Apple; System Boundaries LO16494

Mnr AM de Lange (amdelange@gold.up.ac.za)
Mon, 12 Jan 1998 13:09:57 GMT+2

Replying to LO16455 --

Dear organlearners,

Eric Budd <EBUDD@aol.com> writes:

>AM de Lange writes:
> > is Microsoft in the world of software companies a normal cell, or is it a
> > cancerous cell which thrives to the detriment of normal cells?
>
> (I have missed the rest of the discussion comparing MS/Apple, so what
> follows may have been addressed already.)
>
> A wonderful way to destroy an organizational system is to misunderstand
> the boundaries of that system.

...snip...

Eric, I had to snip all what you have written because it is all very
important [big grin]!

[Host's Note: "...hate to snip..." ??]

What you have done in my view, is to describe and apply the seventh
essentiality of creativity ("paradigm-open") to account for the downfall
of Apple in the face of its competitors.

People often ask me to give an account of these essentialities, especially
in private email. I find it tempting to do so, but I sadly have to resist.
The one reason is that their discovery and interpretation is important to
my book. The other reason is that conceptualising them will have to happen
by emergent learning rather than importing their meaning and trust it to
memory. Eric has given me a promising case study to refer you to.

Eric has offered a specific reason why Apple former emergences degraded
into an immergence. I agree with him. Maybe we are both wrong on the
reason. However,

* Eric's whole contribution in LO16455 concerns a description
* and application of the essentiality "paradigm-open" from his
* viewpoint.

It is now up to you who want to know more about the seven essentialities
to find out what I meant by the indented sentence.

Eric's contribution also touches slightly on two other essentialities,
namely "associativity-monadicity" (wholeness) and "quality-variety"
(rangeness). See if you can identify the relevant sentences.

Eric, your last sentence has an omnious warning.
"Had Apple's management team better appreciated a system, we might
still be benefiting from Apple's spirit and innovation."
I have written before that the "culture" of humankind is to an large
extend in competition with "nature". Now consider Apple as a
metaphor for humankind and its culture. Let us reformulate your
question:
"Had the management team of humankind and its culture better
appreciated a system, we might still be benefiting from humankind's
spirit and innovation."
Who will be uttering these words? Think of the movie "Planet of the
apes" as one possibility to get your mind moving.

Best wishes

-- 

At de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre for Education University of Pretoria Pretoria, South Africa email: amdelange@gold.up.ac.za

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