Re: The great Java showcase (re: 2nd historic mistake)

["Brett J. Stonier" <bretts@brightwood.com>]

Ell wrote:

> The "better" does not always win out, witness VHS over Beta, other
> cars
> over the Tucker, etc, etc.
>
> By hanging in there, doing there thing and opening people's eyes,
> perhaps
> the runner ups can "take the hill".  [Btw, for me Burger King does
> make a
> better burger.  That is until I give up meat.] I generally find it
> useful
> when I'm given another perspective versus the hegemonic, or dominant
> ones
> (which doesn't mean I necessarily agree however).
>
> Elliott
> --
> "The domain object model is the foundation of OOD."
> "We should seek out proven optimal practices and use them."
> See SW Modeller vs SW Pragmatist Central:
> http://www.access.digex.net/~ell

Since everyone is trying to give me a technological history lesson,
let's examine that for a second.  Has Burger King's or Pepsi's efforts
to defame their #1 competitors been successful?  Last I checked, they
are both still very much #2.  So, what we learn from this is that when
the #2 tries to dethrone the #1 by directly attacking it, it doesn't
seem to work well.

Now, how about an example of superior technology that won out?  Take the
Japanese car manufacturers of the 80s.  Did they attack the U.S. car
industry?  I'm not an expert on this, but I don't think they did.  They
made superior cars and sold them at a reasonable cost.  And they made a
huge dent in the U.S. car industry, knocking them off their throne of
dominance.  So, it seems to be possible to take the high road and still
win out.

This high road is not what I've been witnessing in these threads and
from Meyer.  I am interested in Java and play with it, but I am
certainly not so delusional as to think it has yet fully arrived, is
suitable for air traffic control systems, or will ever solve the world's
problems.  Yet when Eiffel proponents denounce it as a toy or a sham,
they insinuate that those who use it are not intelligent enough to make
the proper choice.  And this will cause resentment towards Eiffel among
Java users (quite a few people, these days!), which is (I believe) the
exact opposite of what they are trying to achive.

Brett S.
http://www.mtjeff.com/~calvin/devhbook