
Joel Spolsky's talk at Business of Software 2008 on being number one - twampss
http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2009/09/joel-spolskys-talk-at-business-of-software-2008-on-being-number-one.html
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parse_tree
I'm not trying to diss him, but why is Joel Spolsky considered such an
authority on the software industry? I see he started a company Fog Creek, but
I've heard of it only because I was curious as to the background of this guru.
Is that company so special that it justifies its founder being so revered? Or
is it his technical / coding abilities (which I have no idea about)? Or
something else?

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mrshoe
His blog, Joel on Software, is popular for a reason. Many of his posts are
excellent. Most of them are quite a bit better than this talk, actually. Give
it a read; I think you'll agree that the respect he garners is deserved.

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sireat
Most of his early posts are excellent, drawing on his for hire experiences at
Microsoft, Viacom, Juno and his owner experiences as a struggling startup.

Many of his later posts written when his own company Fog Creek has already
become successful are of lesser value.

Joel has mostly run out of things to say, this is not a criticism, just a fact
of life.

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reggieband
Some of his examples are ridiculous. Why compare Brad Pitt to some unknown
instead of Tom Cruise or someone at least in the same calibre (Clooney, Damon,
etc.). And Spiderman to Silver Surfer? How about Batman and Superman?

I think his point is to suggest that when things exist at the same moment the
one that is considered number one drastically outperforms the number two - but
even that assertion is tenuous at best.

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aditya
In short, to create great software

1) Make people happy

2) Focus on Aesthetics

3) Observe the culture code (Read the book, but basically, appeal to people's
reptilian sensibilities and round your corners)

Joel's a pretty good speaker, but I'm not sure he's saying anything new...

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netsp
I've been reading Joel Spolsky's posts with an Israeli accent for a long time.
Now I hear this American accent.

I'm not even sure why I thought that now.

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kobs
You can also see him in action: <http://www.boondogglefilms.com/aardvarkd.php>

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mynameishere
_How come you can recognise the tune of the number one song of 1968 as being
Hey Jude by the Beatles, but not the number two song?_

Eh. This kept Jude's sister track "let it be" at #2 in the UK

[http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Wand_rin_Star_Lee_Marvi...](http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Wand_rin_Star_Lee_Marvin_/2472051)

Somewhat less remembered, I think.

