Java Overdoes It.
Friday, December 8th, 2006 by Admiral_CoeymanI’ve spent much of the last week having a crash course in javascript. Right now, I am apt to refer to it as the 19′th century solution to twenty-first century problems. In all this time, every important function that I have tried to find has been missing. You may never know how bad I want to give up right now.
The major advantage of open source software is that the developers actually use what they code. I have been a contributor on a couple of projects. You will find my name on the Internet if you look hard enough. Tirades are only my latest accomplishment. In the event that I cannot come up with miracles in the near future, they may be my only achievement for quite some time to come.
There is a great advantage in having the people who fix the code actually have to use the code. You do end up with a large number of features that are only cute toys, but they work. Programmers who have to use their own products have to share the disappointments that the rest of us endure on a daily basis. And, they are in a position to do something about it.
Would it be a similar advantage if everybody had to use his own products? At least the decision makers of industry should have to go through the same things that their customers do. They are no better than we are. It pays to put the problems in the hands of the people who are in a position to do something.
That is also the genius of representative government. Representative government is dying out in the world. We have come to believe that our rulers are somehow better than we are. They need more time in office to use their advanced experience. Term limits would rob us of their vast reserve of political skills. Otherwise, our leaders would have to live and work amongst us; the unwashed masses.
Not centralizing authority, in industry or government, keeps the power available to corruption at a minimum. But, we have come to believe in rule by experts. We think of ourselves as children, living in the absence of responsibility and authority so that we do not have to concern ourselves with adult matters. The brilliance of our forefathers is lost on us.
My mind is beginning to wander, so maybe I should conclude my stand up philosophy for the day. Did I make any sense?




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