Gotta love context!
I’m not sure how many people do this, but I Google myself every now and then to see where people have linked my blog articles or have built upon something I have said or written. On my travels, I came across this article/post on PHPDeveloper.org, and have to say, was quite surprised:
The article is actually a blow out of a post that Laura Thomson did on her blog, following a session I did recently at RMIT in Melbourne. Now, the session I did at RMIT was a Faculty Update, and was just a round-up of what’s coming out for us in the next 12–24 months. It wasn’t a deep technical presentation, just a light skim over some of the broader product info for those that may not know what we’re up to.
So, my first reaction to reading Laura’s post was, “Wow, did I suck that bad?”. Actually, during the presentation, I said something along the lines that ASP.NET is our PHP-style technology, which Laura felt was the most memorable part of the presentation (what about my SourceSafe jokes??). Actually, the part where she sums up the presentation into 4 key points which pretty much makes us sound like we are releasing rehashed and trivial features in the next round of products was really rough. But eh, not everyone likes Vegemite.
But that’s Laura’s interpretation of the presentation, and that I can respect. The bit that I had trouble swallowing was the re-post of her post on PHPDeveloper.org, where they contribute the following:
“Just the fact that a Microsoft rep would say something like this is great, but even better is that it shows that PHP really is becoming the powerful force that we'd all hoped for so long. Even is there was some humor on his part, the fact that he knows what PHP is and feels like it's important enough to mention is a wonderful thing.”
Wow! Talk about hi-jacked!
So firstly, what’s up with the bit about “he knows what PHP is”? Jeez, like Franky said, I don’t live in a cave…I know about alot of things. I don’t think that’s necessarily going to make any of them a “powerful force” (did you know the name Figlet is actually made up of the creators names?)
And who’s “we”? I’m pretty sure not everyone who ever contributed to and/or used PHP hope/s/ed for a long time that it became a powerful force. Maybe the technology just appealed to them, kinda like .NET appeals to me.
And finally, “feels like it’s important enough to mention is a wonderful thing”…that’s a bit strong! If I mention ADA in a presentation, because it’s the first language I learned in Uni, trust me, it’s not a wonderful thing.
See, the issue I have with sniping is, it’s useless! The simple reality is…it’s just technology. It’s lots of little 1’s and 0’s, it’s not the second coming or anything like that. To get so feverish about 1’s and 0’s is just not healthy. There are bigger fish to fry, like is your dog digging really big holes in your backyard, or do you put too much spice in your pasta sauce.
So, I’m glad that my four words contributed to so much movement in the PHP community, maybe I can do the same for Figlet too :)