Obzervationz 2004/12

Between an xBox and a Hard Place

I love Cringely's analyis of Sun's dilemma:

What are they to do? Their current strategy of selling processing power by the cycle is like a new car dealer renting back seats of cars on the lot to teenagers looking for a place to make out.

Python Is Not Java

I particularly like Phillip on using XML:

XML is not the answer. It is not even the question. To paraphrase Jamie Zawinski on regular expressions, "Some people, when confronted with a problem, think “I know, I’ll use XML.” Now they have two problems."

This is a different situation than in Java, because compared to Java code, XML is agile and flexible. Compared to Python code, XML is a boat anchor, a ball and chain. In Python, XML is something you use for interoperability, not your core functionality, because you simply don't need it for that.