I found out that I am actually from an alternate universe. I discovered this when I tried to use the latest beta release of IE7 for a website I created. In the universe I am from Microsoft promised a year ago to make IE 7 compliant with W3C standards.

I think you can see where I am going with this. In the universe I am from there is only one difference–Microsoft follows standards.

Let me tell you about that universe.

Microsoft is a small but influential operating system developer. It’s owner and founder, Bill Gates, is well known in the industry, and though he was famous during the 1980s, his operating system company is mostly in the background now, overshadowed by developers of office suites, networking protocols, and web browsers that all follow a strict set of standards. Though Microsoft also develops these types of programs, they are merely showpieces that only a few hard core Microsoft fanatics use on a daily basis.

It’s a universe where engineers from Microsoft and Sun Microsystems greet each other with warm hugs at national conferences. Team leaders exchange email addresses so they can discuss how their developers are doing their best to comply with the standards that they worked so hard together to design. Web 2.0 has been around for a couple of years, there is talk of Web 2.5, and the internet has actually made a positive difference.

So you can imagine my disappointment when I tested my web page on a beta release of IE7. I don’t really want to talk about IE7 and W3C standards in this article, you can find a piece about that here.

What I do want to talk about is life as a computer technician in a world where companies follow standards.

In short, life for a technician in that universe is boring. Things work the way they are supposed to. Networking computers is as simple as plugging them in. Put a Mac on a Microsoft network? No problem.

As a technician in the alternate universe I have a boring job. Most of my time is spent reading about new standards that will be common place in a couple of years. Occasionally–once or twice a week–I get a call about a problem that almost invariable is due to hardware failure. However, because my clients follow the standards set out for backups and redundancy, and the hardware vendors have implemented standards-based warning systems and diagnostics, it’s obvious within minutes which component has failed, and my job is to simply replace it. I do most of the diagnostics from my office, and the only time I see my client is when I replace the hardware. Data loss is an 80s thing.

When a business wants a new system it’s usually an easy install. Data is easy to transfer from one software vendor to another. The hard drives from the old system are cloned onto the new system, and all the drivers just work. The whole process takes about two hours for ten computers. Users only notice that their computers are faster, and a few new features that they have been trained to use beforehand.

As a technician that interfaces with their user base, companies pay me to help design new features in their software. I go online for an hour a day to talk with these developers, in a virtual boardroom. The chat is lively and ideas are flowing back and forth. Most of the more influential companies are represented, and no-one keeps secrets. I’ve got a buddy from Microsoft and one from Netscape who come up once a year to go fishing at my cabin.

At the end of the day I drive home in my electric car and have a nice meal with my family. We watch a show or two, then before going to bed I get on the internet to try, just for the heck of it, Microsoft’s new internet browsing software, a beta release of IE7. Not to see if it is actually following W3C standards–of course it is–but just because, hey, good for you Microsoft, for joining in on the fun.