TANSTAAFL

When I logged in to my AdSense account today, I could not believe my eyes: “AdSense for Domains - Get Started”. Is this some kind of joke? Apparently not.

Why am I so mad about it? It is because I like Google. And it hurts when someone or something you fancy turns to the dark side.

Some people say, there are no stupid questions, just stupid answers. I disagree. Some questions are stupid. Repetitive questions, questions with obvious answers, questions the questioned could not possibly know the answer to. When a person asks a stupid question, maybe they just want to interact and that’s OK. But what if a computer software asks a stupid question?

It is almost 4 years since my first application was released and there is a threat on the horizon. The threat of feature bloat. Becoming the dreaded bloatware. How to deal with it? Here are a couple of approaches.

How to define “the power” of a software application? From time to time, people on discussion boards use the adjective powerful (or best) in conjunction with software. What does it actually mean? It may seem obvious, but as many obvious things, it is actually quite foggy.

- It won’t hurt, I promise.
- But you are invading my privacy!
- Not at all, it is just a probe, it is not like if I used my bare hand or such. This red light will tell me if there is something shitty inside your computer. That’s all.
- Should I take your word for it? [...]

Let’s pick Google as a representative of a “free” search engine. Despite providing a free service, Google’s value has been rising rapidly and today it is comparable with IT industry giants like Microsoft. How does a search engine make money? It’s really quite easy…