Re: PG Suggestion Series: Carbon-Cocoa Distinction Dissolution

FROM : Jeff Szuhay
DATE : Wed Jan 08 23:45:33 2003

>>  And someone at the top of Apple has to override the
>>  legacy idea that platform software is great if between packages
>>  we have common themes and the users get one metaphor
>>  and that makes them more productive.  Hooey.  That is true, but
>>  on the priority list, not more important than individuality.

>
>Gotta disagree. Your argument is pretty much the same argument
>unenlightened developers made almost 20 years ago when the Mac first
>came out. Some hooey about guidelines and standards presenting a
>barrier to innovation. They lost.


And they will continue to lose.

Even consistency at a low level across a broad spectrum is far
superior to individual, yet iconoclastic
excellence. In America, we _always_ drive on the right side of the
road (okay, I can think of a few
exceptions) but nobody complains about that. In English, we _always_
read from left to right, but
nobody complains about that inhibiting their individuality. A little
less broadly, the dashboard layout
for all American cars is nearly identical. When was the last time you
saw a car with the gear
shipt on the dash (oh, yeah, the French 2CV... it's French, 'nuf said).

If fact, the case for individuality is kind of moot. It's nearly
impossible to completely remove
individuality in _any_ regimented group simply because of our
distinctness/uniqueness in time and
space. In software, who really cares about your individuality; I paid
for it, I want it to work _for_
me so I can get something done with it.

... Okay. ... I'm calmer now.

8-)

--

    Jeff Szuhay            <mailto:jeff.<email_removed>>
    Lead Macintosh Engineer      voice: 412-271-5040 x 227
    Psychology Software Tools    <http://www.pstnet.com/>
_______________________________________________
cocoa-dev mailing list | <email_removed>
Help/Unsubscribe/Archives: http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/cocoa-dev
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.