It feels like you are implying a piety and competence in the vendors and an insanity in the Perl side that is not supported by the facts.

I'm not implying anything, just drawing attention to what is writ large all around.

Platforms -- whether vendor or in-house -- move slowly. Whilst Linux distributions may allow individuals to co-install later versions of third-party packages, in-house platforms rarely do.

A family member -- a UK civil servant -- has just taken delivery of her hot-desk/home working laptop. I helped guide her connecting it to her home wifi. She had trouble establishing the VPN connection, which turned out to be a switch on the machine in the wrong position. But whilst trying to guide her through investigating the problem, it rapidly became clear that the machine and OS is so locked down that it was impossible to do *anything*. No command line; no accessible local drives; no unsigned usb devices; nothing but what was installed and encrypted by the platform developers. It will not change for 3 years.

A few years ago, I helped define and set-up the platform delivery and maintenance network for the 13 government departments that run an entire European country. It was more flexible than the UK setup, but it still required ministerial level sign-off to add 'extras' for particular sub-departments and individuals. And that required at least 6 months of trial before approval. The initial platform rolled out lasted 5 years before it got any substantial upgrade

The 6 year wait for defined-or was far too long, but it's my opinion that this has now swung too far the other way

I have no expectation of my opinion having any influence on those that make such decisions. But maybe some real-life examples and the opinions of someone like Matt Asay might.

With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'
Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority".
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice.

The start of some sanity?

In reply to Re^5: What is a really old version of Perl? (Instability == death knell) by BrowserUk
in thread What is a really old version of Perl? by Argel

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