[nycbug-talk] hand wringing

[michael]

Have I made the right choices?...
or have I been tilting at windmills?...
or am I just a rebel for a dying cause?...

I like choices in my world and I frequently exercise that choice.  My motivations for making certain choices are varied.  Sometimes I go with the great unwashed masses in the computing world and use the common apps in the common OS on the common hardware (Word, Windows, Intel).  But that is rare and usually for a specific purpose (recruiters want my resume in that format).  I frequently choose alternatives.  I have been running Linux for years, BSD, and solaris on sparc (involuntarily).  My laptop is PowerPC (ibook) and next desktop may be AMD (shuttle).

The point is:  I have moved away (but not detached) from the Windows/Intel platform.  While I do NOT rage against those machines, I like where I am.  I know I can always have fun with my 'fringe' technologies, and there will probably always be some level of need for my skillsets.  But lately I've been thinking about my future and the future of the marketplace.  Now, I'm not curled up in a fetal position in the corner calling out for mommy but, I AM taking pause.    Unless... my subconscious is falling victim to the marketing machine.  Should I be afraid of Longhorn-XAML-Avalon, or is that what they WANT me to be afraid of?   Will BSD ever break out like we hope?  Will apple really turn into a music media company?  Will linux ever capture the desktop?  Does any of this matter if the giant has locked up 90% of the market?

So to ask the unaskable... what does the future hold?

There is a lot of very respectable chatter on the web in this direction too:

http://www.drunkenbatman.com/drunkenblog-archives/000257.html
Rhapsody in Yellow 
"What the hell is going on with independent development & the Mac?"

http://primates.ximian.com/~miguel/archive/2004/Apr-24.html
Miguel de Icaza's web log
"And finally, Longhorn will get deployed, XAML/Avalon applications will be written, and people will consume them. The worst bit: people will expect their desktop to be able to access these "rich" sites. With 90% market share, it seems doable."

http://groups.google.com/groups?as_umsgid=40724396.1000303 at meer.net
"Mozilla is not the Army.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that we have Redmond's army ants arrayed against us."


All this hand wringing will be mute once I win the lotto!
Michael




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