much teeth. It can wage a propaganda war but the citizens will mostly ignore it and will continue with their black market activities.
Gemini is the “glasnosts”. It is the relaxation of the central monopolization of the supply taps. It is about allowing free enterprises to operate, as long as they are not overstepping reasonable bounds. It is about oversight rather than suppression. Gemini is about trusting the citizens to do the right things once given a chance (presumed innocent unless proven guilty). In such a market the citizens and the government work together for the benefit of the population. This new marketplace is about creating efficiencies and encouraging creativity. It is about letting new ideas float and let the market pick the winners. The government will still hold firm control over the most essential services: military, judicial, education and healthcare. But at the same time, it will allow almost everything else to be generated by the free population. It will hold a regulatory and police force to verify that the bounds are not stepped over but at the same time, will be non-intrusive until violations occur.
So, which regime do you endorse?
Amir.
As I said, I share the fears of Chris, but I’m still convinced that this is not important. Gemini is inevitably. The question is how to manage it and its possible misuse. If we will be unable to do it, we will not have time to build “trusted” solutions because all of our time will be lost trying to fix problematic Gemini-Excel reports. A strong metadata initiative from Microsoft would be a relief for many of us in this direction.