Won't choose [posted July 15th 2005 01:27]

I don't know why but I really don't like conflict. It's not that I can't fend for myself as some of my friends and collegues will confirm. I just don't like the idea of trying to argue a point knowing that winning an argument doesn't mean you're right. And usually taking a side on subjects in IT means that you'll end up in numerous arguments about the merrits of things that are probably only distantly related to the hard of the matter. Particularly when the subject has taken on religious proportions. Take MDA vs DSL or rather Java vs .Net.

I see or think I see a difference between how a number of Java people I know seem to think and work differently than a number of .Net people I know. I feel comfortable or seem to support one of those groups most of the time but the number of times that the other groups seems to have the better ideas is large enough for me not to want to choose sides. It's like I really think slashdot is a cool site but when it turns out sometimes how incredibly dumb and unmannered the average slashdotter seems to be I turn to tweakers with ease. Or even though I admire what Apple does when I see how important the persona of its CEO is and how some of Apples consumers follow him like sheep I cannot decide to buy one of their products.

Maybe I like to think that I don't choose sides because I see the good and bad of both of them. One could say that great men changed the world because they chose something, believed in it and stuck with it. That probably makes me not a great man. That probably is why, when I get home, I change into the non conformist uniform; black. Amongst other reasons because it makes me less visible. If your not a great man you can only aspire to have a great mind. So I avoid light t-shirts to start with.