Categories: Top ::

Tech: On things a-changin', and getting older (not old, just older, to steal a line from Bon Jovi of all people)
Thu, 29 Sep 2005

This entry was written almost entirely on my phone - it has an alphanumeric keypad so it was almost workable. Back around 1995 I had this anxiety about the software industry - a lot of information was coming out about Windows 95 (specifically OLE, databases as disk filesystems, layered security and other 'voodoo'.) The concern I had was that we (the user and the developer) would be kept at arms length from what was really going to be going on in the machine. That we might never know or be able to find out what was to be going on under the good, in the bits and bytes. How the data would be stored and represented, left with a very zoomed out view.. a limited viewport.

Well, 1995 called and it wants its ideas back. Sure, theres a lot of anxiety in the industry (me too) about outsourcing and where things are going, but thats normal.. and heck, the auto-industry has survived 20 years of it, so we'll haul through too.

But does any of that voodoo sound familiar? How about WinFS - a database filesystem for future versions of MS Windows that will enable all sorts of off the cuff queries, enabling users to find data by content and not just by directory location and filename. (Yes, Mac OSX and other OSes have had some form of this for awhile) Of course, the database filesystem will include lots of other good stuff, like DRM (Digital Rights Management) so Sony can take away your legal rights :)

So where is this all going? As normal, a lot of good places -- I don't fall for the theories that companies are inherently evil (just inherently stupid).. they do things because they believe it'll make some money by making (some) consumers happy. Sometimes they play into the hands of lobbyists along the way, because as a species we're greedy and naive and not worrying about the future. But it'll sort itself out.

No, what gave me the anxiety back in 1995, is that we'll run into situations where the plumber knows theres a problem "somewhere in the vicinity of the house", but can't know any more than that, because its all locked away in private. Or a auto mechanic who knows the engine needs work, but can't tell what without calling the very expensive specialist.. if theres an avenue at all, aside from replacing (or 'reinstalling') the engine.

I'm older and wiser now*, so it doesn't worry me. It just annoys me now ;) Still, forward thinking is the way to go -- I embrace new technologies like a madman, but I like to think I'm just jaded enough to step in the right puddles. Lets hope my anxieties don't come true :) Course, I have credible commentary from multiple sources that in the future Windows OS (Longhorn), numerous features will be available only to developers using the abstracted .NET platform, and not lower level code such as C or C++. This is both good (fewer system-killing crashes, just regular program killing ones? :) and bad (god only knows what goes on.. under that hood.) So its coming true a little, bit by bit.

Of course, the ASM (assembly) coders in the 60s, 70s and 80s said the same thing. (Yes, I'm a fan of ASM and I regularly code in 6502, Z80, 68000 and ARM assembly in the same day :)

* Old. I've been told over my life (ever since I was a tot) that I've always looked a little younger than I am, and my hair is still going strong. (I know some folks who lost theirs before they were 20!) Some of my life-long friends I don't see as much as I'd like (and I will forever miss the 20s, when we were hanging out like monkies), but when I do see them.. they seem a little older than back in the day. Thats some weird goo, chums. It never concerned me since I generally don't worry about anything (people are always annoyed at my eternal unstoppable enthusiasm for everything :)... not until the other day when my wife said something..

From vague memory, it was something like "Maybe someone hasn't seen you for awhile.. do you think you look older to them, too?"

That chilled me out, man.

For those wondering, I'm still a pup; early thirties. Young enough to still feel great, but have some wisdom. I think around 31 you start to get smart, finally. I got to say 'cognitive' a few times today.. could never have pulled that off when I was using my families Vic-20 about 20 years ago.

Man.

[ Category: / technology / windows ] [link] [Comments]