Comments on: Set Preferences

By: davo

davo — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:53:37 +0000

The Argument Culture by social linguist Deborah Tannen is an excellent book on how culture is becoming binary.

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 15:10:20 +0000

But what do you have against Dreamweaver ;-)

By: Pierre Quillery

Pierre Quillery — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 20:53:14 +0000

Err … Well said !
Do you use Vim or Emacs, by the way ;) ?

By: Eric Meyer

Eric Meyer — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:57:03 +0000

Justin, for me, between voting for and voting against is not voting, which I see as an entirely separate state and not one that can be equated with voting against. Choices, in other words, are not binary, at least not to me. Thus I would say that my 'vote' for something really isn't a vote against others. So in my world, buying a Saturn or a Macintosh is a personal choice in favor of those products, but does not therefore represent a rejection of all other cars or computing platforms. Preferring a Mac doesn't mean I'm implicitly claiming other OSes are horrible and bad. I'm merely implicitly claiming that a Mac is the best choice for me.

By: Justin Jolley

Justin Jolley — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:58:19 +0000

At the risk of not agreeing with everyone else, don’t you think there is something to be said for making a choice? I’m not saying it’s completely mutually exclusive, but if you do use a certain product or products you are not using others which really *is a* vote against them.

I own two vehicles, a Honda and a Mazda. That doesn’t necessarily mean I dislike Fords, but obviously I didn’t like them enough to buy one. Which to Ford *is* the important thing.

Can’t the same be said for software? If I use Dreamweaver or any other application or number of applications (Dreamweaver at home, Visual Studio at work, etc) does this not mean that my choice *has* excluded Hot Dog or Contribute or Homesite? I may have nothing against them, but I’m not saying a whole lot *for* them either by not choosing to use them.

Also as with any group when someone as esteemed as Eric Meyer chooses or not chooses a piece of software, that does send a message. That may not be your intention, but none-the-less it’s one that is taken by people.

Perception is reality, right?

How many people bought Air Jordan’s because of Michael Jordan? It wasn’t that he was saying that other shoes sucked, but that he was behind or used Nike shoes. Like it or not I think if Eric came out and said I code in Pico editor on Unix there would be a lot of people all of a sudden who started using Pico editor on Unix and *not* another piece of software.

Just my 2 cents.

By: zeldman

zeldman — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 21:16:55 +0000

Why do you hate America?

By: Will Kessel

Will Kessel — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:12:20 +0000

I use a Mac, personally. But, wait… it has Parallels… and Windows… and Ubuntu… I use Dreamweaver at work (in Windows) in text mode only… and BBEdit at home on the Mac… When can I make up my mind??

By: Roger Gordon

Roger Gordon — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 08:33:39 +0000

Preach it, brother!!!

By: Carla Hufstedler

Carla Hufstedler — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 21:47:23 +0000

Bravo. Absolutely. Hear, hear.

By: Michael McCorry

Michael McCorry — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 23:27:59 +0000

I usually get a different spin on that, such as "You use Dreamweaver? Euurrghh.. I do all my coding by hand." without realising that many people use Dreamweaver purely in code view (I still think its one of the best - albeit loated - code editors for Windows). But I digress. I think the binary way of thinking comes from the schoolyard days of picking on someone who's different in an attempt to make yourself feel better, ultimately leading to the Greater Internet Dickwad Theory.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:49:30 +0000

Amen, amen, amen

By: Joe Gakenheimer

Joe Gakenheimer — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:30:44 +0000

Obviously, I am not the only one to encounter that phrase.

My response normally is, “I hand code, because it is cleaner and more precise for my need; but I hear DW is pretty good, I used to use it.”

I still hear it today in app programming.

By: Erik Mallinson

Erik Mallinson — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:20:01 +0000

What do you have against X?

By: Grant

Grant — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:56:22 +0000

“An expression of preference does not equate criticism of differing preferences.”

amen – somewhere along the line the definition of tolerance got hijacked and the reverse now, unfortunately, seems to be the prevailing wisdom – it’s too bad…

By: Jason Friesen

Jason Friesen — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:51:22 +0000

But… but getting along, being rational and reasonable makes terrible press! one is much more likely to get media attention when one espouses outrageous and inflammatory vitriol! And that’s what it’s all about; getting my fifteen minutes.

Good post, Mr Meyer.