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Comment by blantonl | Hacker News Reader

I don't think we're witnessing the end of Sony, but we are certainly witnessing the end of their online ventures.

What is very interesting is that all of their Web properties seem so stove-piped. No common architectural direction, no standards, no common security defenses.

It's almost as if Sony's marketing departments are leading all Web development efforts for the company. No serious enterprise ever lets that happen.

Oh, wait... :) (Tongue in cheek)

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My experience with working for companies of a similar size in the beverage, fast food and running shoe industries is that the cost in money and time of developing on the corporate mandated development platform makes it impossible for marketing departments to deliver their crazy websites. This results in the marketing department paying to host websites outside of the corporate infrastructure. So I expect that Sony is letting its marketing departments lead their web development effort since most of the sites will be marketing sites.

I'd be surprised if the majority of their web properties were built in-house. A large chunk of the Japanese software industry is composed of companies that fight over contracts from the MNCs to do those kinds of projects (websites, software for embedded systems, customized software for internal use).

where did the term "stove-piped" come from? how did "stove piping" come to signify any system built in isolation from other systems?

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