1. Dec 10th, 2007

    Rounded Corners - 171 (Sex it up)

    Hard core. Can’t believe I’m agreeing with Nick Carr (again):

    By perpetuating a false dichotomy between the friendliness of consumer apps and the seriousness of business apps, all that Krigsman is doing is giving enterprise vendors cover for continuing to produce software that’s difficult and unpleasant to use.

    It’s machismo mentality. “Our software is build tough, to use it you must be rough!” Color me unimpressed, but I just don’t buy this rationalization for lousy engineering. If you don’t care for the users, fine, just own up to it.

    Open to all. One thing I’m looking forward to in 2008, is an end to the “Open” Document Format vs “Open” XML charade. Both formats were designed to promote a product; good for them, not for anyone who cares about their data.

    In years of writing and editing I have yet to find a compelling reason to use anything but HTML. It edits well, ironically OpenOffice has a decent HTML editor (called Web Writer), not perfect but good enough. And it even prints out with high fidelity. You wouldn’t have guessed it if all you do is print from Firefox or IE, both implement printing as an after thought. But in Buildr, we take an HTML document combine with a print media CSS, render through PrinceXML, and produce outstanding results (PDF, unfortunately).

    Kurt Cagle has a nice introduction to CDF and related standards. More about the Compound Document Format.

    Age with grace. Can Java be saved from death by feature bloat? I really admire Java’s original design, the one centered around minimalism of the language. Back them it was a bold move and the right thing to do. It still is the right thing to do. Only thing that change, Java is no longer The language, just A damn good language. So don’t screw it up, let Java stay Java and age with dignity and respect.

    The same sentiments, in pictures.

    Two types of developers. Those who read blog posts about the two types of developers, and … you know how this joke ends.

    And now, for your moment of Zen. The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” quotation marks.

    Posted by Assaf Filed in general

    1. Dec 16th, 2007

      Michael Krigsman

      “Rationalization for lousy engineering”? Not quite. My blog postings represent an accurate statement of why enterprise software is in it’s current state. Do I think that’s a good thing? No. Do I understand how we got here? You bet.

      Enterprise 2.0 is bringing change into enterprise software, but the issue is far more complex than simple usability or better user interfaces. In other words, the situation will improve over time, but to effectively drive change, one needs to first understand the starting point.

      Michael Krigsman
      Blog: http://blogs.zdnet.com/projectfailures
      Twitter: http://twitter.com/mkrigsman

    2. Dec 16th, 2007

      Assaf

      Michael, I come from that world, and that list reads to me like effects, not causes. The underlying cause is simple: enterprise software is not built for the people who use it.

      If there was focus on people, the priorities would reflect that, so it wouldn’t be a priority issue.

      Legacy integration would be about ‘making legacy easier to use’, not ‘making legacy accessible to my J2EE’s ESB JCA connector’.

      The technology limitations would not exist, different vendors and products would raise based on their ability to deliver products that address people better.

      UI doesn’t grace with age, but good legacy UI is better than bad legacy UI (I still use Vim and bash), so for one legacy apps would work the better. As it stands, many internal apps are designed like it’s 1999.

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