

Paul Graham is Braindead - nreece
http://kohari.org/2007/4/9/paul-graham-is-braindead

======
jey
IBM will be king for a long time to come. Just because a few rogue techno-
mavericks are starting to use these little "personal computers" doesn't mean
anything. They have no effect on nor relevance to the rest of society. A dinky
little machine is good for people who aren't serious and who just want a toy.
You can't get work done on a little toy. Mainframes will always be the way
real, serious, moneymaking business is done. After all, look at how much money
is put into the mainframe market today. Do you see any self-respecting
professional who doesn't pay attention to the mainframe market? It's obvious
that "PCs" are for amateur hobbyist techno-mavericks who have nothing better
to do with their free time than waste it.

\--

While Mac may not win in the long run, Windows sure as hell is on the way to
the land of nostalgia. It'll still be around, and people will still use it and
depend on it, but they won't like it -- just like COBOL. I'd be pretty unhappy
if my checks stopped clearing because all the COBOL programmers maintaining
IBM 360s suddenly vanished.

------
staunch
I think it's good etiquette to put a date in the title if you're posting
something that's old, like this.

"Paul Graham is Braindead (April 2007)" or something.

This guy's post is barely coherent and shorter than many comments on this
site.

~~~
nkohari
You noticed that too? :) It was only meant as a rant, but it ended up getting
several thousand views. Not sure why. I still think the core argument is
valid, if you can ignore my ramblings about rubber chickens and Larry Ellison.
;)

------
earthboundkid
From <http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=80815> :

"id Software has set up a second development team - and its first project is
likely to raise some eyebrows.

"That group has begun by working on a web-browser-based version of the
developer's popular Quake 3 Arena first-person shooter, Quake Zero, which will
be funded by advertising."

~~~
henning
Is that running as a Java applet?

If so, that's just a testament to the fact that the JVM has become fairly
decent in the last several years.

~~~
euccastro
Even in Javascript, a Quake 1 engine is doable.

------
dpapathanasiou
This is a more valid criticism of Graham, without the personal attacks:
[http://www.raydeck.com/2006/10/paul-graham-is-hurting-the-
ch...](http://www.raydeck.com/2006/10/paul-graham-is-hurting-the-children/)

~~~
pg
But this one is disagreeing with something else. Is this the Microsoft-
isn't-dead thread, or the general pg-sucks thread?

~~~
aswanson
Ah, he is typing. As I suspected, news of his brain's demise have been highly
exagerrated.

~~~
create_account
Maybe he left behind a text file of replies, to be posted here one by one by
an automated script in such an event.

~~~
blored
I voted you up not because you aren't retarded, but because that was truly
hilarious.

------
nkohari
Guess I should come and defend myself just in case I ever want to come to the
west coast. :)

First off, the title is obviously not meant to indicate that Paul Graham is,
in fact, braindead. In reality, I respect Paul immensely, and it was for this
fact that I felt strongly enough that I had to comment. As for the title, I
was simply matching one sensationalist title with another. (Note that the
title of neither article was actually representative of its real argument.)

Secondly, although many wish it (sometimes myself included), Microsoft is not
dead nor dying. My core argument is that if Paul wanted to say that
entrepreneurs shouldn't fear Microsoft, then so be it; his point would have
been much stronger and well-stated. I also would have agreed with him... no
one should be afraid of Microsoft, they're just a company.

Instead, he said things like "no one uses Windows" and "everyone can see the
desktop is over" and completely undermined his own credibility.

Anyhow, as I said in another comment, it was just meant as a rant, and I'm
surprised the post has gotten as much interest as it has. I still stand by
what I said, but I probably could have toned down the sensationalism a bit. :)

Thanks for visiting and commenting; it's very good to get the opposing view. I
wish you could have read the 30-odd comments that were left, most in
agreement, before I switched back to Wordpress and nuked them... :/

~~~
nanijoe
I think you should defend yourself becuase you are NOT on the west coast. PG
patrols the east coast with a mean machete, lopping off the heads of all that
offend.

------
dejb
To be perfectly frank I think he has a point. Paul Graham has some great
things to say and he is certainly not braindead. But on this one I think he is
dead wrong.

~~~
abstractbill
I disagree. When I first read pg's Microsoft-is-dead essay my response was
definitely of the "well _duh_ " variety.

~~~
pg
This pair of comments reproduces the phenomenon described in the last
paragraph of the essay.

Perhaps that happens if you write about any super controversial topic, no
matter what conclusion you draw.

~~~
Jd
I'm in the 'Well duh' category too, but I still think Apple is over-rated. Too
much enthusiasm for Jobs & co. will do no one any good.

~~~
create_account
I think you're in the 'duh' category based on what you've written here.

~~~
Jd
Wow, down-modded by create_account for questioning the wisdom of Jobs. Sorry.

------
awt
I wonder if that guy has ever actually tried using OSX?

~~~
nkohari
I have, and I actually am considering buying a Macbook Pro. That doesn't
change my argument.

------
henning
Better to offend some than to bore everyone.

~~~
ntoshev
I thought that if an article with such title is upvoted here, it will say
something interesting. Not so.

~~~
dshah
Yes, but it seems from discussion here earlier news.yc user accounts are
reviewed as part of the YC application process (this has been mentioned
before).

As such, even though PG would never penalize users for upvoting critical
articles, I'm guessing there are some users that are paranoid anyways and
playing it safe.

~~~
create_account
You're not going to be much of an entrepreneur if you're afraid of disagreeing
with your investors every now and then.

------
zeantsoi
lotta koolaid being drank round here

------
mattmaroon
Lol @ linkbaiting.

