@Aki ... subject line does weigh heavily ... :-). I may approach this from a broader perspective or perhaps we may not be coming from the same understanding of open source. As for dependency: I don't see how negative dependency results from using code that comes with rights to access and do with as you please as far as modifications ... depending on the license a developer can refuse to share the modifications. If anything it would hopefully form the basis of becoming hardcore; it is for the individuals to make the effort to become more knowledgeable about the code etc. As for dumbness: reinventing the wheel would certainly qualify as a less than fruitful use of time when there exists an appropriate solution, fully accessible with minimum effort. There are certainly software problems that require the use of creative thought and effort and using existing libraries while solving a problem in a new way does advance the state of art. IMO, engineering as a discipline is about solving problems so for software engineers ... after the 2nd and 3rd programming language/platform, it comes repetitive and frankly boring so the choices boil down to: management or attempting to solve a non-trivial problem. Cheers :-) On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 2:43 PM, aki <aki275@googlemail.com> wrote:
On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 2:10 PM, Steve Obbayi <steve@sobbayi.com> wrote:
If a future only applies to hardcore programmers then it should be enough incentive for scripties and the rest to mutate and evolve into hardcore programmers while they are still young... and that idea of only showing off mpesa to Tim is evn more incentive to get out of the scripties realm too
@Steve, now we are talking and thus onto the subject line which is : OS is going to create a dependency and dumbness. As individuals, the need to strive for better access to hardcore programming is vital. Please name a place in Kenya or in the Africa region that offers real hardcore programming skills and just not some stuff people get from eg rapidshare as DIYs and think its the end game. Even in the US, according to the articles I read, Ruby has posed major challenges to old hardcore programmers who may find it difficult to apply and payment economies would rather have a younger programmer with Ruby skillset while being paid less.
Software engineers learnt a lot about how quickly retrenchment was taking place when coding skills were outsourced. Many had learnt about 4 different languages yet it was defeated by a business cycle.
On the issue of Tim and mpesa, someone please save him the disappointment. Am sure he will see it from a mile away and I don't think the mpesa origin story has fully settled as to rights of who did it, when and what. Mpesa's origin as best controversy.
So what do we present to Sir Tim? Somehow my subject line weighs heavily...
Rgds. :-)
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