It's just that I have such a high regard for IT workers and what you do that I simply can't ignore the stark contrast I see between the IT vendor community and the IT user community. And since those communities not only overlap but are really constituencies of the same profession, the actions of IT vendors matter to me because they reflect on that profession.

The contrast has to do with the fact that whereas the user community tends to engage in practical pursuits that advance technology, the vendor community tends to get bogged down in nonsensical activities that bend the mind.

Take Oracle's recent decision to bow out of the vendor lobbying cabal known as the Information Technology Association of America. According to Robert Hoffman, Oracle's vice president of congressional and legislative affairs, one reason for the decision was that ITAA President Harris Miller was planning to run against incumbent George Allen for one of Virginia's U.S. Senate seats.

"It concerned many of us at Oracle that Harris would consider challenging Sen. Allen" in light of the latter's accomplishments on technology issues, Hoffman said. "We as an industry should support our friends and stand by them."

Now, wait a minute. Oracle is saying it left the ITAA partly because it didn't like Miller trying to unseat Allen. But if Oracle is unhappy with Miller, why leave the ITAA, the outfit that would no longer have Miller running it, in protest? How irrational is that?