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November 05, 2004
Software as Works of Architecture
Finished reading Dan Bricklin's essay "Software That Lasts 200 Years" this afternoon. Reminded me a good bit of what Danny Hillis and the Long Now folks were talking about a couple of years ago. Point being, the idea that software needs to age well has been known for some time.
What's my timeframe for my software? Five years, I suppose. The idea that we can currently write stuff that lasts 200 years is ludacris. However, looking back at what has been done (New York Times digital archive project, etc.), perhaps twenty years is possible.
What do I think I can write in that will last more than two decades? XHTML, XML, CSS. Windows is the most popular platform (thus, by implication, the platform most likely to be around in twenty years), yet its track record does not bode well for future-proofing my current VB.NET apps (despite the best efforts of the Raymond Chen camp). Web apps are the way to go, IMHO, for long-term use. GMail, this blog, etc. I can see code like that running undisturbed for many moons.
What's your timeframe for your projects? What can you currently write in that will stick around a couple of decade?
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Posted by Noel at 01:02 PM
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