Approaching 60

I have seen many technologies come and go

I look at something new and ask, can I use it? do I need it?

If so, I learn it or buy it

If not, I ignore it

...Haven't found a need for a smartphone yet

The utopian..everybody is free to pursue their passions without the requirements of work. Art, music and science thrive. The starship Enterprise is built, and people explore the galaxy

The not-so-utopian..The very few rich live in paradise, the rest scrape by in a Mad Max / slums of Calcutta world

No, programming ability does not decrease with age. I am approaching 60, writing the best code ever, and getting paid well to do it

Yes, there is extreme age discrimination in hiring. Most companies want young people, right out of college. They don't have health problems or families, and work long hours for low pay

The old stuff was written by contractors, or employees who left a long time ago

The original development was expensive, behind schedule and painful

Management is terrified of software development as a result of the experience

It won't be upgraded until it becomes an "extinction level" crisis

>>So again, how is Amazon doing it differently? Looks exactly the same to me

Focus groups are artificial, the internet public is real

But, the people who use focus groups believe that focus groups represent reality

This will be a very interesting experiment

Before any law is passed, a simulation should be run to see what the side-effects will be

Obviously, this depends on the existence of accurate simulators, which currently do not exist

After simulation, if the law passes, it enters a trial period, where the actual results are studied

If, at the end of the trial period, the law does not appear to be working as expected, it expires automatically

If it passes the trial, another vote is taken to make it permanent

..but I have always been skeptical of "inflation"

It seemed like a mathematical "band-aid", applied in desperation to a flawed theory

Think of it as a longer-term rental

You have access to it until the provider decides it is no longer profitable to maintain the servers

>>Smartphones and to a lesser extent tablets are fulfilling the needs of the average person

I strongly disagree

I don't have or need a smartphone

I can't imagine a smartphone replacing my desktop computer and 30 inch screen for ANY task

When I use a computer, I want a GOOD computer..with keyboard, mouse and big screen

One reason people don't buy new computers as often as they used to is software activation

I dread buying a new computer because moving all of my stuff to the new computer has become a multi-day ordeal of trying to convince Indian call center operators that I am not running the software on more than one computer

If I could buy a new machine, clone my hard drive and go, I would upgrade about three times as often

I use a big (30" 2560x1600) monitor, a standard keyboard and mouse, and a tower computer box on the floor

When I absolutely must be mobile, I use a laptop

I despise the thing, and try very hard to avoid it