Computer magazine illustrations whether for the domestic or industrial markets are pretty dreadful. Most publishers believe stock photos and screen-shots are good enough for their art-less geeky readerships.

A good illustration, cartoon or caricature is something to be celebrated especially when it captures an idea. The illustration you see came from a IT trade free magazine and I apologize to the creator that I don’t have their name and cannot attribute it. It has been on the wall in my office for nearly a decade.

It clearly shows one of the central con-tricks of the software industry, the continual pressure and eventual necessity to upgrade – which puts an organisation in a new position not much different from where they were before. (Do people do more with Word 2010 than they did with Word 97? or even WordStar 2.3 for those of us that go back that far.)

In a gee-whiz technology environment it’s rare to get a thoughtful critical illustration like this. More!

(If the illustrator concerned or anyone that knows them can help me attribute the picture I will update this post immediately. I will also pull it down if they feel their copyright is being abused)