The Demented Ravings of Frank W. Zammetti Visit www.zammetti.com for all things me

Eric S. Raymond, I have a bone to pick with you

Tonight at the Philadelphia Java User's Group meeting I had a chance to hear Eric S. Raymond, aka ESR, speak.  Eric's an interesting guy to say the least who frequently has opinions that many consider incendiary.  Tonight was no exception.  This was the first time I've ever met the man in person so going in I didn't really have any expectations (aside from what I know of him generally I mean).  What I got was a lot of interesting anecdotes, a few thought-provoking comments and a lot of opinions on various things.  It's always great to hear someone who clearly has so much experience and knowledge talk and I'm very glad I had the opportunity to attend.

Honestly, I found myself agreeing with most of what he said.  I believe Eric and I have a lot in common, a lot of thought processes that are, to a large degree, the same.  I can tell for sure that he's got a similar "old-school" mentality and a set of experiences similar to my own (although there's certainly significant differences).  Some of what he said, like his comments on architecting systems in layers (vis a vis, design a low-level set of APIs, then build a command line on top of it, then a GUI if and when it's needed, he gave The GIMP as a great example) strongly echoes my own feelings based on a lot of experience, so I was absolutely receptive to that.  Some of it, such as his feelings at Python, I was a little more ambivalent about, although it makes me want to dive into a few things that I otherwise may not have (Haskell for example, something I DEFINITELY want to look into).

One thing he said though I disagreed with quite a bit.  He was talking about coding standards.  Now, on the surface, he didn't say something that was totally against my own thoughts on the subject.  He basically was saying that coding standards are nice, but aren't THAT important, and even if you have standards you shouldn't be overly anal about them.

I basically agree with this.  I think I put a little more importance than he does in standards generally, and I CAN admittedly get anal about it sometimes, but the idea of generally not going to that extreme I do agree with.  I've always said I'm less concerned with everyone on my team following the same set of standards religiously than I am with each developer being self-consistent.  Nothing annoys me more... nay, nothing PISSES ME OFF AND GETS ME INTO A MURDEROUS RAGE more, than a developer who can't decide how many frigging tabs they're going to use between two different methods, can't decide if they like their braces on the end of a line or alone on the next line or can't decide whether they're going to write comments on not, can't indent consistently or name variables in a meaningful way, and so on.

However, on the other hand, he was too soft on the idea of coding standards for my tastes.  This bothers me because I think he's missing a key point in the whole discussion, which is that developers who write code that doesn't adhere to SOME set of standards, whether a codified set of standards or their own internalized standards, not only write aesthetically unpleasing code that is difficult to read (really the less important aspect of standards) but also, in my experience, they write crappy code ("crappy" as in more buggy and more difficult to maintain).

In a nutshell: if you don't have the attention to detail and self-respect for your work to write clean-looking code then you aren't going to write clean-WORKING code either.

It's a systemic problem, something I've witnessed far too much of.  Supposedly "professional" developers who can't be bothered to format their own code well and who don't write their code in a consistent manner also write code that has more bugs, sometimes paralyzingly difficult-to-find subtle bugs, and code that is much harder to maintain and extend.  They tend not to comment worth a damn and they usually do little in the way of planning and thinking about architecture before just starting to mindlessly hack away.  It's a detriment to an organization for sure, no matter if it SEEMS like they produce well because they always hit deadlines.  Hitting deadlines is well and good, sure, but doing so at the cost of cutting corners and writing code that is brittle (meaning it can't be extended without breaking something) and will need to be replaced a year down the road serves no one well.

Writing clean code that is formatted in a consistent fashion, commented well, obviously architecting the code in a reasonable fashion, these are things true professional developers do as a matter of course.  In fact, they don't know how to NOT do it!  Even when they're writing a one-off "quick hack" program, they still do it.  Part of it is experience of course- the experience of knowing that the one-off hack projects have a tendency to become frequently-used mission-critical applications without ever intending them to be... this is something newer developers usually don't realize (through no real fault of their own perhaps).  Better the program is written well to begin with, just in case.  Most GOOD developers don't even have a true set of standards they adhere to, usually nothing codified in any real way... they simply have a very naturally consistent style that they rarely break from.  It's as natural as writing any code and it's just an expected part of the job, or at least it should be.

You know, being a good developer isn't about algorithms or Big-O notation or patterns or architecture or syntax, at least not for the most part.  It's about logical thought.  It's about that exercise most of us had to do in school where the teacher makes you give them every step to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich... inevitably you miss steps that in retrospect are incredibly obvious.  Guess what?  YOU WERE PROGRAMMING BACK THEN!

And I bet, if you could remember the experience, you could clearly see that some people just "got it" and some didn't.  The ability to break complex things down into manageable parts and then describe them logically is the core of programming, just like it was during that school exercise.  Way too many developers nowadays seem to fail the basic "thought test", and I haven't yet determined if its something you can learn or not.

Logic is, at its most basic level, simple, elegant and clean.  Your code should be a reflection of that, in form as well as function.  It should be a reflection of the ordered mind and thought patterns that produced it.  But you also have to write it with the realization that others will have to deal with it too, others that will likely have a mind that works a bit differently than yours... and you'll have to deal with it too, and it'll inevitably be after the point you've forgotten writing it!  Writing code with good habits in the first place will make all of that so much easier.  In fact, I'd say it can make a developer who fails the "thought test" at least passable.

