Phil's Computer Tip of the Week

 

See also, Phil's history of Data Storage
It's a fun article. Really!

 

MS has some very talented programmers. They're not very common, but they exist. The problem is that the entire company is completely and totally focused on developing an absurd number of new features and products, giving them completely unrealistic deadlines, and then shipping software on those deadlines no matter how half-assed or buggy it is.

The idea is that everything is serviceable over the internet now, so they can just "fix it later", except they never do. This perpetuates a duct-tape culture that refuses to actually fix problems and instead rewards teams that find ways to work around them. The talented programmers are stuck working on code that, at best, has to deal with multiple badly designed frameworks from other teams, or at worst work on code that is simply scrapped. New features are prioritized over all but the most system-critical bugs, and teams are never given any time to actually focus on improving their code. The only improvements that can happen must be snuck in while implementing new features.

As far as M$ is concerned, all code is shit, and the only thing that matters is if it works well enough to be shown at a demo and shipped. Needless to say, I don't work there anymore.

 

I (that's Phil, that is) have been working in the computer industry since before the small computer was even taken seriously.

"Huh, that's a cute little toy," (or something like that) was my reaction when I first saw the Commodore Pet (about 1977, that would have been). I was impressed that it had a neat and polished (manufactured, even) exterior, and didn't look like something that escaped from a Ham Radio Operator's basement (or perhaps from my own workshop). But really, it didn't actually seem to be good for anything, you know?

Silly me...

Now, this trillion dollar industry sells its wonders in decorator colors, for Pete's sake. How cool is that?

I was given the title "Computer Whisperer" when it became apparent to others around me that these sophisticated but cranky machines work better in my presence. I don't hold to that myself (do I?), but it's a fun thing to watch other people claim for me.

I love working on computers, making them once again run at least as fast as they did out of the box, and helping their owners to understand them better. I also enjoy creating and maintainng websites. Yeah... I guess that officially makes me a gee... hmm... we'll avoid that word. How about weird? Or maybe a Technophile if you want to be truly accurate.

(That earlier word I almost uttered applies to me only around the edges here and there.
That's my position — subject closed.)

 

 

In case you were wondering about precise definitions...

 

And now the annoying disclaimer...