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. -- http://rrt.sc3d.org _______________________________________________ fonc mailing list fonc@vpri.org http://vpri.org/mailman/listinfo/fonc