Le 1/21/2012 2:52 AM, Reuben Thomas a écrit :
I have just skimmed VPRI's 2011 report; lots of interesting stuff
there. The ironies of a working system that the rest of us can only
view in snapshot form grow ever-stronger: the constant references to
active documents are infuriating. The audience would like to see the
active document, but instead we only get a printout. It's as if,
waiting for a new film, we got only reviews of trailers rather than
the trailers themselves.
The irony is then compounded by a code listing at the end of the
document (hint: a URL is shorter and actually useful; this is not the
1980s).
And then just when we thought it was going to end, the agony
continues: you've pushed the deadline back a year.
I wish you all a joyful and productive 2012; unlike many projects,
it's clear that with this one the question is not whether what is
finally released will be worth the wait, it's whether it'll ever
actually be released.
You do shoot yourselves in the foot at one point: "The Web should have
used HyperCard as its model, and the web designers made a terrible
mistake by not doing so." Yes, but the web shipped and revolutionised
the world; meanwhile, you lot have shipped stuff that, at best, like
Smalltalk, has inspired revolutions at one remove. Many of the lessons
of your work are decades old and still not widely learned. Contrast
with Steve Jobs, who spun an ounce of invention into a mile of
innovation, by combining a desire for better computing with the
understanding that without taking people with you, your ideas will die
with you. It's a shame and an embarrassment that to the world at large
he's the gold standard.
Please, no more deadline extensions. Whatever you have by the end of
this year will unquestionably be worth releasing, for all its
imperfections. It's high time to stop inventing the future and start
investing it.
The FONC Wiki mention subversion repositories here:
(stable) http://piumarta.com/svn2/idst/tags/idst-376
(trunk) http://piumarta.com/svn2/idst/trunk
I haven't tried yet, but it seems we outsiders can already play with it.
Maybe that'll do as an actual "trailer"?
Loup.
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