Now we all step back and calm down …

Yesterday Vowe’s post about a leaked information made a few people quite angry.

First I want to respond to respond to Peter Presnells post.
He suspects the leak in the beta program. Sorry, Peter, but I am in the 8.5.4 program and I didn’t know s… about it. I was as surprised as the rest of us.
Volker never said, where his information came from. It is just Peter, who suspects it. I think it is not fair, that Peter throws all of us in the same bucket, damaging our reputations, while the circle of possible suspects is much much smaller but might include IBM and GBS, too.
I have seen this before. Sometimes even IBMers don’t know exactly what information is ready to be told and what not, especially if you ask a straight question while sitting in a public presentation. That’s only human and in this case, what damage has been done? Really not a lot. For most of the information the writing was on the wall. Ed has blogged about the naming of the next clients and until now, it is still just a rumor. It hasn’t been confirmed by IBM and it might well surprise us with a totally other name. The beta program isn’t over yet and nobody knows, what makes it to the final product (that’s what betas are for).
What has Volker done wrong? Nothing, if he hasn’t been told not to tell anybody and he is clever enough, not to kill a source, he might need in the future (@ Volker, ich weiss, Du brauchst meine Verteidigung nicht, aber ich fühle mich hier ein bisschen persönlich angegriffen).

Peters reaction damages my reputation as a blogger and a member of beta programs since Notes 6 and those of my colleagues who weren’t even close to the crime site. It damages PlanetLotus. That is an amazingly good result, what is still a mere rumour.

Now what? For most of us, it’s a storm in the teacup. It’s old news already, but shooting at everybody just hoping to hit the right one, just isn’t fair and killing the messenger neither.

And I don’t need him to apologise for me.

 

PS: Pssst. By his reaction, Peter inadvertely confirmed the rumour. Does he know more?

 

 

14 Gedanken zu „Now we all step back and calm down …“

        1. Rene, I believe the managed beta group has also had access to the 8.5.4 pre-releases. The issue, though, isn’t who has access to what code. It’s who has access to what presentation materials. There were only 3 presentations given by IBM on this particular topic, to 3 isolated and NDA-protected audiences.

          Volker has done the same thing he’s done for the last 5 years: he’s bullied his way into notoriety by treating other people like objects — in this case people in product management at IBM who now can only deliver old news into the market, and people in the NDA-protected programs with IBM, who will now receive less information from IBM about future plans, since the non-disclosures clearly mean nothing. By publishing confidential information, he has undermined trusted relationships and forced people into defensive positions.

          Maybe if he were exposing the evils of the rich and powerful, his actions might have merit. But he is not Julian Assange; he’s an IT paparazzi. He got an upskirt shot and he put it on his personal website to draw attention to himself. That might not be illegal or even unethical, but it is obnoxious, cheap and selfish. And as long as people like you keep apologizing for him, he’s going to keep abusing other people’s relationships for his own gain.

          2. Christian, I’m in frequent contact with Nathan, so I’m pretty sure that he doesn’t „attack“ me. And I think – regarding the last paragraph – „you“ isn’t „René“.

          3. Och, menno. Manchmal bin ich ja schon schwer von Begriff, aber das hatte ich dann auch noch gemerkt. Das war aber so eine schöne Gelegenheit, die konnte ich nicht ungenutzt verstreichen lassen. Und jetzt is se hin.

          4. I experience all the huffing and puffing as much more damaging than anything Vowe has written. Please take the fighting out of the public eye. As an asideI have yet to read a reason for WHY vowes publication would be damaging. I have read plenty of reasons (i.e. rabid posts) which qualify far more.

          5. You know what, I agree with you. What me made write this last post about it, was the fact, that Vowe.net isn’t on PlanetLotus anymore. Every post is gone. I think the PlanetLotus audience should know that … and some thoughts about „leaking“.
            But this is all old news by tomorow.

  2. If you did not have this information, Peter is not apologizing for you. And do you honestly think it likely that anyone at GBS would share information under NDA with Volker? Really? To be perfectly frank, if you do believe that, you really have not been paying much attention. I remain intrigued by how quickly people always jump to his defense whenever his words have consequences and attack anyone who calls him on it… and make no mistake, whether or not you agree that he did something „wrong“, his post did have consequences. The platform will be negatively impacted by this. Then again, the guy sure does know a lot about cameras and cell phones, so maybe that earns him the right to wreak occasional havoc in our community. Or is that just as ridiculous as it sounds?

    1. Peter said that he is apologizing for anyone in the beta programs and under NDA … hang on … yes, that includes me.
      I never said that somebody from GBS had leaked the information to Volker, I said that GBS is also in the circle of suspects, only because they have the leaked information (and who knows, somebody at GBS might still like Volker … worth a thought).
      I do not defend Volker in person, which I never met, I defend the messenger in general, which happens to be Volker this time.
      I am pretty sure that if it had not been Volker, it would have stayed what it is, a leak. Do we believe in leaks? Certainly not, it is still a rumor. We would all have waited on the confirmation from IBM, to be absolutely sure. IBM would not have said a word, as you do with leaks, and everything would have been fine. Since it was Volker, Peter jumped to the occasion, might be to settle open accounts (see I payed attention), and at the same time confirmed the rumor. What is worse in this case, telling the rumor/leaked information or confirming it? Could the later be seen as a breach of the NDA? I let others take that decision.
      Volker running havoc on PlanetLotus? Ah … wait … wait … devastation, widespread destruction … no PlanetLotus is still there. Or is it because you believe PlanetLotus will not survive without you and your colleagues (and that would be all Volkers fault)? I can not exclude this possibility, but you could be in for a surprise. But from my point of view, the most damage was not done by the messenger.

      1. I said, „wreak occasional havoc in our community“. I was referring to the global community of Lotus software professionals, for whom he routinely displays derision and spite, not the website known as PlanetLotus. PlanetLotus has nothing to do with any of this. Volker would still have a blog, even if PlanetLotus had never included it in its aggregation.

        „But from my point of view, the most damage was not done by the messenger.“ You are wrong. Had Volker kept what he was told to himself, IBM would not have known that a member of the Design Partner program had violated their NDA. Because he chose to tell the world, now IBM knows that a design partner disrespected their agreement to keep this information confidential. Because they do not know *which* design partner violated their NDA, their response to this incident will affect the entire Design Partner program. This is likely to have a long-term negative impact on the Domino platform. So yes, whoever his mysterious source is, they made a poor decision, and are ultimately the cause of whatever impacts this incident will have. But there would not have BEEN an incident had Volker decided not to publicly disclose the information he should not have been given in the first place; he directly triggered whatever damage will result. He can pretend his actions are defensible, or even innocent — he may even genuinely believe that — but that is simply not true.

  3. I think he was referring to the Design Partner program not the beta program, just a guess. The DP program gets lots more info than the other.

  4. It seems that some know more than others. I have no knowledge what has been happening in the DP forum and what consequences this had. I also did not find the leaked news spectacular at all. Maybe they are for others. Without knowing the whole story it is not easy to say who is right and who is wrong. All I can say is that it wasn’t me 😉

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