I'm sharing an insightful article that delves into the origins and underlying motivations of the free software movement, examining why people contribute to open projects and the social structures that sustain these collaborative efforts.
The decline of online advertising has killed the free PC and free ISP models, yet free software like the Opera browser continues to succeed, highlighting a divide between ad-supported hardware and open software ecosystems.
Review essential truths and myths of software development, including the 28x productivity gap, the high cost of maintenance, and why software estimation often fails due to poor timing and incorrect stakeholders.
I increasingly use coding agents to build one-off tools and run reusable software, from UMAP visualizations to receipt classification. I think agents will become both software's users and its universal wrapper, reshaping familiar developer roles.
I've linked a collection of software horror stories that demonstrate how critical bugs can lead to real-world fatalities. These cases underscore the life-and-death stakes and the necessity of rigorous safety-critical software engineering.
I explore the concept of apologetic software, which uses human-like social scripts to apologize for system errors. Research suggests that software taking responsibility for its mistakes significantly reduces user frustration and improves the overall interaction experience.