I read blogs. Lots of them. I’m just like anyone interested in a good spirited conversation. I came across a very interesting blog called Scripting News by a person named Dave Winer. He has all sorts of points about RSS, Blogging and, of course, scripting.  I don’t know him, I’ve never met him. I did, however,  come across a blog named “The tech industry is update-happy” (link) where he just bitches and moans about software updates. I decided I would comment on his blog, and he did the worst thing a blogger can do to their readers.

First, read this – it’s his blog:

Yea, I get it. Your bitching about updates. Updates do suck the big one. I agree. What I didn’t agree with was his lack of any solutions. When something’s wrong, at least try to offer a solution, no? You seem like a smart guy, Mr. Winer. So, I posted a comment (of my own) on his blog. Here it is:

“I understand your need to bemoan all these updates, but I’m discouraged to see that you’ve not offered any sort of solution to the problem (however non-publish-worthy you might think it is).  Updates are a fact of every software package and will break something in the past (if you give them enough time). Updates are there to “update” the software, and not always “fix” problems. I think of things like apps responding to new APIs or new ways of communicating with other services. If your tool or app depended on that in 1995, it breaks.I find what’s most troubling is the all-or-nothing nature of these updates. In Windows, the entire file (ddl, or driver) is updated and every routine in the file is potentially broken.
Solutions? – Component-ize things on a system to the nth degree, perhaps? Make it so we’re updating specific routines and, thus getting errors on systems that make sense.
– One step closer on Windows is doing away with the registry, let’s find a better way.
– Change software psychology – make it more permanent. I’ve often felt software is made in such a temporary space (< 1 year). Why don’t we make software now so it might be run 30 years from today? If programming is an art, wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing to still be using an elegant and incredibly well-made tool from years ago (I’m sure there are a few tools like that). But, I agree, update-happy.”

I thought that was a fair comment. I even offered my thoughts and solutions. I took the time to write that out. That’s what they call thought-ful, isn’t it? I wish that there were ALLOT more of those kinds of comments on my own blog.

What was his response? He deletes my comment and emails me this:

Really NOT cool!

While you may see him saying “Please”, what he’s saying to me is “Don’t bother  offering any of your thoughtful garbage on my blog, please”.

You win, Dave Winer. It’s a blog now.

Update: Feb 20, 2012 – It appears as though Dave Winer has turned off commenting altogether.

That’s not for everyone, I suppose.