Room with a view
NewsGator moved to new offices last weekend. It's kind of wierd having some room now. Ever since I started here, we've been overcrowded. Now, it's positively roomy.
Here's the view from my desk. I've got a nice view of Mount Evans (off the left edge of the picture), Mile High Stadium, and the Pepsi center. You just don't get views like that in San Jose. John Carmichael has a good panoramic view, too.
— Gordon Weakliem at permanent link
Real and Invented Complexity
What is it lately? The "SOAP vs. REST" and "Let's fix RSS" arguments have both come back in a big way over the last week.
I have this sneaking suspicion that some complex problems are complex because there are intrinsically difficult issues, but that some complex problems are complex because of arbitrary and self-created matters, brought about by the technology, the process, bogus requirements.
Coming out of 11 years in the travel industry, I can tell you that it happens both ways. For example, detremining the cheapest airfare for a given route is a difficult problem, but part of the reason for that is that the airlines made it that way with byzantine fare structures. The idea was to maximize the revenue and yield factor (how full the plane is) at the same time, but in the end, it was probably a wash. Southwest has long had the simplest fare structure in the industry, but is the one example of a successful airline. That's basically proving Bill's point at a higher level.