The Eric Wroolie Blog

Overpass Experiences

The Client-Side Install

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I’ve spent the morning reading about Google Gears (I guess it’s just called Gears now, but new name’s brevity just leads to confusion). Gears is an open-source Google api which allows users to save data offline, maintain the application in a network failure, and several other things. It makes using apps like Google Docs possible on a moving laptop where internet connections come and go.

After a few hours of reading about the API, seeing all the cool things that can be done, and imaging the possibilities for some of the apps I’ve worked on– I keep coming back to the same problem: it requires a client-side install. To me, the web means you don’t have to install locally. A website should work whether you are at your home pc, in an internet cafe, or using a friend’s pc while on holiday.

Silverlight has the same problems. You can do everything on the client, almost, with Silverlight– but it requires your user installing the plugin.

If we can freely get users to install applications, we don’t need dynamic websites at all. We don’t need javascript. We don’t need Ajax. We can just code to the machine (or whatever installed Framworks like JVM or .Net they are using).

But, I guess a generic plugin like Gears or Silverlight from big, respected, companies are necessary. Anyone who has every had to upload images to a website knows how painful it can be when you have to click on a browse button to upload each image individually. Drag and drop and treeview controls on the web have always been crafty tricks to make an application look like a thick-client desktop application. We have always been restricted to the standards that the browser makers agree to. (I know there is the argument that this is all defined by W3C, but the truth is that we developers look more at browser adoption than at what W3C says we should be using.)

It seems strange to me to say “If you want to use this website, download and install this plugin” for anything other than a Flash based app.

I’ve been in so many design discussions for new projects where someone asks “But what if they have javascript turned off?” Now, we assume that everyone enables cookies and enables javascript. Now, we have to see if we can get them to download something new.

I’m still not sure about Gears.

Hindi Class ends tonight

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Tonight is the last night of my Hindi class.

10 weeks of learning to read and speak Hindi. I’ve learned a lot, but I’ve definitely reached the dropping off point in terms of complexity.

Learning a language always starts off easy. Everything you learn is something you frequently use. You learn Hello, thank you, counting, and how to have a brief conversation. It exciting and rewarding to start learning a language this way.

But, then you start to see how difficult the language actually is. There are loads of words you need to learn. It’s easy to learn a word like “weather” that you will use from time to time, but how much time to you want to invest on learning a word like “fountain pen” or “lettuce”? It’s difficult to work these into daily conversation.

It was the same with Chinese and Vietnamese too. You get immediate gains on language learning, then you hit a plateau and have to consider how much you want to push forward. For those languages, it was my job to press forward. This, being a hobby, makes it much more difficult.

I’m having a great time learning the language. I can’t see myself every speaking like a native, though.

First Hit from the Recession

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My current client has lowered contractor rates by 10%. I could either take it or leave.

I’ve gotten this kind of offer before, but always turned down the rate cut– I always have a suitcase packed when on contract. That’s the nature of the gig. You stay as long as they need you. At any given day, you can come to work and be told, “Thanks for your services. We think we can get on okay now without you.” That’s fine– that’s the way it should be. So, I don’t like mid-contract renegotiations as a rule. But the economy is different now.

Everyone is suffering everywhere.

I spoke to a contractor friend of mine who has been a contractor developer for well over 15 years and asked what he does. Rate cuts are a fact of life. Sometimes, you just have to take it. Sometimes, it’s the right thing to do.

So I took it. But my suitcase it still packed. This recession is just getting started.