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>>> Competition is healthy. Monopoly and State mandate is actively
>>> unhealthy. Go forth and multiply... certifiably.
>
>>Competition is wasteful, works against common standards, and ends in
>>monopoly.
>That's a myth.
Tell Bill Gates that... <g>
>>Officially sanctioned monopoly is wasteful, bureaucratic, and works
>>against innovation.
>That's certainly true, but doesn't go nearly far enough.
But, with a big caveat, officially sanctioned monopoly is generally *safer*
than any private competition or privately-owned monopoly can be.
The big caveat is this: If there is a scientifically-testable means of
finding out the best way to do something, and if it can be proved without
doubt that something has been done one way or the other, then I am more than
happy for there to be a state monopoly on certifying people fit to do that
thing. A private company's first objective is not to deliver the best
possible service (no matter what the mission statement says): a private
company's first objective is to maximise profit. In the UK, we've just had a
sharp lesson in what happens when a private company takes over what used to
be a state monopoly and runs it to maximise profit.
In something like the safe running of train services, or the best way to
operate for gallstones, the best practice is provable, testable, and
certified by centuries of experience - and if you start veering away from
the best practice, you have to be able to prove that you are establishing a
new best practice that is *provably* better than the old way of doing
things.
None of this applies to technical writing. (With the exception of being able
to spell, punctuate, and create grammatically-correct sentences: and that,
while essential, isn't sufficient.) It might be possible to set up some kind
of modular qualification, similiar to the exams accountants have to pass:
but again, accountants have more agreement of what is "best practice" than
we do.
Jane Carnall
Technical Writer, Digital Bridges, Scotland
Unless stated otherwise, these opinions are mine, and mine alone.
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