All this sturm und drang resulted in me taking a bit of a detour regarding my story: What started out as an article about a pundit saying some silly things about our IT quickly turned into a review of the arguments of some very silly people firmly sticking their collective feet in their respective mouths. This demanded a closer look at the actual contents of Carr's article, as well as a range of views and theories on the same theme that had been doing the rounds for some time prior (albeit without the fanfare).

My overriding assessment of most of the responses was that they were just half-baked, and did no credit to the IT industry at all. A lot of people were spouting a lot of ill-informed words for little benefit. It was extremely disappointing.

Amongst it all, there were reasoned and unbiased assessments, both pro and con, many coming from the ranks of IT professionals who had just as much to lose as vendors but who approached the argument intellectually and dispassionately. Many of the IT pros even seemed to have read the article.

Down the Road

So what has happened since the original article appeared? What legacy have those three little words left in their wake? Would Carr change anything?

At a personal level, Carr published a book, more moderately titled Does IT Matter?, which received more cautious reviews, with little vituperation. And he's made a motza (relatively) on the speaking circuit.

"I think the main legacy has been to promote a more strategic view of information technology among IT managers and departments, one that takes into account whether IT investments can be expected to create competitive advantages and barriers to competition," Carr recently told this author. "The article and the book also, I think, helped give business and IT executives a shared language for discussing the role, benefits and risks of IT - something that had often been lacking in the past. As for IT vendors, I sense they've become at least a little more hesitant about making grand claims about the strategic power of their products."

Carr says, if given the chance, he probably wouldn't change anything. "I certainly wouldn't change the title of the original HBR piece. And I think the book does a good job of expressing my views in a full and balanced way. I'm sure I could find flaws in some of my responses to the debate, but I can't remember any horribly egregious mistakes.

"In general, I think the debate was positive and constructive, even when it was heated," Carr says. "Some of the immediate responses to the article, particularly from industry bigwigs like Steve Ballmer and Carly Fiorina, seemed a little reactionary, but I guess that's only natural when your ox is getting gored. I hope the discussion of the issues continues."

Indeed it does. The catchphrase is still quoted, normally in a more positive version ("You bet IT/it does"), but the views Carr expressed then still have relevance today.

Sure, the IT industry has not collapsed in a heap and there is still a regular flow of hype and glory from IT vendors. But Carr's article has set a benchmark - not to mention a catchphrase - that is regularly referenced today.

As recently as March of this year, David Moschella, global research director at Leading Edge Forum, wrote in Computerworld (Australia) that his firm's research shows that "a little more than a quarter of business executives believe that their use of IT gives them . . . direct advantages in their markets". He goes on to suggest that "there is a real opportunity for IT organizations to raise their profile by articulating how well aligned they are with their company's overall competitive positioning".

"It's not a difficult exercise," Moschella adds, "but when was the last time you really did it?"

Perhaps we should all go back and reread the article or, for some of you, read it for the first time.

For the record, Carr is not leaving the IT field. He says he is currently interested in the broader economic and social consequences of cheap, ubiquitous computing. "What does it mean when all of us have access to essentially unlimited amounts of processing power, data storage and network bandwidth? Is it going to make the world a better place, as the techno-utopians believe, or a worse one? I'm working on a book that will examine this subject. I'm also discussing it, and other things, on a blog I launched about a year ago, at roughtype.com. And I continue to give lectures about the business role of IT and how it continues to change."