Death notices from computerland

Anybody who takes in almost any form of mass media these days knows that Steve Jobs died recently, and there have been enough "what a great CEO/computer pioneer he was" stories that I just don't see the need to link to them. Not that what he did was easy, or that it didn't have some impact on the world... but still, he did what he did pretty much for self-enrichment, and most of what he did was recognize the value of design and quality in consumer gear.

Contrast that with the recent death of another computer luminary that you won't hear much about in the mass media: Dennis Ritchie. He helped create an operating system still in use in various forms today, and created a little thing called C, a programming language still in use today, whose influence is felt in pretty much every programming language developed since. He is greatly responsible for much of the infrastructure the modern Internet uses to run, among other things (including the current foundation of Apple's software for their Macintosh computers). All that, and not a profit motive in sight, just pure intellectual curiosity.

All in all, well... I'm not one to put my heart on my sleeve and publicly mourn people I don't personally know... but I have to say, Ritchie is the greater loss in my book.

Qwikster - true to its name

So, right, forget about that "separating Netflix DVD rentals into a separate company" thing, says Netflix. They'll still do the separation/increase of billing, but at least you won't have to track what you've watched on two separate websites.

I can't imagine how loud the howls of indignation must have been to get them to reverse course... I mean, it's one thing for a company to screw up and hold course until the noise dies down (e.g. Sony and the PS3 silliness), but it's quite another to admit that you screwed up badly enough to say "You know what? Maybe we don't need another company after all". Still, now that I've used Sony as an example of the alternative, good on Netflix for recognizing and acting on their error... I just hope they're not too hobbled by shooting themselves in the foot like that.