01 February 2007

Hybridizing Java

Hybridizing Java: "Various fixes have been attempted for Java over the years, but I think the basic issue is that whoever is trying to solve the installation problem is someone who has a more inward technical focus rather than what’s really needed: an outward user-experience focus. For example, I was stymied by early Linux distributions because of the challenge of installation. About once a year, I would try to install Linux, and it would immediately start asking me questions. Only a hard-core Linux geek would know the answers to these questions. I couldn’t even fake my way through, so I would give up and try again the next year. Then Red Hat came along (at least, I think they were the first to focus on the installation experience) and set it up to install Linux without asking questions, or at least to give me reasonable defaults. That’s when Linux started becoming popular (more recently, Ubuntu seems to have taken the lead in solving the Linux friendliness problem)."