Biculturalism

[jenk]

If you've ever wondered about the Unix vs Windows religious wars, read Joel Spolsky's review of Eric S. Raymond's The Art of UNIX Programming.

How did [the Unix and Windows cultures] get different core values? This is another reason Raymond's book is so good: he goes deeply into the history and evolution of Unix and brings new programmers up to speed with all the accumulated history of the culture back to 1969. When Unix was created and when it formed its cultural values, there were no end users. Computers were expensive, CPU time was expensive, and learning about computers meant learning how to program. It's no wonder that the culture which emerged valued things which are useful to other programmers. By contrast, Windows was created with one goal only: to sell as many copies as conceivable at a profit. Scrillions of copies. "A computer on every desktop and in every home" was the explicit goal of the team which created Windows, set its agenda and determined its core values. Ease of use for non-programmers was the only way to get on every desk and in every home and thus usability über alles became the cultural norm. Programmers, as an audience, were an extreme afterthought.

I originally read the review in my copy of Joel On Software Friday at Voila! and got a few looks for laughing out loud. On the web it's even better because Joel links to the book as appropriate. Enjoy ;)