On Fri, May 10, 2002 at 03:18:30PM -0400, Christopher Faylor wrote:
> On Fri, May 10, 2002 at 10:38:49AM +0100, John Ineson wrote:
[...]
> >> Suffice to say, setup.exe is not a trivial application, and while a
> >> minimal version can be created quite easily, I really believe that
> >> contributing to/leveraging setup.exe will be much more time-effective.
> >
> >Of course, with respect, I assume your position probably makes you one
> >of the least impartial people on the planet.
>
> That's one way of looking at things. You could also make similar assumptions
> about any medical specialist that you happen to consult:
>
> "What? You think this mole might be suspect? Well, you would think that!
> You're a dermatologist!
Further proof, as if it were needed, that all analogies suck.
Firstly, I *do* think like that -- it is not unheard of for medical
practitioners to carry out unnecessary or ill-judged work. Why do you
think people get second opinions?
Secondly, your analogy is misleading. For a start, getting a mole
removed is a 'no-brainer' -- unlikely to do you any harm, but
potentially very dangerous if you don't get it done. And furthermore,
this is not just any dermatologist (i.e. any programmer), but one
pushing a particular treatment, which he just happens to have developed
himself.
So of course he thinks it's best -- presumably he made the design
decisions that he thought best. And of course he rather see
contributions made to his project than a new one. This is not malevolent
or underhand, it's just an inevitable bias.
And I'm not saying he's wrong -- in fact I'm inclined to think he's
*right*, although ATM we probably only need a bit of the functionality
-- just that these things should always be bourne in mind.
--
John Ineson
``Is LaTeX hard to use? It's easy to use if you're one of the 2% of the
population who thinks logically and can read an instruction manual.'' -- LL
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