And sure, there are exceptions to all of this... there are top-notch programmers who generate code that looks pretty bad... but it works, and works well.  There are developers who know every last technical detail, have an amazing grasp on computer science concepts and can throw together highly complex code without much effort.  Hey, those guys are amazing to me too.

But I sure don't want to maintain their code!

My headline here was obviously meant to be a bit sensationalist to get visitors... hey, I'm not immune to such vanity!  I actually suspect Eric would agree with most of what I'm saying here, and certainly I didn't come away thinking we had a huge difference of opinion on the subject of coding standards.  Like I said though, for me, it's about something a bit more than what I thought he expressed at tonight's talk.

I'll try and summarize it thusly: TAKE PRIDE IN WHAT YOU DO!  Maybe that's really the key to it all.  My dad, and I bet yours too, often said "if it's not worth doing right then it's not worth doing at all", and that's an adage I believe in strongly, and it applies to writing code as much as anything else.  We all have time pressures, deadlines to meet and most of us have more work heaped on us than we would in an ideal world.  It's certainly not EASY to be diligent and do things the right way instead of just the expedient way.

But really, that's what separates the true professionals from the pretenders.

Treat your code like the artistic creation it in fact is, but strive to make it more like an engineering discipline.  Combining those two schools of thought properly will lead you to a good place!

Android – You’re Doing It Wrong

I've begun to see a pattern of people posting their opinion of Android, especially those coming from other OS's, with one point that I find more than a little ridiculous.  Since I still move in webOS circles a bit I've seen it there certainly, but also from a few people coming from iOS or Blackberry.

The refrain goes something like this:

"I don't like Android because the built-in apps are lacking.  Yes, I know, I can customize Android a million ways to Sunday, but I shouldn't HAVE to in order to get a device that rocks, especially when <insert competing product name here> has great apps built-in".

There's usually some minor variation on that theme, but that's the underlying thought: these people seem to be saying that customizing is in some way bad and that the out-of-the-box experience should be top-notch and because it's not (something I'd frankly agree with) then Android is somehow flawed.

My reaction is always the same: you're doing it wrong.

Also, the REASON you're doing it wrong is because Apple has, whether you realize it or not, told you so.

Let me put it this way: have you EVER heard someone complain that Windows isn't that great out-of-the-box?  In terms of apps I'm talking about, put all other factors aside (stability, performance, etc)... ever hear someone say "Gee, Windows sucks because the built-in file manager (or web browser or eMail client or whatever else) isn't very good?"

*IF* you answer yes and *IF* you're being honest, then ask the logical follow-up question: did you hear that before or after Apple started becoming popular and mainstream again? ("again" in this context meaning since the iPhone came out)

I'd bet the answer is no most of the time to the first question and yes to the second in all cases where it was yes to the first.

The thing is, Windows has always been a PLATFORM, a foundation.  You're expected to build upon it.  That means getting the apps that YOU like and that YOU want to use.  The apps that come with it, by and large, are very basic, just enough to allow you to get started until you find the apps to take their place that really meet your needs.  And this has always been good enough- in fact, Microsoft has always been watched carefully when it comes to bundling.  They've had a tight leash on them for years in that regard.  But regardless of that, the fact remains that Windows has for the most part always been separate from the apps you run on it and it's always been a natural (if unspoken) truth that you don't expect the apps that ship with Windows to be anything great.  You EXPECT to have to load your own apps.  This is flexibility and freedom and exactly how everyone has always wanted it to be.

Until now it seems.

Why is the expectation any different with Android?  Why don't people view it as a foundational platform, shipping with, for the most part at least, basic apps to get you started and that you are EXPECTED to customize?  Why is this flexibility and freedom EVER seen as a bad thing?

Because Apple has told you it is.

Now, I'm not saying they've come right out and stated it as such.  What I mean is that Apple has, really always but especially since introducing iOS (and after working the early kinks out) done very well in providing some excellent apps with the OS.  No, maybe not always the best available, but usually not too far from the top, certainly better than some of the default apps Android provides.  For example, the iOS eMail client is, in most peoples' minds, a better eMail client than what Android provides by default.  I'd personally agree it is for the most part (I know some people claim the GMail client is fantastic but I hold no opinion on it personally since I don't use it).

So when I say Apple has "told you" this is how it should be I'm really saying they've set that expectation, and if Android or any other OS doesn't at least meet what iOS provides then it's somehow not as good (and the comparison works against any other competitor as well).

But, it's a flawed expectation.  I'm not blaming Apple for anything here by the way.  There's no problem with them providing good apps out-of-the-box.  In fact, for many people that's all they'll ever need and they'll be quite happy.  So be it.  Who am I to complain?  But, to then turn around and use that against Android is unfair because Android comes from a different place.

Apple likes to control the experience of its users.  In some ways that's a plus (it's usually a good experience, generally speaking, for most people), but in some ways its a negative (you give up some freedom of choice by accepting it).  Apple has a much more "appliance-like" approach to its products: you take it home, turn it on, and you're rockin' and rollin' with it.  But, the experience they designed FOR you is, to a large degree, the experience you're ALWAYS going to have (ignoring jailbreaking and really doing some hacking of course, I'm talking just average, every day users).

Android, by contrast, is philosophically very different: YOU are in control at a very fundamental level.  The experience you have is UP TO YOU.

