[Typo3] Some feedback to TYPO3 marketeers

[Dimitri Tarassenko]

Christopher,

> -- You assume there was only one 'best' technical solution for the
> project I was competing for: false (Typo3 has the occasional weakness
> you know...)

I agree, however, I assumed that if you went as far as asking Kasper
for permission that at the time Typo3 was your best choice and this
was the last question you wanted resolved. You also sounded like this
issue was the main factor in your decision not to use Typo3 (or so was
my understanding).

> -- You imply that it would be sound practice to exclude one's own
> ethical concerns from business decision-making processes: false

I agree with you. I often refuse to do things out of ethical concerns
(such as spam, link farms or collecting confidential information
without SSL for example), but I always feel comfortable explaining to
the customer who asks for it why I am not doing so. I doubt that you
told your customer "I was also considering other platform, but they
don't like what you are doing and they don't want you to be using
their product". And that's not your fault - that precisely shows how
absurd the "Moral License" is.

> -- You equate my choice to use one software package instead of another
> to bid in an open, competitive process to the actions of paternalistic
> phamacists interfering in a doctor-patient relationship: false,
> insulting and trivializing of the latter issue.

In other words, if this was not an open bidding process, but, say, you
were employed by that customer and had to make the best choice, you
would have used Typo3, despite Kasper's or your own moral
reservations? If your answer to this is yes, then I take my words
back.

I apologize if you were insulted by the comparison. To me, the
pharmacists case was an example of lack of professionalism. Just as
(in my opinion), it is extremely unprofessional in software,
engineering or science to come up with things like "Moral License" and
unprofessional to follow such policies.

If the client in question was "in grey area" as far as _your_ moral
standards are concerned, you shouldn't have bid on the project at all.
If it was _Kasper's_ "grey area", and not yours, your decision to
follow his wishes does look like you placed Kasper's interests above
those of your potential client.

However, the most likely scenario is that you acted out of your own
interest and preferred not to create a potential conflict with Kasper
by using Typo3 for something _he_ doesn't like but you are fine with.
In my book, as anything that makes it harder to use Typo3, this is
Typo3's _defect_, and as such it has to be fixed.

--
Dimitri Tarassenko