3 ms·

I call sampling bias, if only because very few of the 'influential' developers I know use a Macintosh. I guess that the sample only includes 'hip' independents.

by liotier 13y ago

I call sampling bias, if only because very few of the 'influential' developers I know use a Macintosh. I guess that the sample only includes 'hip' independents. Most people in a corporate setting do not choose their workstation. Then, anyone who hosts anything has a heavy dose of his Linux distribution of choice in the mix. Not defining 'influential' doesn't help with the site's credibility.

dasil003 13y ago
By the number of times you quote adjectives in your comment it's clear you have some sort of reflexive disdain for the whole concept. However I challenge you to define "influential" in any more objective way than what The Setup does. They interview a pretty diverse set of individuals, but of course they are all somewhat Internet famous for some public work they've done. I think it's pretty safe definition to say that people in the corporate world who don't choose their own workstation and are not publicly known are not as influential as interviewees on The Setup regardless of how smart, talented or accomplished they are. If you don't like the content of The Setup then don't read it, but this is a simple statistical analysis of something which exists and many people value in its own right. You can take it or leave it, but please don't set up a strawman about how it's not statistically valid when in fact there is no way any such endeavour could be.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- dean 13y ago
  "please don't set up a strawman about how it's not statistically valid when in fact there is no way any such endeavour could be." So you agree that it's not statistically valid. Therefore it's not a strawman argument.
  - dasil003 13y ago
    Do you know what a strawman argument is?
pinaceae 13y ago
our company let's you choose between macs and pcs. quite necessary as we develop mobile apps - just how would you develop for iOS without a mac? we have a lot of ubuntu and win7 running on those macs, win8 now necessitates new hardware due to touch.

by liotier 13y ago

dasil003 13y ago

By the number of times you quote adjectives in your comment it's clear you have some sort of reflexive disdain for the whole concept. However I challenge you to define "influential" in any more objective way than what The Setup does. They interview a pretty diverse set of individuals, but of course they are all somewhat Internet famous for some public work they've done. I think it's pretty safe definition to say that people in the corporate world who don't choose their own workstation and are not publicly known are not as influential as interviewees on The Setup regardless of how smart, talented or accomplished they are. If you don't like the content of The Setup then don't read it, but this is a simple statistical analysis of something which exists and many people value in its own right. You can take it or leave it, but please don't set up a strawman about how it's not statistically valid when in fact there is no way any such endeavour could be.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
dean 13y ago
"please don't set up a strawman about how it's not statistically valid when in fact there is no way any such endeavour could be." So you agree that it's not statistically valid. Therefore it's not a strawman argument.
- dasil003 13y ago
  Do you know what a strawman argument is?

pinaceae 13y ago

our company let's you choose between macs and pcs. quite necessary as we develop mobile apps - just how would you develop for iOS without a mac? we have a lot of ubuntu and win7 running on those macs, win8 now necessitates new hardware due to touch.