First, a talk from TED by Barry Schwartz titled, “The real crisis? We stopped being wise”

I couldn’t agree more with what he has to say. Two of my favorite lines:

“Rules and incentives may make things better in the short run, but they create a downward spiral that makes them worse in the long run” (08:46)

“Rules prevent disaster, but what they guarantee is mediocrity.” (10:25)

Like Wisdom, good Risk Management is about decisions. Security is about rules.

Then, for an example of some very non-wise thinking, let’s take a look at what is being written about DRM in Windows 7:

That Photoshop stopped functioning after we messed with one of its nag DLLs was not so much a surprise, but what was a surprise: Noting that Win7 allows programs like Photoshop to insert themselves stealthily into your firewall exception list. Further, that the OS allows large software vendors to penetrate your machine. Even further, that that permission is responsible for disabling of a program based on a modified DLL. And then finding that the OS even after reboot has locked you out of your own Local Settings folder; has denied you permission to move or delete the modified DLL; and refuses to allow the replacement of the Local Settings folder after it is unlocked with Unlocker to move it to the Desktop for examination (where it also denies you entry to your own folder). Setting permissions to ‘allow everyone’ was disabled!

Windows is attempting to provide “security”–but not for the owner of the system. Rather, they are installing powers that I’ll bet will be exploited far more to reduce the value and usefulness of the platform than to actually make things better for anyone but industries who are still trying to deny the obsolescence of their business models. But just think of the fun that the malware will have with its new-found powers.

Basically, the only person who’s getting shafted in this deal is the customer. If you’re a company, even a (decaying) natural monopoly like Microsoft, consistently shafting your customer in ways that they notice and care about is not good business.

(h/t BoingBoing and BoingBoing))

[…] Like I quoted from Barry Schwartz’s TED Talk, “Rules prevent disaster, but what they guarantee is mediocrity.”  Posted in Office Life, Enterprise 2.0, EUC 2.0 […]