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|In: Industry Commentary|Last Updated:

The session was titled End User Computing. I thought it was a grammatical error … I expected it to be about end-user computing, not about how to end … as in prevent … user computing.

And to be fair, the panelists didn’t advocate ending it. One, a credentialed authority on security, pointed out … somewhat grudgingly, but she did point out … that the lockdown era is over. Given the proliferation of end-user devices and the increase in travelers, teleworkers, contract labor and so on, locking down every access point is no longer practical.

In its place is a better approach, which emphasizes protection of information assets rather than making hardening all access points the centerpiece.

The other panelist lead a team within IT responsible for developing apps and such for the company’s customers and employees use on their personal smartphones and tablets. His focus was creating innovative products for end-user computing devices.

And then they were done.

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|In: Industry Commentary|Last Updated:

Most new words start out precisely describing specific concepts. But then (in business at least), repetition on the part of people who don’t know any better and are too busy or lazy to look it up eventually drains out all meaning beyond “good.” Or “bad.”

Take, for example, “disruptive technology,” which doesn’t mean “a technology that disrupts a marketplace.”

Clayton Christensen coined the term in his brilliant The Innovator’s Dilemma (1997), so basic good manners say he gets to define it. It’s supposed to describe technologies that, when first introduced, provide little or no value for current uses.

Christensen’s original case study looked at disk drives, starting with 8″ drive technology, which when introduced was far too limited to support the mainframe computers that constituted the main market for storage devices.

It was, however, perfect for the emerging minicomputer marketplace. Which did not make it disruptive.

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