TANSTAAFL

There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
- Robert A. Heinlein

Google joins the spammer club

February 19th, 2009

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.

Making stupid software

February 2nd, 2009

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?

Is feature bloat inevitable?

January 21st, 2009

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.

Building powerful software

December 6th, 2008

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.

KB940510 - Microsoft’s anal probe

February 29th, 2008

- 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? [...]

Cost of Free Search Services

June 28th, 2006

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…