I believe that in any SUCCESSFUL business that has managed to rise above the rest--you ALWAYS see the idea that EVERY division and job title in a company is there as a tool to aid the rest and that everyone needs to get their way. Let the engineers, engineer (management, lawyers, developers and everyone should be helping them to successfully execute good engineering decisions), let the developers, develop (management, lawyers, engineers and everyone should be helping them to successfully execute good development decisions), and so on.

From my observations: when the management at the top pretends that they are the end-all and be-all of all knowledge in the company and stop being the managers and instead pretend they know all the best decisions for every element of a company, you will end up with either oppressive micromanagement or with a sloppy mess. Neither will work.

Seriously.. look around some some of the most successful and honest businesses that allow their engineers, developers, admins, etc. to have decision control or feedback in how a company runs.

It was VERY much appreciated on the customer end. I am not particularly interested in being a deep cynic here. I WANT to have brand loyalty, but I don't feel married to a brand that won't even talk to me or take care of me when I need support.

I regret that Tex was let go--I've always been glad to see someone at Nokia actively participating as if they were one of us and listened to the excited raves as well as the frustrated rants (and man, did I EVER rant a lot!). Thanks, Tex!