Re: Fastcode Community Social

From: Dennis (marianndkc_at_home3.gvdnet.dk)
Date: 12/28/04 

Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 11:52:25 +0100

Hi All

I am very interested in the differences between cultures. I once
participated in a seminar about this subject. It was organized by Siemens
Denmark, because we had problems working together with the germans. Most
problematic was the fact that danes are very informal and germans are quite
formal. They simply felt insulted when we wrote "Hi Peter" in the very first
email we sent them. They wanted us to write "Dear Doctor Peter Zimmerman" or
something like that. Our way seamed rude to them and we simply had to adopt
their formal way - at least until we had worked together for a while.

I think I see that americans generally is less interested in the details and
therefore their products lack quality compared to european and especially
japanese products. Roughly speaking an american car is assembled quite
sloppy and it will very often break, while a japanese car is running
forever. It is also strange for an european to see that american cars cannot
get around the corners without going sideways at 20 mph.

I believe I also see this tendency in SW from Borland and Microsoft. The big
picture is fine, but details are often messy. I think that the latest Delphi
release shows many signs of unfinished work in the details.

This is all just my impression and I would very much like to hear your
opinions.

Happy Newyear
Dennis