You Have To Start Somewhere

All right. I give in.

I have a way of resisting the next wave. I avoided getting a cellular telephone forever. But I ultimately gave in, and I can't do without it. The same with a blog...but, like everyone else, I need to move somewhat with the times.

The plan? To use this forum as an opportunity to report and comment on events in the computer storage industry, which I have been witnessing for over 18 years. For those who ask "Who in chaos is this guy?" I will answer. My name, Mark Ferelli. I spent many, many years in trade journalism, and was editor in chief of Computer Technology Review in its heyday. I was one of the early folks who recognized that storage was only peripheral in the sense of topology. It is, in fact, one of the three legs upon which computing stands, along with processing and connectiviity.

The people who buy, sell and use storage technologies are a mixed bag, Saints and sinners, innovators and retrofitters...much like anyone else. They make good decisions and bad ones, and the consequences create dynamics that this and other blogs take on and examine.

Although storage observations are going to be the lifeblood of the blog, I'd like to take a minute to discuss technology journalism and the information to be gleaned from modern electronic media. It should come as a surprise to practically nobody that print journalism is in significant pain. Since magazines rarely charged readers a subscription fee, the trade press lives and dies by advertising revenue. Since time immemorial, trade journalism has been considered something of a red-headed stepchild by mainstream journalists and editors because of a perceived bias, real or imaginary, on the part of trade editors and reporters. There was a suggestion that those who filled the advertising coffers received better, more frequent editorial treatment. It is a suggestion that many ethical editors, myself included, fought with everything they could muster. The duty in trade publishing's editorial venues is to the reader. The duty in trade publishing's business departments is to a small universe (too small, as it turns out) of advertisers who appreciate the magazines circulation base and the editorial product. Sometimes, those duties conflict.

But now, the very essence of trade publishing has changed. The readers, be they users of storage products, integrators who put together subsystems, designers and engineering talent, are looking more and more to the Internet to get their information. The stacks of magazines that stood like the tower of Babel on the edge of a desk have diminished as allegiance is pledged to a favorite blogger, website or on-line publication. This is not necessarily a bad thing...I hope not, since I am giving it a swing. But there is a caveat...readers need to be more discerning than ever before.

There is a great temptation for readers to seek out information, not for its usefulness, but for its agreeability. The reader is looking for input that he or she will agree with...sort of electronic yes-men. Useful coverage of events and developments can appear in these spaces, but sometimes only as afterthought. And blogs are also recognized as stellar promotional media for people and products alike. (Me, too.) It is not always the single most reliable place for objective, actionable information. There is electronic media still dedicated to journalistic mores such as objectivity, fairness, and thoroughness. But finding them is rare. I'd invite readers who stumble on this blog to let me know where and whether you find the kind of information that you can really use as the basis for making technology decisions. Or am I just a latter-day Diogenes?

Cheers.