Re: [9fans] Man pages for add-ons

[lucio@proxima.alt.za]

> You could say I'm trading one complexity
> for another: arguing for growing system directories instead.

It's hard and not always possible to replace complexity with
simplicity.  Sometimes, even in Plan 9, the choice is to simplify by
convention rather than refinement, there are quite a few heuristics in
Plan 9 that could be replaced by configuration arguments, say, but
then the namespace definitions would be insufferably large.

My favourite example is acme: I'd love message templates in Mail, but
it's almost impossible to create such things without adding
complexity.

So, yes, one trades one complexity for another.  Considering that the
computer is a general-purpose tool that can be programmed to execute
an infinite number of tasks, wildly different and simultaneous, it is
hard to condone simplification for the sake of permitting access to
users who just want to be able to use it.  Not because access should
not be permitted, obviously, but because it restricts what those in
the know can do.  If you want an example, consider the mobile phone:
there are many, many functions I would dearly like my particular
handset (Sony-Ericsson C905) to perform, but are prohibited to me by
the manufacturer, not by my skills and abilities.

I think there are ethical issues here that need exploring and this
type of discussion seldom reaches any conclusions, probably because
we're all busy, result oreiented technologists.  This is the realm of
philosophy and I wish more people would focus not so much on the
technology, but on the long-term effect of different technological
alternatives.

I guess that's just me.

++L