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      1   • [1]Archive
      2   • [2]Newsletter
      3   • [3]Work
      4   • [4]Contact
      5 
      6 [5]Baldur Bjarnason
      7 
      8 Web dev at the end of the world, from Hveragerði, Iceland
      9 
     10 28 March 2024
     11 
     12 ‘I’m not a cynic, I’m disappointed’ – the Software Crisis Easter Sale
     13 
     14 Most people don’t realise just how few of the “critics” in tech are genuine
     15 cynics.
     16 
     17 You don’t spend a good part of your life shouting about bad websites or broken
     18 software and how they could be fixed if you’re a cynic.
     19 
     20 Cynics don’t believe things can be fixed and they don’t believe that fixing
     21 things would help in the first place.
     22 
     23 Somebody who is constantly pointing out various instances of software
     24 inaccessibility isn’t doing so because they’re a cynic. They believe this can
     25 be done better; they were optimistic enough to expect more; and now they’re
     26 disappointed.
     27 
     28 And anybody who thinks that pointing out common flaws in the tech industry is
     29 good for your career is hilariously wrong. Dramatically pulls out his wallet
     30 using only his index finger and thumb. Carefully opens it. A cartoonish moth
     31 flies out of the empty wallet.
     32 
     33 People who point out what needs to be improved are generally disappointed
     34 optimists. Only an optimist would believe that pointing out what has gone wrong
     35 could ever result in said issue being fixed. Only somebody who believes that
     36 software could be universally useful to everybody in society is going to spend
     37 time discovering and highlighting accessibility issues.
     38 
     39 You don’t spend years of your life figuring out how the flaws of the web can be
     40 fixed unless you think the web has massive unfulfilled potential.
     41 
     42 We’re not cynics. If we were, we wouldn’t waste so much energy being hopeful.
     43 
     44 But, people in tech frequently seem to believe that people like me are haters –
     45 that we’re out to prevent the industry from doing amazing things.
     46 
     47 That, the seeming slow progress, and the frequent setbacks get tiring after a
     48 while. We’re only a quarter of the way through the year and I’m already
     49 exhausted.
     50 
     51 I’m not a religious person, but Easter is coming around right at a time when I
     52 need a bit of a break, so a break it is.
     53 
     54 However, being the eternal optimist that I am, I figure I might as well run an
     55 Easter sale while I’m off on the couch watching movies.
     56 
     57 So, until the end of day 1 April, the discount code EASTER24 will give you a
     58 $10 USD off any of my ebooks. That means that you can get Out of the Software
     59 Crisis and The Intelligence Illusion for $25 USD each.
     60 
     61 And, yes, it means that, since their normal price starts at $10 USD you can get
     62 the ebook version of Yellow or my essay collection Bad Writing And Other Essays
     63 for $0 USD.
     64 
     65 (Though, in the case of Bad Writing you have the option of paying more if you
     66 want to support this blog.)
     67 
     68 The discount code again:
     69 
     70 EASTER24
     71 
     72 The ebooks:
     73 
     74 [6]Out of the Software Crisis
     75 
     76 [DEL:$35 USD:DEL]… $25 USD for PDF and EPUB.
     77 
     78 [7]Direct checkout with discount applied
     79 
     80 [8]The Intelligence Illusion
     81 
     82 [DEL:$35 USD:DEL]… $25 USD for PDF and EPUB.
     83 
     84 [9]Direct checkout with discount applied
     85 
     86 [10]Bad Writing
     87 
     88 [DEL:$10+ USD:DEL]… $0+ USD for PDF and EPUB.
     89 
     90 [11]Direct checkout with discount applied
     91 
     92 [12]Yellow: principles (or useless aphorisms) for software dev (ebook edition)
     93 
     94 [DEL:$10 USD:DEL]… $0 USD for PDF and EPUB.
     95 
     96 [13]Direct checkout with discount applied
     97 
     98 In the meantime, try to be kind to yourselves and forgiving of your own flaws.
     99 Not because of some religious thing.
    100 
    101 Do it because it makes sense.
    102 
    103 [14] Links, Notes, and Photos (28 March 2024) 
    104 
    105 Join the Newsletter
    106 
    107 Subscribe to the [15]Out of the Software Crisis newsletter to get my weekly (at
    108 least) essays on how to avoid or get out of software development crises.
    109 
    110 Join now and get a free PDF of three bonus essays from Out of the Software
    111 Crisis.
    112 
    113 [16][                    ]
    114 Subscribe
    115 
    116 We respect your privacy.
    117 
    118 Unsubscribe at any time.
    119 
    120 You can also find me on [18]Mastodon and [19]Twitter
    121 
    122 References:
    123 
    124 [1] https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/archive
    125 [2] https://softwarecrisis.dev/
    126 [3] https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/work/2021/
    127 [4] mailto:[email protected]
    128 [5] https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/
    129 [6] https://softwarecrisis.baldurbjarnason.com/
    130 [7] https://store.baldurbjarnason.com/buy/02e0f69a-aef4-41f7-8a6c-cd3739da6c73?checkout%5Bdiscount_code%5D=EASTER24
    131 [8] https://illusion.baldurbjarnason.com/
    132 [9] https://store.baldurbjarnason.com/buy/cd2b8ac5-4409-4567-b90d-ed83998c5c74?checkout%5Bdiscount_code%5D=EASTER24
    133 [10] https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/books/bad-writing/
    134 [11] https://store.baldurbjarnason.com/buy/ec7bf9dd-91cc-4ccd-a000-6f7703a91892?checkout%5Bdiscount_code%5D=EASTER24
    135 [12] https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/courses/yellow/
    136 [13] https://store.baldurbjarnason.com/buy/bf8b317a-e8e1-48aa-8ef3-289a7be6c6f7?enabled=318423&checkout%5Bdiscount_code%5D=EASTER24
    137 [14] https://www.baldurbjarnason.com/2024/links-10/
    138 [15] https://softwarecrisis.dev/
    139 [18] https://toot.cafe/@baldur
    140 [19] https://twitter.com/fakebaldur