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RE: A language idea: Elle



The client is a government agency who hired one set of consultants to
write the RFP. My impression is:

1. Their main fear is that something will go badly wrong and they will
find themselves in the centre of a publicity nightmare. Very reasonable,
when you take into account the fact that Toronto newspapers have been
filled with the ongoing saga of city computer contracts that are alleged
to have been mishandled.

2. The client hires the consultants to write the RFP. If anyone asks,
they obtained 'expert advice'. If things go sideways, the RFP can't be
to blame.

3. The consultants understand their brief: write an RFP that is
unquestionable. No time to explore the potential benefits of a language
with macros: recommend something that is safe. There is absolutely no
incentive for the consultants to do anything else: they do not get a pat
on the back if they write an RFP that results in lower bids from
contractors. And if the contract blows up, as long as they have
recommended something safe, they can blame the contractor and/or the
client for mismanagement.

JM2C.

--
Reginald Braithwaite-Lee <http://www.braithwaite-lee.com/>
(416) 82-REG-88

"Climbing is the lazy man's way to enlightenment. It forces you to pay
attention, because if you don't, you won't succeed, which is minor--or
you may get hurt, which is major. Instead of years of meditation, you
have this activity that forces you to relax and monitor your breathing
and tread that line between living and dying. When you climb, you always
are confronted with the edge. Hey, if it was just like climbing a
ladder, we all would have quit a long time ago."    - Duncan Ferguson