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In July Paul Chin of Intranet Design Journal wrote a feature discussing how developers and content owners can increase their chances of selling an intranet to "old-school" users — those who, regardless of age and experience, are afraid of change and least comfortable with the adoption of new technologies. While the majority of the feedback he received on that piece was very positive, there was a small handful of readers who seemed to have missed the point entirely and saw it as an argument for the blind acceptance of all new technology — but this isn't the case.
The article was meant to warn against the inability, or outright refusal, to adapt to new corporate technology standards to the point where some employees end up with outdated skill-sets, making it increasingly difficult to do their jobs. But the solution to this type of technological immobility doesn't automatically translate to a blind faith acceptance of the "bleeding edge" — technology that's so new and untested that developers risk system integrity by using it.
You want to make sure that your systems have a certain amount of longevity — prolonging system lifecycle, avoiding the risk of obsolescence, and maximizing your return on investment — by making use of current technologies while not hastily chasing bleeding-edge promises of some sort of high-tech eden.
The link address is: http://www.intranetjournal.com/articles/200410/ij_10_04_04a.html