Don't like the launcher that comes with your Android device?  No problem, choose one of the many alternatives.  Default eMail client not doing it for you?  No sweat, there's others to choose from.  Not a fan of the basic Android browser?  Cool, grab Dolphin or Opera or Firefox or even Google's own Chrome and you're good to go.  You have these choices, and yes, you may decide you don't want to put in the time and effort to decide which apps are best for you, but you have that opportunity, and moreover, Android is almost designed so that you are EXPECTED to do that.  I mean, you don't make it as easy as it is to switch launchers, in some cases RADICALLY altering the way you interact with your Android device, if that's not the unspoken expectation.

Put it this way: how ridiculous would it be for someone to say: "You know, Windows only gives me Notepad to edit text with... I can't do formatting, bullet lists, tables or any of that cool stuff I want to do, therefore Windows sucks"?  It'd be pretty ridiculous and you'd quickly and rightly point out: "Dude, go get Microsoft Office or LibreOffice or Symphony or one of the other office suites and you'll have exactly what you want!"

It's a question of expectations.  Apple "tells" you to expect a solid out-of-the-box experience, and you accept it because, let's face it, Apple has been MASSIVELY successful with it.  But Android "tells" you that you'll get a solid core and an OK set of default apps out-of-the-box and it's up to YOU to make it really suit your needs.

Now, if you don't have the time and inclination to put in the effort that Android to an extent demands, no problem, just keep using your Apple products.  I'm sure you're happy with them and that's fine with me.  Many people use Macs too and I know many don't alter the default experience very much either and they're perfectly happy with it.  That's cool with me.

But it's not fair to turn around and bash Android for not being what Apple thinks a computer (smartphone, tablet, whatever) should be.  It's not fair to say "Android sucks" just because you don't want to exercise the freedom it provides.  And don't misunderstand me: Android is certainly NOT perfect, and there's very legitimate gripes people can and should have with it (including me).  But the tired "the default apps aren't good" is just that: tired, played out, unfair and more than a little ridiculous in the first place.

Android is, at least in this regard, fundamentally about freedom and flexibility.  The competitors' products are not.  They take a very different tact on things.  You as a customer are perfectly free to decide which philosophy suits you best and go with it, and neither choice is more valid than the other for any given individual.  But if you're decision point is "the default apps in Android aren't as good as X, Y or Z's default apps" then, as I said at the start:

You're doing it wrong.

Theme change

You know, I have no recollection of ever liking the Vista theme, but obviously I did at some point... that being said, I think it made things less usable, so it was time for a change.  I went with something fairly simple but that I think looks fairly nice.  Maybe it'll actually motivate me to write more than once a year

The rise and fall (and rise again?) of webOS

Anyone who follows me on Twitter most certainly knows my feelings about what went down with HP and webOS this week.  It can be summed up in one word: anger, frustration, resignation, indifference, incredulousness (if that's even a word, my spellchecker isn't so sure!) and amazement.

It helps to understand where I'm coming from, where I've been, to understand my feelings now.  Nearly two years ago Apress asked me to write a book on (then) Palm's new webOS platform, to which I promptly replied: "What the hell is a webOS??"  Fortunately, the editor I worked with put me in touch with Mitch Allen at Palm.  Within a few days Mitch very kindly sent me a free Palm Pre, then still brand-spanking new, a few chapters of his own as-yet to be released webOS book, and I got to have a very nice conversation with him talking about webOS, Palm's vision for the future, etc.

I was stoked, to put it mildly.  It sounded like Palm had finally done what I and others certainly had always thought was a natural evolution: they'd basically taken a web browser and ran an operating system in it (yes, I'm oversimplifying quite a bit and leaving out a bunch more, but from the perspective of an application developer, which is what I am, that's essentially what it is).  What I saw was extremely impressive.  All the adjectives frequently used to describe webOS applied: elegant, simple, logical, beautiful, etc.  I was excited and I got to work on the book, got it done, got it published and continued to be a part of the webOS community very happily.  I wrote two articles for the Palm Developer Network, a few independent articles for other publications and was was working on a number of my own webOS-based project.

I was a webOS fan.  No, more than that, I was a webOS EVANGELIST.  I got my wife to buy a Pre, her first smartphone... she was reluctant, but I'll note she's had some sort of smartphone ever since and if you ask her she'd never go back.  I credit webOS for giving her a gentle introduction.  I argued with people at work that webOS was the superior platform... my boss and I had some heated debates over the months on this topic   I'd tell anyone that would listen that webOS was great and they should give it a good, hard look if they were in the market.

Now, a bit over a year ago if I remember correctly, something happened... my Pre wasn't behaving itself (as, it turns out, was all too typical of that device).  Eventually, my legendary temper got the best of me: I threw it against a wall.  No, not figuratively, and no, I didn't just imagine doing it... a Pre, traveling at high speeds, impacted the brick wall in my kitchen, sending pieces flying everywhere.

Now, wanna hear something amazing?  IT STILL BASICALLY WORKED!!  Yes, it was all busted up, and yes, the keyboard was hanging from the rest of the phone by a ribbon cable... but it turned on, and I could still (more or less) use it!  So, for all the "Palm made crap hardware" comments you hear, let that be at least one counter-example for you

Now, clearly the condition of that phone wasn't going to do any longer so it was time to get a new one.  Sprint, rightly so frankly, wouldn't just outright replace it under my extended warranty.  They offered to give me a new Pre for $100.  Not a bad deal, but the fact is there was a brand-spanking new Samsung Epic 4G sitting on the shelf that I could get for just $200.  The screen sold me in a heartbeat, it was, and still is, a magnificent sight.  So, I made the reluctant leap to Android.

