From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Lucio De Re To: 9fans@cse.psu.edu Subject: Re: [9fans] how people learn things (was architectures) Message-ID: <20010713124912.X22003@cackle.proxima.alt.za> References: <20010713091130.B8A0D199C0@mail.cse.psu.edu> <092801c10b83$9ca53aa0$c0b7c6d4@SOMA> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii In-Reply-To: <092801c10b83$9ca53aa0$c0b7c6d4@SOMA>; from Boyd Roberts on Fri, Jul 13, 2001 at 12:07:23PM +0200 Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2001 12:49:12 +0200 Topicbox-Message-UUID: c97e8d44-eac9-11e9-9e20-41e7f4b1d025 On Fri, Jul 13, 2001 at 12:07:23PM +0200, Boyd Roberts wrote: > > yes, this is the 'killer app' theory. i don't actually want excel -- i'll > use awk. i don't want word -- i'll use troff. but the problem is that J. > Random User wants this 'cos it's shiny and flashy and they can point and > click (have it crash on them :) and don't need to know anything about > programming or typography. > Well, you don't have to be a mechanic to drive a car (and have accidents and failures) or a veterinarian to ride a horse. And you have to be able to handle spreadsheets and documents when dealing with the world at large. Not a situation you have to be happy with, any more than, for example, I like freeways, but a situation that has taken root very firmly. strings | awk just won't do :-) The flashy bit, by the way, is incidental, merely the meme's way to make itself attractive. Nothing new there, take a look at the rest of nature :-) Hm, maybe Plan 9 should also find the key to presenting its meme material in an irresistible coating. > i write code. i grew up with troff. i use windows as a _terminal_. > well, i have written code for it, but i needed a job and got conned. > in retrospect it was very interesting 'cos i had to learn it from > scratch and the constant 'they did what!?!' suprises taught me why > it doesn't work and how it's very difficult to write a correct > windows program. > I'm sure most of Microsoft's bad decisions were mandated by time to market. And the realisation that is it more profitable to invest in marketing than in design. No one else ever perceived the opportunity in supplying a faulty product with the promise of something better to come. Sheer genius. ++L