A quiet day
March 15th, 2010 | Published in Uncategorized
Since not much is going on here due to spring break, here’s a few interesting tidbits.
Today is the 25th anniversary of the first .com domain name registration, for Symbolics.com.
Tim Bray announced he was leaving Sun (now Oracle) a week or two ago; today he announced he’s working for Google, as a “Developer Advocate” focused on Android.
I must say I don’t see the way Apple locks down the iPhone (and soon the iPad) as quite as evil as he does. Not to imply that I agree completely with what Apple does here—in particular I think the rules for accepting applications for the App Store should be more objective, clearer and less ambiguous—but I do think the motivation is to make using these devices as simple as using a car or a toaster for non-technical people. That’s a good thing for the vast majority of the human race, even if it makes things worse for us programmer/geek types.
Puzzles, Abuse, and average users
My bottom line on dealing with users blaming themselves, however, is that their behavior shows the classic hallmarks of long term psychological abuse. Their collective guilt, self-abasement in the face of the overwhelming arrogance of “support”, and promises to do better unfounded in any understanding of what’s wrong, would, if exhibited by school children or prison inmates, trigger immediate investigation – but there’s nothing I can to help beyond telling them the obvious: it’s not their fault – all the while, of course, wishing vaguely that I had Bill Gate’s money, because then I could buy them all Macs.