Now, this isn't a post about Android, but I'll tell you that I've been rather happy with that decision and I've long ago stopped looking back longingly on webOS.  And that right there is the first problem HP, as the new stewards of webOS, faced: the competition caught up.  I realize a lot of people reading this are diehard webOS fans and hate Android, hate its look, its UX, all of it.  But the fact is that most people, comparing the two, don't see a world of difference... whichever you prefer, the difference is pretty minor nowadays.  Where webOS might have kicked everyone's' ass in UX a few years ago, that's no longer the case.

Likewise, we have an Asus Transformer tablet in the house (ostensibly my wife's, but you know how it REALLY works! LOL)... it's not as good as an iPad frankly, but it's pretty good... I'd still have an iPad today, but funny thing, they don't like being thrown on the floor... but more on that in my upcoming blog post "It's an inanimate object, how DARE it defy me?! (subtitled Violence Against Technology in the American Heartland)".

Anyway, flash-forward to now... for probably six months, maybe more, I, like many others, have seen the writing on the wall for webOS.  HP was talking a fantastic game, but many of us weren't buying into the hype.  For many of us it was a switch to Android (or iOS) that convinced us the advantages webOS once had were no longer there, or at least not there to a big enough extent to matter.  Oh sure, webOS still kills every other OS (aside from the PlayBook's perhaps) in terms of multitasking, but ultimately that's only one relatively small piece of the puzzle, it's not a big enough differentiator.

Then, all of a sudden, less than a week ago, Armageddon.  Seemingly, out of the blue, HP decides that because the TouchPad, which was still the new webOS hotness, not being much more than a month old, was selling like an old, used diaper, and so they were out of the webOS device business as of RIGHT NOW.

That would have been shocking regardless of anything else... after all, we heard how they were "doubling down" on webOS, how the TouchPad would propel them strongly into the tablet market... they got Russell Brand and other kinda-sorta popular celebrities to push their wares on TV.  It seemed like they were at least serious about being in this market, seemed like they were at least going to give it time to see what happened.

Oh.  Oops, sorry, no.

Like I said, this would have been shocking on its own, but it was MORE shocking because I had bought a TouchPad just two weeks earlier!  I didn't so much WANT one as I couldn't pass up what I saw as a great deal: $317 out the door at Staples for the 16Gb model.  Saved a cool $200+.  Sure, that's a good deal given what tablets are going for.

You know what's a better price?  How about $99?  Or even $49 at Staples?  Assuming you can find stock (you can't, don't bother looking) that's what they're going for today.  Imagine suddenly finding you overpaid for something by roughly $250... wouldn't be too happy, would you?

So, that was a big part of my anger: I felt personally screwed over by HP.  Now, as it turns out, Staples honored my return, even though I was technically beyond their return policy.  I got a full refund.  So in the end, that worked out.  Note that was after trying to sell the damned thing with at least three different deals falling through.

Guess they knew something I didn't

Now, to HP's credit, they've since done right by most people with refunds and whatnot.  So at this point it's hard to think that anyone should feel screwed by HP... I mean, aside from those that believed the TouchPad was going to be a viable product for a long time to come.  It still may be viable, but only if you change what that term means.

It no longer means a product that will be fully supported.  You can no longer expect any sort of updates (you may get some still, but that's an unknown at this point).  Will developers flock to the platform and supply you with a ton of new apps?  Well, more on that later, but the answer is more or less no.  But, on the other hand, it's not like the TouchPad as it exists today, the apps that exist today, aren't useful.  For whatever flaws it has (quite a few in my opinion) it's still a perfectly useable tablet for many purposes.  For $49 it's a no-brainer, even $99 it's still within "toy" range.  Even $149 for the 32Gb version isn't bad (not sure *I* would drop $149 on it, but it's not crazy if you do).  It's certainly a better tablet than many of the cheapo Android tablets you can get in that price range, no question about it.

But, on the other hand, it is what it is, today, nothing more, ever.

Now, I've been proclaiming webOS is dead based on HP's actions this week.  And if you asked me to bet a years' salary I'd bet on that being the case without hesitation.  Yes, you hear HP blowing smoke up our asses again about licensing it to good hardware manufacturers.  webOS is dead, long live webOS!  I don't see how THIS smoke is different than the smoke they blew up our asses when they said they were in this game for the long-haul, but whatever, maybe there's something to it.

Even if Samsung and HTC, as some rumors suggest, sign on, what will it matter?  Will developers suddenly flock to webOS and create all sorts of great new apps?  Will people feel they can trust HP going forward?  Will their words mean anything?  I bet no.

But...

There's a few interesting possibilities that could make me wrong.  First, the licensing thing could work out.  They could get webOS on some great hardware, get rid of the flaws in the platform and suddenly have a fantastic story to tell.  I frankly doubt this because (a) I'm not at all sure the flaws can be fixed, certainly they've been unable to do it thus far, and (b) I'm not sure any company would take a chance on webOS now.  Even given that Google pissed off and scared a lot of Android makers with the Motorola deal, so you might think they'd want a backup, is webOS really it?  On this front the only thing anyone can say is we'll see.

