It's the Scripting News 'MISS' - Make It Simple Stupid - day today:

My job is to write the top-level of Radio, to explain what it is and how it works. Our goal is to make Radio as simple to use and understand as Manila was one year ago.

Thanks Dave!

That reminds me, Seth and the rest of the Mcrobyte team have just completed* MISS Month for Conversant. Looking forward to using the fruits of their labour. Thanks Macrobyte!

[* update: F.C. Support: upgrades You may remember that we started MISS Month a few days early, releasing the first few "make it simple" upgrades in late October. We're also going to finish a few days late.]

And Jim Roepcke documents his new WeblogView Page type for Conversant which allows a webmaster to set up as many different versions (looks/formats) for their weblogs as they want. Readers of Jim's Have Browser Will Travel [hbwt] can even have your their very own version of that site!. Thanks Jim!

On Thursday Mark Morgan announced the launch of Becoming Conversant

The goal is threefold: help newcomers by explaining Conversant from the user's viewpoint; organize, point to, mirror, and provide examples of documentation for Conversant; and share some of the really neat stuff users and others have done with Conversant.

I have the dubious honour of naming Becoming Conversant:

As to the name - plays on Conversant, first words, conversations, etc. conjure up all sorts of possibilities. 'Becoming Conversant' comes immediately to mind (and which prompted the change of subject title ;-))

But Mark deserves all the credit for getting it off the ground. I'll be delighted to contribute to the effort Mark. Thanks Mark!

It's been too busy so far today to update this site. Hopefully later tonight my time I'll redress the balance.

Joel on Software Painless Bug Tracking

Keeping a database of bugs is one of the hallmarks of a good software team. I never cease to be amazed at how few teams are actually doing this. One of the biggest incorrect facts that programmers consistently seem to believe is that they can remember all their bugs or keep them on post-it notes.

A warning to students:

Help us save talents from exploitation. Please share this page with other friends, specially friends in other universities and colleges, Thank you!

http://www.faceintel.com/collegecorner.htm

G

Seven LEAN Years

Unemployment among older American high-tech workers is skyrocketing. Engineers and software programmers, in particular, are theoretically the most in demand; yet engineers and software programmers over age fifty are destitute. If a person of this age group prefers to stay out of management and instead use their highly-trained skills and experience to do real work, this person is looked upon as some kind of a dinosaur, an ignorant buffoon who is socially inept and ready for the scrap-heap. Unemployment among this group of older workers is roughly one in five. Underemployment -- the condition of working in a low-wage job because no appropriate high-wage position is available -- is anywhere from 20% to 80% of this group. Age discrimination in the high-tech fields is now so pervasive that it has become an accepted cultural norm.

Call me a dinosaur if you like but I know that I would hate being in a management position - a 'suit'. I much prefer to avoid the Peter Principle trap. I guess that's why I returned to academia.

I've just noticed that Dave has included a link to this site in the left navbar of Scripting News. I'm in illustrious company there. Boy!, this means the pressure's on to keep this site fresh and interesting. I'm not worthy ;-) Thanks Dave

Joel on Software

I'm pretty psyched, because UI Design for Programmers's going to appear in print soon.

Good luck with the book Joel. With the extra chapters and a forward by Dave W coupled with your experience, enthusiasm, and writing style, it's sure to be a success. Could be one for the recommended reading list for my students.