From Therapy to the Chorus

Started the day in Brick Lane today.  I was doing a market research interview about what would make me (as an business IT purchaser) feel inclined to choose one of the Linux brands over Microsoft.  These sessions are often interesting not because of the product they’re having me look at but because of what the questioning reveals about the way I think – or rather don’t think, but react.

Today has brought forth from my subconscious the fact that I perceive Linux in all of its various flavours (and by extension probably all open-source software) as of dubious quality because I feel it’s built by an undirected group of people; imagine a loose coalition of do-gooder  programmers, each with their own agenda, pulling it in their own direction, decisions taken by a big committee and you’ve got the idea.  That seems to be what was lurking underneath my conscious belief that Linux wasn’t really worth considering as a business system.

At the end of the session, I mentioned to the interviewer that I was really surprised that this seems to be what I believed and she observed that these interviews can be quite like therapy.  I’ve never had a problem that I’ve needed or wanted to see a psychologist (psychiatrist?) about, but now I’m curious.  It might be rather interesting to have someone poke around in my subconscious for a bit and see what other gems they come up with!

Having that interview first thing though meant I had a mountain of stuff waiting for attention when I got into work though, even with clearing some of it down through my PDA.  The rest of the morning was busy.

I had my second appointment with Lee S today.  He worked me quite a bit harder than he had on Friday and at the end of it I really felt like I’d had a workout.  So far though, no excessive aches or pains as a result…

After a busy afternoon, I walked across the river into Westminster where the Chorus’ Steering Committee was due to meet.  Ciaran M, the Chorus Secretary, had recently resigned and I’d been approached about being co-opted onto the committee to cover the role until the AGM.  The meeting was remarkably civilised, a vast improvement on my last participation and, while it ran long because some (many) members can be quite verbose, it felt productive and professional.  I won’t go so far as to say I enjoyed myself, but I certainly felt it was worthwhile.  Now it’s a case of seeing how great the workload is and deciding if I want to stand for a two year term at the AGM in April.