Late adoption is sort of the anti-innovation, and since innovation is such a major theme in technology blogs and the IT world in general, I thought I would take a moment and give equal time to the other perspective on the latest and greatest.

Although the article is about individuals who cling to old technology because it works, this New York Times story could be equally applicable to many businesses. Wasn't it just a couple weeks ago we were talking about Seattle School District's old VAX based student placement system (more on that in upcoming posts)?

I think that many people who are infatuated with technology and who are always in search of the latest and greatest tend to underestimate the value that stability and consistency have for a large segment of the populace. Fortunately, I think that most CIOs recognize this (after all, who gets called on the carpet when "new" becomes "broken"?) and have a steadying effect on adoption rates in business, but I have seen both techs and executives with a fetish for the latest and greatest do a lot of damage to staff productivity by taking away something familiar and functional and replacing it with something new and unstable.

So, what's really wrong with that old VAX in the basement, anyway? The hardware may atrophy, but software doesn't wear out; if it works, it works.