I know it’s only mid-March but it’s really beautiful here in the Valley.
The sun is sharing time with the occasional cloud. It’s warm, the birds are singing.
It’s a great day and the weather is nice too.
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Home Matters
Nick Harris: “I’m about to start a new job search. After 5 years of remote work I’m particularly interested in working in an office again – maybe even a startup again – though remote work isn’t out of the question. What is out of the question is leaving Denver even if that means missing the opportunity to work at some pretty amazing companies.”
I’ve been through this process over and over. I romanticize living in other places. We’ve lived in Seattle and in San Luis Obispo, California, yet we always end up back in Exeter. It’s home and home is important.
Here’s hoping Nick finds the job of his dreams, at home, in Denver.
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Another Indie Gone
Jon Grall [via Medium]: “With well over 2 million apps by now (officially 1.5M as of July 2015), the iTunes App Store is an incredibly crowded place where it’s almost impossible to get noticed. Despite the persistent myth of the app developer millionaire, it’s extremely hard to make a profit — let alone a living — as an iOS app developer. The Google Play Store is a similar story, except with the added bonus of rampant piracy and a zillion devices to support. There really isn’t gold in them hills, at least not anymore, and independent app development will soon be in sharp decline, if it isn’t already.”
We will continue to see this downward trend until developers charge real money for their products and services and users understand they have to pay for those products and services.
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Microsoft and Xamarin
Lee Mallon: “Windows Phone has always been number three in the race and getting slower and slower over time, what Microsoft needs is a seat at the table of the platforms growing at an exponential rate and that is iOS and Android.”
Lee does a really nice job hitting the high points of the acquisition. I think the paragraph above is the real reason. Microsoft needs to be a major player in mobile even if its not on their own OS. They’re already building beautiful, useful, mobile applications for iOS and Android and this acquisition will play to their strength in the enterprise. Who knows if they use Xamarin tools internally, that doesn’t matter. What does matter is they now have a way to give millions of .Net developers the tools they need to succeed on mobile. Couple that with Azure and Microsoft could become a dominant player in mobile development.
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Just say No to Big Brother
Apple: “The FBI may use different words to describe this tool, but make no mistake: Building a version of iOS that bypasses security in this way would undeniably create a backdoor. And while the government may argue that its use would be limited to this case, there is no way to guarantee such control.”
FBI isn’t looking for access to this phone. They want Apple to develop a forensics back door for them. pic.twitter.com/Hrx1NZ5o3X
— Jonathan Ździarski (@JZdziarski) February 17, 2016
I hope Google, Microsoft, and Facebook join in this effort to keep our data safe from the US Government. It’s none of their business what beer I drink or to see the conversations I’ve had with my wife, daughters, family, and friends.
While the FBI may have the proper motivation, hackers and thieves do not. You might as well publish your Social Security number and all of your financial data for the world to see.
Bravo Apple.
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Regarding Style
As I’ve gotten older my coding style has evolved. I’m a fairly verbose coder which can drive some people absolutely crazy but it works for me. It makes code more readable.
Case in point. Something I get questioned about all the time is why do I write false if conditions like this.
if (nil == thing) {
// Create a new thing
}
Instead of doing…
if (!thing) {
// Create a new thing
}
Well, that’s easy. My eyes can pick it up instantly. One other thing about that syntax. It’s a hangover from over 20 years of writing C and C++ code. The compiler will bark if you try to a value to zero. In that way it served as a way to make sure you didn’t accidentally make a mistake that could take a while to find. Let the compiler help you where it can.
I really like it more for readability. Opinions vary.
Above Avalon: “Apple is still selling too many iPad minis for the product to be mothballed. However, the more likely path will be a slow yet steady slide into irrelevancy. The product will see more sporadic refreshes, which has already happened with the iPad line, while the value proposition continues to become less compelling.”
If true this is a real bummer. I know Apple can’t win with every product, and they’ve had their share of failures, but the iPad Mini is my favorite iPad. I still use a first generation iPad Mini and love it, maybe that makes me part of the problem. I haven’t gone out and bought a nice shiny new iPad Mini 4?
I would imagine a lot of folks have opted for a Plus sized iPhone and skipped purchasing a Mini. I’ve been torn recently between purchasing an iPhone 6s Plus and the rumored iPhone 5se. I still like the smaller phone but the large phone seems reasonable and could definitely fill the role of the two devices I use today.
It will be really interesting to see how Apple shifts their product line in the coming years. The iPhone remains king of the hill but the entire hardware lineup seems to be doing quite well.
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Lumia or Surface?
Paul Thurrott: “The long-rumored Surface Phone has triggered a kind of irrational exuberance with Windows phone, a belief that maybe this one new device will somehow, magically, inject a little life in the dying mobile platform. Sorry, everyone. “
I don’t know Paul Thurrott, and I’m sure he’s a great guy, but he reminds me of Eeyore. Windows is a fine platform, it really is, but as a mobile phone platform it has a tiniest share of the market. For now it’s a two horse race between Apple and Android.
I like the Windows, formerly called Metro, tile UI. It’s unique. I’d love to see more competition for Apple and Android. I have no idea how Microsoft can climb the mountain ahead of them, but at one time everyone had written off Apple and look where they are now. All it takes is one little slip and Apple or Android can be pushed off the mountain.
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Wrong footed in Oregon
The Washington Post: “It eeds to be very clear that these buildings will never, ever return to the federal government,†says Finicum, who wears a cowboy hat and a Colt .45 pistol holstered on his hip.
What I hear when in read this is, “We will burn these buildings.” It is only a matter of time before law enforcement, or federal law enforcement, has had enough of this circus.
The thing I do not understand is why it has been allowed to go on this long. This group is no better than the Confedercy was at its time. I don’t want to see a big shootout, which is exactly what I think these folks are look for. Why the want to kill or be killed is beyond me.
I am hoping for a peaceful ending. They should run the terrorists handbook on these folks and isolate them to the point that nothing and no one goes in or comes out. Wait them out. When they get hungry or try to leave the site, arrest them.
It would be horrible to see women and children die because of a paranoid group of men that feel mistreated by the US Government.
Hopefully it all ends soon and peacefully.
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It doesn’t matter
Medium: “It surprised me to find that the vast majority of the apps in the top 100 are still building without any Swift.”
This shouldn’t be a surprise. In the end nobody cares what language you use to build your app, especially if it does what you want, performs well, and has a good design.
Some may say I’m an old guy, so I shouldn’t be taken seriously. I will tell you this. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That’s the proper attitude to have when developing software. I’m not saying you should never rewrite a section of code. On occasion that’s necessary, but if code works and doesn’t need to be touched as part of a new feature, just let it ride. You’ll be fine.
In the end it just doesn’t matter.