Rui CarmoAfter spending a good portion of my afternoon tracing some flowcharts, I realized that there is a neatness and clarity of mind that comes with coding that I keep wishing I could bring to business processes. Much like the old joke about Biology that I like to quote, people will, under carefully controlled (or clearly defined) circumstances, do as they damn well please, and there is only so much you can do to clearly define what the outcome should be.
(Incidentally, this reminds me of the reasons why I don't really trust focus groups - the way people behave in specific circumstances or the opinions they express have to be taken with a very large pinch of salt, and are always a mere indication of how things may happen in real life.)
Anyway, there is a bunch of news trying to make their way across the meagre thread of thought that is keeping me awake tonight (am tired, cold, sleepy and need to practice writing 中文字, since I never use pen and paper and my usual handwriting is bad enough as it is), of which I've highlighted the following:
- Bruno and Lígia have joined Planet Tao. I now realize It's been a good while since I added anybody, although I expect a couple of other Mac-centric folk to hop in this year.
- Everybody's linking to the British Get a Mac ads, which are quite entertaining indeed ('Tentacle' got a chuckle out of me, but the characterization of 'shenanigans and tomfoolery' in 'Pie Chart' was... smashing good fun).
- The news that Adobe is turning PDF into an ISO standard was quite welcome, too. Maybe now they'll stop churning out version after version of their reader...
- Celso Pinto has an interesting viewpoint on Nintendo's strategy here in Portugal. I have had no real trouble getting my Wii or the games I wanted (the only thing I can't seem to be able to find right now is an extra nun-chuck), but then again I do not have great expectations regarding local distribution (I intend to buy everything via Amazon anyway, and have already updated my Amazon wishlist accordingly).
- Oh, yeah, Vista is coming. I'm curious (I've yet to try the final version), and I stick to my guns: People should try it before they start dissing it. It's not as revolutionary as Microsoft would have you believe, but it's different enough to be worth experiencing.
Personal choice is a different matter altogether.