[noelwelsh]

When Erik mocks reactive programming I believe he is reacting to the Reactive Manifesto (http://www.reactivemanifesto.org/) currently being pushed by Typesafe and others.

My reading and feelings concerning the Manifesto mirror Erik's so I enjoyed listening to his mockery of it. I didn't really notice the MS bashing.

The issue with the Reactive Manifesto is that it is largely waffle. There are styles of programming that account for time, such as functional reactive programming. They tend to have formal definitions, or at least concrete implementations, so one can make objective statements about them. The Manifesto on the other hand is vague and full of platitudes. It's great for the Pointy-haired Boss, but there is little of substance than one can discuss in any objective manner.

[Update] I can understand how it's off-putting to listen to the presentation without this background.

[gensym]

Erik is one of the original signatories of that manifesto.