Re:Ask HN: What would you do differently?
by watmough on Wednesday June 11, 2008 @01:26PM
(#215049)
I think all the things you've objected to are 'local minimums' of some cost function.
We have Windows because it was popular, then snowballed. We have C because it was the best systems language for the 'best' computers of its day, the PDP's.
It seems that between people clustering to a local minimum, and momentum, we often get 'stuck' on less than perfect technologies.
I'm sure if we started all over again, we would encounter similar problems.
Re:Ask HN: What would you do differently?
by chris_l on Wednesday June 11, 2008 @01:45PM
(#215078)
I don't think we would encounter Windows Vista again, to take an example. It seems to require the path from DOS and the company culture that grew along with it.
We have Windows because it was popular, then snowballed. We have C because it was the best systems language for the 'best' computers of its day, the PDP's.
It seems that between people clustering to a local minimum, and momentum, we often get 'stuck' on less than perfect technologies.
I'm sure if we started all over again, we would encounter similar problems.