But, there's another possibility... one that's just so bizarre it might actually be true... and so crazy it just might work...

...MAYBE EVERYTHING IS GOING EXACTLY ACCORDING TO PLAN!

Follow the bouncing ball with me...

1. HP releases the TouchPad.  It sells like plague-infested blankets.

2. HP "decides" to "cut their losses" and announces they're "out of the webOS device business".  They say they'll try to license webOS, mostly just to satisfy stockholders for a few days (gotta give 'em hope!)

3. HP starts an incredible fire sale.  All of a sudden, the 200k units Staples had on hand but couldn't move (a figure I got from a manager at my local Staples store) and the 200k units (roughly) that Best Buy had on hand but couldn't sell (as reported last week) start moving like hotcakes.  You can't find the damned things anywhere, there are stories of people lined up waiting for stores to open.  This is the case at other outlets like Walmart, Office Max, Amazon, etc. as well.

4. So, in the span of maybe 48 hours HP moves, what, a million units maybe?  More?  The market share shoots up all of a sudden.  Yes, HP takes tremendous losses on each device sold, but so what?  The customer base they couldn't develop at the prices they were originally selling for begins to emerge.

It's not the first time a company has taken tremendous losses on hardware to gain market share in short order.

Woah, is that it?  Was that the plan?  Well, if so, here's what I'd expect... a press release, maybe a week or two from now, maybe less, saying something like "Wow, HP is amazed at the outpouring of attention to webOS.  Obviously, we were mistaken and there is a HUGE market for our devices.  Therefore, we are reversing our decision and will continue to provide webOS devices."

And that, as they say, gets the balling rolling in a big way.  All of a sudden you've got a TON of new users on your platform.  So, a bunch of new developers decide to build apps for it... especially now that HP isn't "abandoning" anything.  All of a sudden, HP and webOS go from being also-rans behind iOS and even Android to a more than viable competitor in the tablet space.

And it was all based on a bluff.  An expensive, risky, crazy-assed bluff.  But you know, history is full of such bluffs working out fantastically well.

Now, there's of course a downside to this.  First, nobody will trust what HP says ever again.  At least, nobody that is savvy enough to realize what just happened.  The credibility of the company as a whole would take a hit.  But, if you really believe in webOS as a platform, maybe that's a risk worth taking.  People will certainly forget a few years later, especially if all of a sudden you're #1.

And if you think about it, what company other than HP could pull such a bluff off?  You need a boatload of money to find the losses acceptable.  Check (well, more or less).  You need a platform that, generally, is regarded as viable.  Check.  You need a crazy CEO to come up with it and have the testicular fortitude to execute the plan.  Check... maybe.

Do I think this is the case?  No, not really.  I wouldn't bet my kids' lives on it, but I wouldn't be shocked to find it was the plan all along either.  Like I said, it's just crazy enough to be true!

No, what I really suspect will be the case is HP *might* be able to convince one manufacturer to take a chance on webOS.  They'll build a device or two, probably wind up being decent enough, but webOS will just wither and die over the course of maybe a year, two at the most, because no developer wants to take a chance on it.  The sudden influx of new users we have this weekend will convince a few, and there will be a few new apps, and you might even hear a success story or two from a developer here and there (developers with existing apps will see a decent bump in profits, if only for a brief moment in time)... but this will be a short-lived uptick for webOS, it won't last.

But, if the wild-ass conspiracy theory turns out to be true... well, I won't exactly die of shock either!  I could see it, I really could.

One last point I want to make here is this... if nothing else, HP has done one thing that ALL tablet manufacturers should be looking at today... for those that say "What the hell good is a tablet? That's not a viable market!", well, HP just proved you very wrong.  They proved, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that there IS a tablet market, an even larger one that Apple or Android has tapped thus far, waiting to be opened.  The key is pricing boys and girls.  The first company that gets a high-quality tablet on the market for under $200, I'd bet my left kidney, will make a SERIOUS dent in the iPad's dominance.  People WANT tablets, and I mean mom and pop, not just us geeks and not just executives trying to impress their underlings... people just don't want to pay what they see a ridiculous prices for them.  Now, $49 or even $99 probably isn't right either... but $199?  Are you telling me that's not doable?  I bet it is, by the right company.  Amazingly, HP was and still is probably in the best position to be that company.  Apple won't drop their prices enough to get there, the Android makers might not have the scale and presence to do it.  But HP could I suspect.  Might we see a TouchPad 2 for $199 in six months?  Quite possibly.  Then you've got a million+ practically "built-in" customers overnight, and a lot more who will be more than willing to drop that kind of coin, recession be damned!  Especially when they want to keep up with the Joneses down the street who all have TouchPads (by then they'll forget they got them for $49, or won't care, they'll just HAVE to have them then!)

If HP realizes all this, all they actually need to do is execute a crazy-ass plan right now to increase market share... hey, wait a minute...

----

Addendum added 8/30...

Just as a quick follow-up, although its a bit tangential I think it plays into all of this... there's one company here that I think has perhaps the best shot to unseat Apple in the tablet market... it's not HP, it's (most likely) not Google... It's Amazon.  We all know at this point that they have a tablet coming out this fall.  We don't know much about it but we assume its Android-based (and really, what else COULD it be anyway?).  I'd bet a large wager that the price point they come out with is $199 OR LESS.  And, I think it'll be a very good tablet, comparable to an iPad or anything else.  I suspect they'll take a loss on each one sold and that'll be their strategy.  They'll be playing the Sony game as they've always done with the Playstation: sell the hardware at a loss and make it up with content.

