Excavators [was: A language idea: Elle]

[Reginald Braithwaite-Lee <address@hidden>]

--- Sundar Narasimhan <sundar@ascent.com> wrote:
 
> This is why I think that Christiansen's analogy doesn't really apply
> here. If you yourself state that the big J2EE tools are not being
> used, then they hardly resemble cable excavators -- which were after
> all solving their problem incredibly well (i.e. people were actually
> using them), until hydraulics came along. Christiansen has another
> important arc wrt. product evolution that I think is more important
> wrt. web applications than his ideas wrt. innovation. He states that
> products often migrate from "functionality" _ "convenience" _ "price"
> etc.

Ummm... I should clarify/emphasize my statement about the tool I am
using.

I am saying it seems obvious to me that the peeople who use this tool
don't make the purchasing decisions, and the people who don't make the
purchasing decisions don't use it.

It seems obvious because:

  i. it is full of 'sizzle' features
 ii. it is painfully slow
iii. it is 12 months behind current J2EE releases
 iv. it makes hard things possible, but it makes easy things hard
  v. UseNet has a thriving community of users that act like an abuse
     victim support network: lots of 'oh yes, XXX is broken, here's
     how to work around it'.

My perception is that this tool is JunkWare
<http://philip.greenspun.com/panda/future>.

Now, JunkWare or not, I know it is being used. It's being used because
clients and managers read the Analyst's reports, read the Press
Releases on Yahoo, and know that nobody ever got fired for telling
someone else they have to use JunkWare.

But back to the problem at hand: this tool is just one brand of
Excavator. Maybe it will survive, maybe not. But it is representative
of an approach that currently occupies the center of the market. If it
goes, another heavyweight tool will take its place.

And perhaps it does solve its problem incredibly well. But I'm looking
at a smaller problem (200-300 web pages, 50-100 RDBMS tables) where the
tools that work well are difficult to "sell" to the people (clients,
managers) that have decision-making authority.

--
Reginald Braithwaite-Lee
work: rlee@infobal.com | http://www.infobal.com
personal: reg@braithwaite-lee.com | http://www.braithwaite-lee.com

"To qualify for mountain rescue work, you have to pass our test. The
doctor holds a flashlight to your ear. If he can see light coming out
the other one, you qualify."    — Willi Pfisterer


--
Reginald Braithwaite-Lee
work: rlee@infobal.com | http://www.infobal.com
personal: reg@braithwaite-lee.com | http://www.braithwaite-lee.com

"The idea that there's a big picture is certainly an appealing one, but
I think that's all it is, an idea that appeals to us because we want
the world to make sense." ~--John McIntosh


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