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by nsxwolf 4588 days ago
To what end? Should people be writing their own email clients?

I don't know many people who would modify or extend the software they use, even if it were really "easy" to do so. Also, I doubt such tasks could ever really be "easy", even if the arcane syntax of a C style language were not an obstacle.

I'm not seeing the problem. Regular people were forced to use DOS and Windows machines in the early days, and they struggled with their complexity. Now we have a class of computers that regular people and technical people alike enjoy using. That's not a win?
2 comments
dpkendal 4587 days ago
“Multics Emacs proved to be a great success — programming new editing commands was so convenient that even the secretaries in his office started learning how to use it. They used a manual someone had written which showed how to extend Emacs, but didn't say it was a programming. So the secretaries, who believed they couldn't do programming, weren't scared off. They read the manual, discovered they could do useful things and they learned to program.” — http://www.gnu.org/gnu/rms-lisp.html

You also assume that programmability implies complexity, which is the argument I tried to refute …

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sedev 4588 days ago
A toy project I did not too long ago was "keep an eye on my Twitter account and when I favorite a tweet that contains a YouTube URL, add that video to my Watch Later playlist in YouTube." Nearly every time I mention this to someone who uses both services, they want it (yes, I know Instapaper can de facto do this).
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nsxwolf 4588 days ago
Right. You're a software developer, and your friends saw what you did and want it, and you'll give it to them, and they'll be happier.

They don't have the skills needed to do it themselves, aren't interested in acquiring the skills, but appreciate your end product and want to use it.

I think this is just fine. I don't really want to put in the incredible effort required to learn to play the piano well, so I'm glad other people have put in that effort and I'll listen to them play instead. Would I learn if someone made it a lot easier? Probably. But would that make me a musician? Could I make inspired changes and extensions to existing works? Or wholly original works? No way!

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