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tom wrote:
This is the MS effect. "Computers are easy!"
I don't think the blame for that can specifically be laid at Microsoft's door. Software houses of all shapes and sizes see the potential for increased profits if they can sell a product that makes working with computers easier, so that's the way the world goes. I'd not argue that making programming easier means that more people without any formal software design and development training or experience end up writing code and as a result code quality does drop as a result in the general case. However it's also true that businesses (especially those with shareholders wanting a return on their investment) have a far more short-term focus than perhaps used to be the case, so a cheap, poorly-designed, quick-and-dirty solution that gets the cash in the bank fast is often preferred over a better design and implementation that perhaps costs more in the short term even if it would be more cost-efficient in the long run. And don't even get me started on how many "web development" companies have no idea about change control, source code management, test design, regression testing... These people shouldn't be allowed near a codingjob. How many times have I heard "But the webserver has our only copy of the code"? Unfortunately the client is usually even more in the
dark, barely able to specify what they actually want a website to do, let alone judge the quality of the mess they've been ripped off for. James -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html