This document summarizes the role of monastic scholarship during the Dark Ages, the impact of the printing press and secular humanism during the Renaissance, how IT solutions evolved with the second platform era, the effects of cloud computing in the Age of the Cloud, and opportunities for IT during the Renaissance. Specifically:
1) During the Dark Ages, monks preserved knowledge by hand copying manuscripts and helped advance fields like science, medicine, and classics through their scholarly work.
2) The printing press drove the Renaissance by making books affordable and widespread, increasing literacy and exposure to classical texts which influenced new artistic and philosophical movements.
3) In the second platform era, IT solutions were complex individual projects that took years to complete
Merck Moving Beyond Passwords: FIDO Paris Seminar.pptx
Dark Clouds & Silver Linings
1. Dark Clouds & Silver Linings
• The Dark Ages & Monastic Scholarship
• The Renaissance and Secular Humanism
• IT During the Era of the Second Platform
• The Age of The Cloud
• The IT Renaissance
Anthony Owen D’Errico
EMC² | Emerging Technology Division
Regional Territory Manager – OK | AR
Mobile: (405) 513-2971
2.
3. Book of Hours, Valencia
circa 1460
Collection of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek
Books were beautiful works of Art (e.g. Illuminated Manuscripts)
Monastic Scholarship in the Dark Ages
These handcrafted masterpieces were
created by specially trained monks
They focused mainly on religious texts
They were only available to the Clergy, the
Nobility and the Wealthy
4. Jean Miélot copying manuscripts in a scriptorium
circa 1450
Self Portrait
Creating these works of Art was a lifelong pursuit
Monastic Scholarship in the Dark Ages
These monks were equal parts author
translator, illustrator, scribe and priest
Their work was performed in specially-
designed scriptoria
Some books took multiple lifetimes to
complete
5. “Le Livre et le vraye hystoire du bon roy Alixandre”
Master of the Royal Alexander, C. 1420
British Library
Monks became stewards of nearly all human knowledge in this period
Monastic Scholarship in the Dark Ages
The Clergy also created and preserved new
material in Science, Medicine, Farming and
the Classics
6. “Les élèves sont assis sur le sol avec la tonsure”
Grandes Chroniques de France
Late 14th Century
The majority of scholarship took place inside the Church
Monastic Scholarship in the Dark Ages
Institutional knowledge was passed on within
the Church and to those they tutored
The common man relied on oral traditions and
communal knowledge to advance society
7. Agenda: Dark Clouds & Silver Linings
• The Dark Ages & Monastic Scholarship
• The Renaissance and Secular Humanism
• IT During the Era of the Second Platform
• The Age of The Cloud
• The IT Renaissance
8. By 1480 there were 110 printing presses in operation
By the end of the 15th century the printed book was in
universal use throughout Europe
Illuminated Manuscripts were produced primarily for the
Church and Nobility, and eventually died out completely
The Renaissance and Secular Humanism
In 1440 Johannes Gutenberg introduced his moveable type press
Functioning reproduction of original Gutenberg Press
One-third scale
C. 1877
9. “Gutenberg und seine Mitarbeiter bei der Arbeit”
Lithograph
Gutenberg-Museum Mainz
The Renaissance and Secular Humanism
Books could now be created with comparative ease by common tradesmen
Printing presses began turning out
leaflets and pamphlets, increasing the
reach of the written word
Advancements in printing technology
drove down costs and further increased
literacy
10. “Shakespeare Reading” by William Page
1873-1874
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Renaissance and Secular Humanism
The availability of the printed word had far-ranging consequences
The Classics, which until 1490 had been preserved in monasteries
and hand-copied by monks, could now easily be spread among
the literate classes of Europe
These ancient texts led to the growth of new artistic, literary and
philosophical movements throughout the Renaissance
Shakespeare, not an aristocrat but just a merchant from a small
town in England, was now able to read Greek and Roman texts,
which would have a profound effect on his own writings
11. Renaissance humanism sought to create a citizenry that could
read and write with eloquence and clarity
This was to be accomplished by researching the studia
humanitatis: grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry, and philosophy
This would allow the common man to engage in civic life,
creating wider societal benefits for all
The Renaissance and Secular Humanism
New authors began to attack the status quo
Page from “Das Narrenschiff” by Sebastian Brant
C. 1497
Gutenberg-Museum Mainz
12. Agenda: Dark Clouds & Silver Linings
• The Dark Ages & Monastic Scholarship
• The Renaissance and Secular Humanism
• IT During the Era of the Second Platform
• The Age of The Cloud
• The IT Renaissance
13. Complex solutions require knowledge
from all disciplines:
• Compute
• Storage
• Network
• Application
IT Solutions are like Beautiful Snowflakes
IT During the Era of the Second Platform
14. Complexity pushes out the timeline:
• Application Updates
• Server Patching
• Storage Deployment
• Network Upgrades
• Scope Creep
Enterprise Projects can take years to complete
IT During the Era of the Second Platform
15. “Might as well be Witchcraft”
• Boolean Algebra
• Amdahl’s Law
• Regression Testing
• Shotgun Debugging
• Boehm Garbage Collecting
Nobody in “The Business” really knows what IT does
IT During the Era of the Second Platform
16. There was no alternative due to:
• CAPEX Models
• Internal Controls
• Application/Platform Specificity
• Service Provider Maturity
Internal IT was the ONLY RESOURCE to get your projects done
IT During the Era of the Second Platform
17. Agenda: Dark Clouds & Silver Linings
• The Dark Ages & Monastic Scholarship
• The Renaissance and Secular Humanism
• IT During the Era of the Second Platform
• The Age of The Cloud
• The IT Renaissance
18. The Age of the Cloud
People Centric
Agile
Flexible
Self-Service
Developer Centric
Lower effort
Automated
