Re: [9fans] How to implement a moral equivalent of automounter

[Roman Shaposhnik <rvs@sun.com>]

On Dec 6, 2008, at 6:27 AM, erik quanstrom wrote:
>> To some extent, the popularity of NFS (is there any NAS box
>> that talks AFS?) and Linux is one big testament to the
>> power of "good enough" or "worse is better".
>
> i really hate this meme.  it doesn't mean anything.

It depends on the point of view, I guess. To me its value
is about juxtaposing two approaches to the design.
Being a non-native English speaker the wording and
metaphors don't bother me that much. Three essays
helped me understand why software produced by
different "schools of thought" is so drastically different:
    * Worse is better:
        http://www.jwz.org/doc/worse-is-better.html
    * On the fact that Atlantic Ocean has two sides:
        http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD06xx/EWD611.html
    * On the fact that most software  is written on one side of the
Atlantic:
       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7ROTJKkhuI

> imho, the reasons nfs is popular are mostly political

Oh, come on! ;-) You sound like Bjarne now, complaining
that James Gosling, hijacked OOP with tons of corporate
support (which is somewhat true) and that people don't
want to use C++ because Sun brainwashed them, not
because it is the most convoluted language after ALGOL 68.

> and logistical rather than technical.  sun pushed nfs,

That is true. But without  NetAPP and others, that wouldn't be
possible.

> so saying calling nfs an example of "worse is better" implies
> that using nfs is a technical decision.

You seem to be interpreting worse-is-better quite differently
from how I interpret it. To me it is all about reasoning about survival
skills. And yes, I tend to agree with its main premise, that mediocracy
usually has better survival skills. Nothing to do with technical
aspects.

Thanks,
Roman.