Qualifiers are for lawyers, not writers.
“In the absence of exogenous factors it’s generally true that 2 + 2 = 4. Notwithstanding the above, accepted mathematics applies except when unforeseen circumstances lead to different conclusions,” is, to be charitable, ungraceful.
When accuracy and good writing collide, though, accuracy should win. It didn’t in last week’s column on ITIL and The Cloud. I erred on the side of good writing, leaving out a necessary qualifier.
Fog is just a cloud you can touch.
So instead of “Private Cloud,” wouldn’t “Fog” be a better choice?
You can, interestingly enough, build ITIL-compatible Fogs. The Cloud? Far less likely. As last week’s interview with ITIL guru Rick LiaBraaten revealed, The Cloud is deficient with respect to at least four ITIL core processes: Problem Management, Availability Management, Performance Management, and Change Management. We covered the first three of these last week (“ITIL vs The Cloud: Pick One,” KJR, 1/10/2011). To continue:
