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On Wed, 17 May 2006, Rene Krywult wrote:
> >Yes - I much prefer the BlackBox approach myself. The information is at my
> >fingertips when I *need* it rather than the IDE treating me like an idiot
> >and continually interrupting my train of thought.
> >
> >
> While I agree with you, this IS a thing that hinders VS used programmers
> to switch to BB.
Really? Have you discovered how to convert users of mainstream tools
to switch to BB? Make the GUI a bit more mainstream and this will do the
trick?
I have more negative viewpoint based on observing professional programmers
in my environment. Their decisions are dictated by a survival strategy in
a modern workplace, which we all know: cover your back. The strategic
decisions are made about two levels up the hierarchy, where the technical
details have already disappeared and only the buzzwords remain. The boss,
who is trying to cover his back, presents his choices as being conservative,
using phrases such as "mainstream", "modern", "supported", "user community",
and so on. None of which is sharply defined, but it does not matter.
What everyone is really trying to achieve is the impression of being prudent,
such that when the project inevitably gets delayed (as everyone expects
it will get), everyone can present themselves as being prudent when the
critical decisions were made.
I think there are two ways that BB could be adapted to such a reality.
The brute force method would be a large advertising budget to create
positive publicity in the decision-making circles. Without such an
expensive advertising campaign, the other method would be mimicry.
BB would have to mimic the look and feel of prevailing tools, while
covering up its true self that is very different from the rest of
the pack. BB would need to lose both its Spartan look and feel
and also its simplicity. While we may welcome the first change,
I am not sure if we would welcome the latter.
To make the point more clear, I am thinking of Esmertec. They started
as a subdivision of Ominc, and their Jbed was once a part of Blackbox.
I guess it had the Blackbox flavor back then, plain and simple. Try
reading their webpage now. They are definitely very successful and very
mainstream now. Is this how you would like BB to be? Maybe yes. However,
I doubt we have such a choice. I rather think that BB has adapted
itself already very well to its target audience, which is ourselves.
I think it was a long process, in which folks who did not like
the simplicity went somewhere else. Those who remain are quite happy
with the balance of power and complexity that BB has achieved and
maintained. Occasionally we may dream of a conquest, but we should
know what happens to conquerors. If you do not know then watch
evening news.
I think that our concern should be how to keep BB the way it is,
while slowly adapting it to the changes in the environment: 64-bit
processors, Linux, new version of Windows, or the Intel version
of MacOS. These are real technical problems. Winning new converts
is not achievable. Those who can appreciate the power of simplicity
will come anyway. I would not care about the rest who have more
than enough problems covering their backs.
W.
--- BlackBox
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Received on Thu May 18 2006 - 04:35:39 UTC