Amazon is ideally suited to making this strategy work in the tablet market.  They have hardware experience now from building Kindles.  They have content to sell in the form of eBooks, movies and music.  They could make the loss-leader strategy work in this market, and there's probably nobody else aside from Apple that is capable of pulling that off.

Now, Amazon has its own problems... it pissed of developers with their handling of the Amazon App Store for Android.  They have some work to do to rebuild their reputation there.  They have to come up with a loss number that's not TOO high, and that's gonna be tough based on current teardown costs of various tablets... could they really do THAT much better in terms of cost than anyone else and yet STILL produce a really solid piece of hardware?  That's a tall order for anyone, perhaps most of all a company that isn't a hardware company to begin with.

Still, I have a strong sense that in a years' time we'll be looking at a two-horse race in the tablet market, the perennial Apple, and Amazon.  Will Windows 8 on a tablet be able to break through?  That's at least a possibility, but I wouldn't bet on it, at least not in the short-term (like < 3 years).  And even if HP revives the TouchPad, as the today's rumors suggest they may (which, FYI, is perfectly in line with my theorized "secret master plan"!) I still don't think they're going to be anything better than third this time next year, and probably a fairly distant third at that (although they'll be able to say the strategy worked, if my theory is correct, since they'll at least be in the race, nominally anyway).

The Top 100 Commodore 64 Games Of ALL TIME

On Twitter I recently promised my list of the top 100 Commodore 64 games of all time, and here it is!

Anyone that knows me knows that I'm an old-timer C64  guy... I lived that life you read about and hear about from other old-timers.  I have a lot of fond memories, and some I'm not particularly proud of.  But the games, oh the games!

I'm not going to try and rank these, that would just be too damned hard!  But I will give a little comment on each.  I was going to put in screenshots too, and maybe I'll come back at a little date and update this post to have them, but for now, that too is too much effort   At the end of the day, this is really for other people like me who remembers those days with fondness... it's not like you kids with your X-Cases and PlayCenters or Nintendian PS's or whatever the hell you kids have today are going to run out and try and find these...

...but hey, if you are so inclined, frodo.cebix.net and c64.com are pretty much the only two URLs you'd need to play nearly all of these games inside 5 minutes

I've tried to avoid games that were ported from arcade games, but a few snuck in.  I also tried to stick to games I only remember on the C64, but again, some of these certainly were on other platforms (and in fact, some of them were arguably better on others).

Ok, without further stalling and BS'ing, here goes, in plain old boring alphabetical order...

