Comments on: Software Dictatorship – A daily dichotomy http://blog.wrench.com.au/2007/10/11/software-dictatorship-my-daily-dichotomy/ Flash, Air, Mobile & Technology tidbits Wed, 24 Apr 2013 01:13:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Jason http://blog.wrench.com.au/2007/10/11/software-dictatorship-my-daily-dichotomy/#comment-205 Jason Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:24:41 +0000 http://blog.wrench.com.au/2007/10/11/software-dictatorship-my-daily-dichotomy/#comment-205 @Trey: I think perhaps you're touching on Standards vs choice - if each software genre settled around a standard API and data structure, then the choice I make wouldn't matter so much. It's actually this proprietary approach that causes my indecision, as going down a certain path may mean a good deal of time spent down the track when you decide to switch from Software A to Software B (which adheres to Standard A and Standard B respectively). So maybe we need more standards, could that be the real issue I'm experiencing... @Trey: I think perhaps you’re touching on Standards vs choice – if each software genre settled around a standard API and data structure, then the choice I make wouldn’t matter so much. It’s actually this proprietary approach that causes my indecision, as going down a certain path may mean a good deal of time spent down the track when you decide to switch from Software A to Software B (which adheres to Standard A and Standard B respectively).

So maybe we need more standards, could that be the real issue I’m experiencing…

]]> By: Trey http://blog.wrench.com.au/2007/10/11/software-dictatorship-my-daily-dichotomy/#comment-204 Trey Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:12:50 +0000 http://blog.wrench.com.au/2007/10/11/software-dictatorship-my-daily-dichotomy/#comment-204 Whether choice is a good or bad thing maybe a moot point if people continue to make choices. As a consequence of those choices we have to figure out how to do what we want to do. One standard for everything feels counter to the new Open Source revolution which I embraced. The idea that no matter the function or the task, it should just work appeals to me. This comes to me after the browser and system wars of the recent computing past. I don't care, should any user care, about how it's done or who "owns" it. Having said that, HTML email, syncing calendars, unified IM clients, and virtual software for Mac/Windows have all attempted to find ways to work with or without standards. Or is it that out of necessity, users have made it work... don't know. Thoughts? Whether choice is a good or bad thing maybe a moot point if people continue to make choices. As a consequence of those choices we have to figure out how to do what we want to do. One standard for everything feels counter to the new Open Source revolution which I embraced. The idea that no matter the function or the task, it should just work appeals to me. This comes to me after the browser and system wars of the recent computing past. I don’t care, should any user care, about how it’s done or who “owns” it. Having said that, HTML email, syncing calendars, unified IM clients, and virtual software for Mac/Windows have all attempted to find ways to work with or without standards. Or is it that out of necessity, users have made it work… don’t know. Thoughts?

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