A letter to Howard Dickson, director of the newly created Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Dear Mr Dickson,
The IT community of Hong Kong will certainly join me in welcoming you to your new position. Whatever Hong Kong may be, this is a place for convergence: east and west, old and new, traditional and modern, business and technology.
Despite initial successes in mobile phone and broadband penetration here, there are many who believe we have missed a number of opportunities. Hong Kong is thought to be a little too keen to make a quick profit rather than to think things through.
Large IT projects are notoriously difficult to implement, but Hong Kong seems especially adept at getting things wrong. Specifications and standards are often thought about after the fact. Many people joke about technology parks and projects that appear to be aimed more at developing real estate than IT.
Despite all this, we have several award-winning technology companies, although they often get little support from the community. I know of one company that spent days searching the internet for a company that could help them with their programming. When they found what many believed to be the best in that special area, they were shocked to find out it was a local company. Why hadn't they heard about this company earlier?