10th Frame
Just a great little bowling game, nothing revolutionary, but well done
1942
One of the all-time best top-down scrolling shooters of... err... all-time   Pilot your WWII fighter and kick some Axis ass!
Action Biker
You, a motorcycle and a fairly large world filled with ramps and other trickpark goodies where you could, more or less, free-roam.  This game was in a lot of ways ahead of its time in that regard.
Agent USA
Fuzzbombs, everywhere!  Pretty tough to describe this game but most people remember the trains coming into the stations the most.
Alternative Reality
One of those cool mindbender adventure games that were popular back then.  I can't even tell you what it was about now, but I remember it was really cool.
Aztec Challenge
One of the games I still play to this day!  Lots of different mini-games combined to form a very fun whole.  Kind of an Indiana Jones vibe to it all.
Ballblazer
One of the few 3D games on this list, and really one of the few 3D games for a very long time on the C64.  You're a ball on a 3-D track with holes all over the place to avoid.
Barbarian
Another of the ones I still play.  You're a Conan-like barbarian forced to sword fight other barbarians while a wizard and his hot concubine watch from afar.  This game is well-remembered for the little green goblin guy that came out, laughed and dragged the body of your fallen foe away.  Even better: you could cut the other guys' head off, and the green goblin dude would KICK THE HEAD, soccer-style, on the way out!
BC's Quest For Tires
The BC comic strip brought to game form.  Ride your stone wheel all over the place avoiding many obstacles.
Beach Head
Without question one of the best C64 games ever.  Superb graphics, fantastic sound, lots of variety in the different mini-games that made up its war themed-structure.  Then again, I remember loading this off of cassette and it taking nearly 30 minutes... at least my friend Joe and I had time to have lunch while it loaded
Below The Root
More or less a Lord Of The Rings hobbits rip-off, but pretty well-done.
Blue Max
Another top-down scrolling airplane-themed shooter, but this one had a really nice 3-D-ish look to it.
Boulder Dash
This game has been released in a bunch of different updated forms in recent years and it still holds up well.  You're a little... thing... that walks around getting diamonds and avoiding rocks that fall once you remove the dirt below them.  I know, sounds lame, but it's not!
Break Dance
Yes, I used to be a breakdancer.  I was even kinda, sorta good for a short period of time.  I was always better at this game version of it though!
Break Street
Another breakdancing game.  I always felt Break Street was the better breakdancing-themed game, but they both deserve a spot because they were wildly different affairs.
Bruce Lee
You're the all-time ass-kickingest martial artist in history doing battle with ninja, a big fat green master and navigating a world straight out of the mind of M.C. Escher.  Sweet!
Burnin' Rubber
Very fun little game with a fantastic mellow soundtrack!  Race your little car that has the ability to jump hundreds of feet in the air and crush other cars on impact!
California Games
All sorts of west coast-themed mini-games, things like hackysack, halfpipe and surfing... the surfing was memorable because the water effect was actually quite good.
Chimera
A weird little game that is notable for having speech at the beginning... only a few games I remember having speech, this was the first I ever heard.
Chuck Norris
Anything with Chuck Norris is bound to be cool, and this was no exception.
Congo Bongo
Yep, pretty popular in the arcades and the C64 conversion wasn't bad at all.
Crystal Castles
This was a nice isometric game that was also pretty popular in the arcades.
Defender Of The Crown
For a while this was pretty much the pinnacle of C64 graphics.  The medieval-themes game was pretty fun too.
Dino Eggs
You're a time-traveler collecting dinosaur eggs.  Pretty tough but very fun.
Elite
One of the few true 3D games, but also one of the even fewer vector-type games.  A great space adventure with, at the time, pretty cutting-edge graphics.
Farmer's Daughter
A text adventure game that was, shall we say, not suitable for children under the age of ANY??
Forbidden Forest
Shoot spiders and other beasties as they attack you in a forest... that you were forbidden to go into... or something.
Fort Apocalypse
Cool side-scrolling helicopter shooter that was way too hard but for some reason a game you wanted to keep playing.
Friday The 13th
Yep, a video game of the movie!
Gateway To Aphsai
A famous adventure game that was better than any screenshot you'll ever see would have you believe.
Gauntlet
The arcade classic in your home!
Ghostbusters
One of the best video game adaptations of a movie ever.  Another game that had speech, and hearing "Ghostbusters!" exclaimed every time you bust a ghost is just awesome!
Ghosts And Goblins
Run around a graveyard killing the undead.  Err, wait, something doesn't seem quite right about that statement.
GI Joe - A Real American Hero
Programmers especially remember this game, along with Hot Wheels, for the way it played music and showed animations perfectly smoothly during loading, which was a technical marvel until we all learned what an NMI was!
Goonies
Another great movie adaptation.  Yes, Chunk is in it!
Great American Cross-Country Road Race
One of the neater racing games ever.  This one wasn't about speed as much as it was about endurance... would you run out of gas before making it to the next city?  Would you take too much damage to make it to the opposite coast?  This was a liberating experience before you got your real drivers' license.
Gyruss
Another arcade classic brought to the home.
Hardball
My all-time favorite Baseball game, bar none.  I actually videotaped myself throwing a no-hitter one time, which was a very impressive achievement.  Trust me
Hot Wheels
This game was interesting, for the loading as previously mentioned, but also because it was another semi-open-world-type game.
Hover Bover
You're mowing a lawn.  I know, sounds lame.  It SO is not!  Your mower can overheat, you can be attacked by a dog, you can male the dog sick your neighbor, who you stole the mower from!  You can run over flowers and have the owner come chase you... just great!  A great British sense of humor throughout.
Impossible Mission
This is one of those games that EVERYONE remembers.  You're a spy infiltrating the lair of an evil guy and have to dodge killer robots who shoot lightning and navigate an insane and huge underground fortress while solving puzzle, hacking computer terminals and doing bad-ass gymnastics every chance you got.  If you were one of the few who finished it you no doubt remember the conclusion, which I won't spoil for anyone that might be so inclined to give it a go.
Infiltrator
A World War II spy simulation... and yes, they literally ask for your papers in spots.
Jumpman Junior
You're a guy that does a lot of jumping while avoiding bullets shot from unseen guns, climbing ropes and collecting... err, things.
Jungle Hunt
Swing on vines, swim underwater, knife sharks, all to rescue a princess from headhunters.
Karate Champ
One of my all-time favorite arcade games.  There's a native iOS version available so if you don't have it already, but it sight unseen, it's great.
Karateka
Another Karate-themed game, this one more adventure-like.
