Tuesday 6 February 2007

Why I hate software

While trying to archive an email message on google (gmail) it generated an error message "Oops... the system was unable to perform your operation (error code 602). Please try again in a few seconds." Now normally I have few complaints w/ google or gmail because by and large "it just works". However after a particularly frustrating day wrestling w/ my own software and software from others at the office I had had it! Yes, true to the error message, I was able to archive the message. Perhaps I should be more forgiving, considering I make a living from software, but I'm not. I believe that software should be infinitely difficult to configure incorrectly. It should be, conversely, "hung over from the Christmas party at 4am" easy to use, configure and install. Have I achieved that with the products I write? Nope. So I should be more forgiving but I refuse to allow my lack of planning, my poor planning to ruin the customer's experience. I'm paid to think of failures and plan for them, all of them. Harsh? Yep. Perhaps it's a calculated behavior serving as a stark contrast to the lackadaisical image some in the industry are fond of displaying.

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