4 ms·

i kind of wonder how did we get to this point. technologically speaking it's a disaster - terrible slow and insecure language as a platform for bad practices an

by mrfijal 11y ago

i kind of wonder how did we get to this point. technologically speaking it's a disaster - terrible slow and insecure language as a platform for bad practices and codr base. i guess the answer is that technical excellence.is absolutely secondary to other concerns, but it's a concerning view.

Ono-Sendai 11y ago
sounds like a case of 'worse is better': https://www.jwz.org/doc/worse-is-better.html https://www.jwz.org/doc/worse-is-better.html
mschuster91 11y ago
There may be other technical solutions that are better from a technology POV. What WP did right is to choose a platform supported EVERYWHERE (PHP, and not Ruby, Java or other crap only supported by few hosters), with a shitload of developers (again, the massive advantage of PHP), and packed the installation process in a way everyone from an 8-year old school kid to a 70-year old grandpa can handle (and literally, I have seen both!). Also add in that wordpress.com's free hosting platform... well... surpasses any other blog solution by far.
- mahouse 11y ago
  >Also add in that wordpress.com's free hosting platform... well... surpasses any other blog solution by far. Are you sure? To me, it's by far the slowest one of them all.
- PopeOfNope 11y ago
  > What WP did right is to choose a platform supported EVERYWHERE When WP was created, their options were PHP or Perl. PHP was by far the hottest thing back then, so what they actually did was use the hot tech of the day and made it work. The reason PHP is supported everywhere is for the same reason; back then it was PHP or Perl via CGI. Python was added later and was also supported EVERYWHERE.
  - mschuster91 11y ago
    > Python was added later and was also supported EVERYWHERE. Germanys big hosting player Strato doesn't offer Python in its cheap plans, Hosteurope according to their FAQ is stuck at python 2.6. Granted, a German-centered POV, but still. Python support is far from mainstream.
agumonkey 11y ago
Nature doesn't care. Loads of people felt happy and managed to keep working through wordpress. The end. It's full of horrendous things all the way down, but it just doesn't matter.
bprieto 11y ago
Technical excellence is usually secondary to anyone except technicians and a few power users. It was the same with VHS/Betamax. The network effect and the set-up cost are much more important for the majority of users than technical excellence.

by mrfijal 11y ago

Ono-Sendai 11y ago

sounds like a case of 'worse is better': https://www.jwz.org/doc/worse-is-better.html https://www.jwz.org/doc/worse-is-better.html

mschuster91 11y ago

There may be other technical solutions that are better from a technology POV. What WP did right is to choose a platform supported EVERYWHERE (PHP, and not Ruby, Java or other crap only supported by few hosters), with a shitload of developers (again, the massive advantage of PHP), and packed the installation process in a way everyone from an 8-year old school kid to a 70-year old grandpa can handle (and literally, I have seen both!). Also add in that wordpress.com's free hosting platform... well... surpasses any other blog solution by far.

mahouse 11y ago
>Also add in that wordpress.com's free hosting platform... well... surpasses any other blog solution by far. Are you sure? To me, it's by far the slowest one of them all.
PopeOfNope 11y ago
> What WP did right is to choose a platform supported EVERYWHERE When WP was created, their options were PHP or Perl. PHP was by far the hottest thing back then, so what they actually did was use the hot tech of the day and made it work. The reason PHP is supported everywhere is for the same reason; back then it was PHP or Perl via CGI. Python was added later and was also supported EVERYWHERE.
- mschuster91 11y ago
  > Python was added later and was also supported EVERYWHERE. Germanys big hosting player Strato doesn't offer Python in its cheap plans, Hosteurope according to their FAQ is stuck at python 2.6. Granted, a German-centered POV, but still. Python support is far from mainstream.

agumonkey 11y ago

Nature doesn't care. Loads of people felt happy and managed to keep working through wordpress. The end. It's full of horrendous things all the way down, but it just doesn't matter.

bprieto 11y ago

Technical excellence is usually secondary to anyone except technicians and a few power users. It was the same with VHS/Betamax. The network effect and the set-up cost are much more important for the majority of users than technical excellence.