Kung-Fu Master
And yet ANOTHER Karate-themed game (remember, The Karate Kid was out around this time).  This is the most action-packed one of the bunch.
Last Ninja
Yeah, ninjas too were big.
Last V8
Literally, you own the last 8-cylinder car in existence (after the cars rose up and the human race had to destroy them I suppose).  The music was awesome.
Law Of The West
A neat choose-your-own-adventure sort of game set in the old west.
Lazy Jones
A game I shamelessly ripped... err, I mean, paid homage to... when I developed K&G Arcade.  Tons of little mini-games, some extremely bizarre (shooting a fork at a turkey comes to mind) but extremely fun.
Little Computer People's Reaearch Project
The predecessor to The Sims.  Best part was when you didn't interact with your little people for a while they would stand there looking annoyed, tapping their feet, and then tap on the glass of your monitor!
Lode Runner
It'd be SO easy to make the obvious poop joke, but this game was not S**T at all
Mail Order Monsters
Exactly what the name says: you mail away for monsters, then fight them, gaining more money and buying more monsters.  Yes, it's Pokemon, but without the lameness.
Master Of The Lamps
I was always a sucker for mini-game-oriented games, and this was another.  Best part was flying through the shimmering triangles on a magic carpet in space.  Obviously, scientific accuracy wasn't a big theme back then.
Miner 2049er
One of the hardest games ever!  Only eight levels as I recall, but getting past the sixth was damned near impossible.  I pulled it off a few times, but man, what a nightmare... but somehow fun at the same time.
Montezuma's Revenge
Run around a Aztec tomb collecting gold and whatnot.
Moon Patrol
Pilot your little moon buggy and defend the Earth's closest heavenly neighbor from marauding UFOs and rocks on the lunar surface.
Mountain King
Uhh... you jump around... sometimes its pitch black.. there's bats... hell, I just remember it was fun!
Nuclear Attack
A text-based game where you are the pilot of a nuclear bomber flying into Soviet airspace to do the deed.  If you got into this you got into it big-time... when a SAM site fired on you and you had to deploy countermeasures and hope they worked... then when you opened your target package and finally nuked those red bastards... hey, it was the early 80's, this was the best way to cope with the thought of nuclear annihilation!
Oils Well
The single best take on Pac-Man ever done.  So fun!
One On One
Dr. J vs. Larry Bird.  Sweet!  Very accurate too: Dr. J could dunk, but Larry could sink them from downtown.
Parallax
3D, that's all you need to know.
Pooyan
You're the mother of some child pigs defending against wolves attempting to float down on balloons to eat your babies, so you have to shoot arrows at them in your little basket that can go up and down.  Weird, but extremely addicting.
Popeye
Eat your spinach, get the skinny ugly chick.
Predator
Awesome adaptation of the classic movie.
PSI 5 Trading Company
A space-based adventure that was more about commerce than blowing other ships up.
Raid Over Moscow
Basically this was Beach Head but with a more modern take of the U.S. vs. the USSR.
Rambo
This game had some of the best music ever.  It was one of the toughest games you could ever play, but if you made it far enough it was a fantastic accomplishment.
Rampage
You're one of a handful of monsters rampaging across a city, eating people.  It's still out there today in updated forms.
Realm Of Impossibility
Very nice 3D-ish adventure game.
Rescue On Fractalus
Oh, this game... there's one part where you land your ship on a planet to rescue a crashed pilot... you're looking out the window of your ship and you see a spacesuit-clad person running up... only, sometimes, it wasn't a person, it was an alien, who promptly pops up and screams loudly at you!  You know those YouTube videos where you are tricked to watch something closely and then a monster pops up?  Yeah, was done in the early 80's   This game was also one of the first to use fractal geometry to render its landscape, pretty cutting-edge stuff back then.
Roadrunner
You are literally the roadrunner trying to avoid the coyote.
Satan's Hollow
You're literally fighting Satan and his minions in a Galaxian-type shooter.
Serpentine
Imagine the simple game Snake if it was actually incredibly awesome.  That's Serpentine!
Shamus
A great little top-down adventure game famous for all sorts of weird geometric-based enemies.
Skool Daze
You're basically a bully tormenting geeks.  Perfect!
Space Taxi
Fly  your taxi picking up fairs and dropping them off.  Another of the ones I still play all the time.
Spelunker
Explore caves, avoid bats, use dynamite, have a blast (pun intended).
Spy Versus Spy
Haha, lots of fun planting traps for the other spy to get tripped up on.
Star Wars
Red 5 standing  by!
Strip Poker
One of the first pornographic games out there.  Was always fun to find there was another disk with another girl to get naked.
Summer Games
Gymnastics here was always my favorite, but other events were fun too.
Tag Team Wrestling
There were a few wrestling games, but this is the only one I remember having tag-team action.
Tapper
You're the bartender tossing beers to patrons, picking up the empties before they fall on the ground, picking up tips and emptying the bar out.
Telengard
A lesser known adventure game that was absolutely massive, literally: the size of its dungeons was immense.
Temple Of Apshai Trilogy
Yet another adventure game, this one spread out over a couple of games that formed a coherent whole.
Time Pilot
This game should NOT have been fun: you were the pilot of a timeship that literally stayed anchored in the middle of the screen the whole time!  Seems like it would suck, but no, the mechanic worked perfectly.  As you progress through time you fight progressively more advanced and harder aircraft... the UFOs at the end were nearly impossible to beat.
Transformers
The movie in game form.
Trolls And Tribulations
This is actually a better version of Ghosts and Goblins basically.
Tron
Yep, the same one as in the arcade.  Still love lightcycles as much as anyone.
Ultima III - Exodus
The entire Ultima series is the stuff of legend, but really it's Ultima III (and Ultima IV) that were the best.
Ultima IV - Quest Of The Avatar
Now, Ultima IV was better than Ultima III... and I actually have gotten my 11-year old son into playing this one   This was different than most such games because it wasn't so much about battles as it was about doing the right thing  and being "virtuous".  That was the whole point.  Very intricate game actually with lots of "this effects that" sorts of things.
Up 'n Down
A cartoonish kind of game where you drive a little "love bug" kind of car that moves almost vertically on the roads.
Uridium
Another great top-down scrolling shooter.
Winter Games
This was always my favorite Olympic-themed game... the hot dog event was my favorite.
Xevius
In my opinion, THE definitive top-down scrolling shooter ever.
Yie Ar Kung Fu
This is the wackiest martial art game ever.  Kind of had the idea of wirework without knowing it
Zaxxon
A beautiful isometric scrolling shooter.  For a while this had some of the most advanced graphics going.
Zork I
One of the best, and certainly one of the most famous, text adventures of all time.

Ok, that's it!  Kinda pointless I suppose, but fun to reminisce if nothing else.