129 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
129 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
#[1]alternate
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* [2]Home
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* [3]Articles
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* [4]Work
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* [5]About
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* (BUTTON)
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The beauty of finished software
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October 31, 2023
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Let me introduce you to [6]WordStar 4.0, a popular word processor from
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the early 80s.
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Wordstar 4.0 WordStar 4.0
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As old as it seems, George R.R. Martin used it to write “A Song of Ice
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and Fire”.
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Why would someone use such an old piece of software to write over 5,000
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pages? I love how he puts it:
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It does everything I want a word processing program to do and it
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doesn't do anything else. I don't want any help. I hate some of
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these modern systems where you type up a lowercase letter and it
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becomes a capital. I don't want a capital, if I'd wanted a capital,
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I would have typed the capital.[7]George R.R. Martin
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This program embodies the concept of finished software — a software you
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can use forever with no unneeded changes.
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Finished software is software that’s not expected to change, and that’s
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a feature! You can rely on it to do some real work.
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Once you get used to the software, once the software works for you, you
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don’t need to learn anything new; the interface will exactly be the
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same, and all your files will stay relevant. No migrations, no new
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payments, no new changes.
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This kind of software can be created intentionally, with a compromise
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from the creators that they won’t bother you with things you don’t
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need, and only the absolutely necessary will change, like minor updates
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to make it compatible with new operating systems.
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Sometimes, finished software happens accidentally; maybe the company
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behind it has disappeared, or the product has been abandoned.
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There are also some great examples in the UNIX world of finished
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software: commands like cd(to change the current directory) or ls(to
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list what’s there) won’t ever change in a significant way. You can rely
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on them until the end of your career.
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The seduction of constant updates
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Our expectations for software are different from other products we use
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in our daily lives.
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When we buy a physical product, we accept that it won’t change in its
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lifetime. We’ll use it until it wears off, and we replace it. We can
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rely on that product not evolving; the gas pedal in my car will always
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be in the same place.
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However, when it comes to software, we usually have the ingrained
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expectations of perpetual updates. We believe that if software doesn’t
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evolve it’ll be boring, old and unusable. If we see an app with no
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updates in the last year, we think the creator might be dead.
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We also expect new versions of any software will be better than the
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previous ones. Once it’s released, most of our problems will be solved!
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What a deceiving lie.
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Sometimes, a software upgrade is a step backward: less usable, less
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stable, with new bugs. Even if it’s genuinely better, there’s the
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learning curve. You were efficient with the old version, but now your
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most used button is on the other side of the screen under a hidden
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menu.
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Finished software is a good reminder
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In a world where constant change is the norm, finished software
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provides a breath of fresh air. It’s a reminder that reliability,
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consistency, and user satisfaction can coexist in the realm of software
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development.
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So the next time you find yourself yearning for the latest update,
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remember that sometimes, the best software is the one that doesn’t
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change at all.
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__________________________________________________________________
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References
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[1] George R.R. Martin in Conan show (2014).
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[8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5REM-3nWHg.
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____________________
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Subscribe
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Or use the [9]RSS feed link.
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__________________________________________________________________
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This site is ads-free and done in my free time. [10]Buy Me A Coffee to
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help me keep working on it.
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© 2023 [11]Home | [12]RSS feed | [13]Buy Me A Coffee
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References
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4. https://josem.co/work/
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5. https://josem.co/about/
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6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordStar
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7. file:///var/folders/q9/qlz2w5251kzdfgn0np7z2s4c0000gn/T/L75711-7804TMP.html#rf1
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8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5REM-3nWHg
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