tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34692233.post6764336255322185420..comments2023-05-09T12:02:11.783+01:00Comments on Mind the Gap: Temporary simplificationGlynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08741529390385812080noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34692233.post-328468936835606762012-06-22T16:52:22.390+01:002012-06-22T16:52:22.390+01:00@Igor yes, provided the consequences of such a wro...@Igor yes, provided the consequences of such a wrong decision are not too catastrophic.Glynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08741529390385812080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34692233.post-2498404777261043892012-06-22T16:38:38.955+01:002012-06-22T16:38:38.955+01:00I think that deleting certain piece of existing fu...I think that deleting certain piece of existing functionality makes an ultimate test for its usefulness. Time will show if that was wrong or right decision.<br /><br />If that turns to be wrong, then re-adding (often re-designed) feature back may still serve a better job than preserving that feature in the first place.Igor Kolomietshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16479704381010141536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34692233.post-90251971522060443482012-06-11T16:41:33.323+01:002012-06-11T16:41:33.323+01:00@Robert - yes, the incremental adoption angle seem...@Robert - yes, the incremental adoption angle seems pretty important.Glynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08741529390385812080noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34692233.post-3426051847810342282012-06-11T16:15:58.626+01:002012-06-11T16:15:58.626+01:00I think a lot of the pathological side of this phe...I think a lot of the pathological side of this phenomenon is driven by changes in the ease with which products can be adopted, the de-facto rules being something like:<br /><br />1) Any tool or technology that cannot be incrementally adopted will not be adopted.<br /><br />2) Any successful tool or technology which changes so that it can no longer be incrementally adopted is doomed to be reinvented.<br /><br />It’s easy to see how this could lead to a cycle of reinvention, as successive products get adoption, then grow more and more sophisticated until they make some change that inadvertently kicks away the ladder that made them accessible to new users, whereupon the cycle begins again.<br /><br />Of course different people can tolerate different barriers to entry, but once there’s a community that finds a sophisticated product inaccessible, I think it’s vulnerable to reinvention with lossy simplifications. <br /><br />To me at least, all of this seems quite distinct from simplification through better abstractions, which is highly desirable and well exemplified by Git vs CVS/Subversion or iPhone vs Treo.Robert Dunnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10594642931278088317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34692233.post-12990715721572512092012-06-10T16:09:15.000+01:002012-06-10T16:09:15.000+01:00+1. Not only does that happen for end user apps, b...+1. Not only does that happen for end user apps, but also for frameworks, languages, etc. The examples are numerous.<br /><br />This is the illness of our industry. We like to craft in ignorance of our predecessors and research. This is why we'll never move past the stage of craft. "Ignore the past and keep reinventing the wheel".Pascalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05469838363528861975noreply@blogger.com