Fast to provision
Resilient
Integrated Lifecycle
Management
Efficient/
Transparent
Cost per Unit
Use Reporting
Less expensive
Only use what you need
“The Cloud” isn’t a product- you can’t buy it shrink-wrapped
19. Solutions that were once individually
complicated projects are now
deployed with the push of a button:
• File Shares
• Web Sites
• Database Servers
• Virtual LANs
IT Solutions have become commodities
The Age of the Cloud
20. “The Business” demands increased speed, flexibility
and reliability from IT solutions
Users expect IT solutions to be deployed at the same
speed as consumer-grade solutions (e.g. mobile
applications)
The Cloud has sped up the deployment of new technology
The Age of the Cloud
21. The Age of the Cloud
IT staff cannot keep up with the increase in theoretical complexity
The level of complexity IT staffs face
today is increasing at an exponential
rate
The Cloud will create more jobs, but
not fast enough to keep up with the
real increase in complexity
“The Business” will still demand IT
staffs to do more with less
22. The Age of the Cloud
For the first time ever, “The Business” has a choice
Internal IT resources are not the de
facto option for deploying IT projects
Individual departments with budgetary
autonomy can shop numerous cloud
providers for server, storage and
application resources
“Shadow IT” is on the rise, creating
security and governance risks for
organizations
23. Agenda: Dark Clouds & Silver Linings
• The Dark Ages & Monastic Scholarship
• The Renaissance and Secular Humanism
• IT During the Era of the Second Platform
• The Age of The Cloud
• The IT Renaissance
24. The IT Renaissance
The business
tends to focus
and drive
revenue above
the line
People
Traditional IT
infrastructure
groups expend
more effort below
the line than
above
26. The IT Renaissance
People
• What do you want to be great at?
• What are you responsible for?
• Does it give you a unique advantage?
• Is it sustainable?
• What is the opportunity cost?
• How else could you better serve the
business?
• How could you move from cost center to
profit center?
27. Go Paint Your Masterpiece
“The Birth of Venus”
Botticelli
C. 1485
Notas del editor
Medieval Europe. One of the darkest periods known to mankind: Pestilence and plague, darkness and fear, witch-hunts and illiteracy roam the land. It is a world where most people seldom leave their place of birth for any distance longer than 10 miles, where few people even live beyond the age of 30. In this inhospitable milieu, secluded in the scriptoria of cold monasteries, under the light of feeble oil lamps, mittened against the biting cold; some of the greatest book designers that ever lived, created some of the most beautiful books the world has ever seen. The colophons of the their creations are testimony to their short lives since most of the books that they worked upon were only completed in several of their brief lifetimes, one scribe replacing the other over decades. We call these beautiful books Illuminated Manuscripts.
Jean Miélot, also Jehan, (born Gueschard, Picardy, died 1472) was an author, translator, manuscript illuminator, scribe and priest, who served as secretary to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy from 1449 to Philip's death in 1467, and then to his son Charles the Bold.[1] He also served as chaplain to Louis of Luxembourg, Count of St. Pol from 1468, after Philip's death.[2] He was mainly employed in the production of de luxe illuminated manuscripts for Philip's library. He translated many works, both religious and secular, from Latin or Italian into French, as well as writing or compiling books himself, and composing verse. Between his own writings and his translations he produced some twenty-two works whilst working for Philip,[3] which were widely disseminated, many being given printed editions in the years after his death, and influenced the development of French prose style.
Detail of a miniature of a landscape with clerks studying astronomy and geometry, holding an armillary sphere, a set square, and compasses.
Gutenberg and his Staff at Work
By 1480, the printing press had spread to over 100 cities in Europe, and with its spread came the spread of knowledge. Old classical texts, which until 1490 had been preserved in monasteries and copied by hand only by monks, could now easily be spread among the literate classes of Europe. These ancient texts led to the growth of new artistic, literary and philosophical movements throughout the Renaissance. A writer such as Shakespeare, for example, not an aristocrat but just a merchant from a small town in England, was now able to read Greek and Roman texts, which would have a profound effect on his own writings.
“The Ship of Fools” is one of the earliest examples of humanism and the new, revolutionary views on Christianity emerging in the 15th century. The work immediately became extremely popular, with six authorised and seven pirated editions published before 1521.
Renaissance humanism was a response to the utilitarian approach associated with medieval scholasticism.[2] Humanists sought to create a citizenry able to speak and write with eloquence and clarity and thus capable of engaging in the civic life of their communities and persuading others to virtuous and prudent actions. This was to be accomplished through the study of the studia humanitatis, today known as the humanities: grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry, and moral philosophy.
There are only three areas of technology that are the core to your competitive advantage. Applications are where revenue, features, and productivity flow from. They don’t become “real’ until they are pushed to agile infrastructure. Once deployed service delivery teams take up the baton to deliver the new features/applications to end users. Service Delivery teams often manage devices, support apps, take help desk calls, and train the users on new functionality. They have many touch points with the user and thus typically receive feedback first. If users want new features, find bugs, or are confused by the new release the Service Delivery team provides that feedback to the Apps team and the cycle begins again.