Ins and Outs of Inputs

I am wondering how should I write this blog. For example previous post about false sense of security was supposed to be a longer rant originally. In the end I shortened it considerably and focused on Perspectives. Why?

Well the main reason is, that I realized that there are a lot of essays/rants about perception of security. Maybe I could write a really good essay if I took some time to think it through. But if you are interested in privacy or security then you already know all these things. And if you are just another ordinary computer user who does not care if his email account gets cracked, my blog will not change that.

Actually Jeff Atwood wrote some time ago about unreachable type of software engineers (or for that matter any professionals). Paragraph that completely describes my feelings is this one:

The problem isn't the other 80%. The problem is that we're stuck inside our own insular little 20% world, and we forget that there's a very large group of programmers we have almost no influence over. Very little we do will make any difference outside our relatively small group. The problem, as I obviously failed to make clear in the post, is figuring out how to reach the unreachable. That's how you make lasting and permanent changes in the craft of software development. Not by catering to the elite-- these people take care of themselves-- but by reaching out to the majority of everyday programmers.

Writing for the masses is not easy, and I don't think I'm up to it. Yet. It makes me angry that not everyone loves his job or profession, but I cannot change that. So I will keep writing about my passions the way I see fit and hopefully one day, I will become good enough software engineer and writer in one person, that I will be able to influence the 80%.

Note: If you are wondering what's up with 80% - 20% thing, then I recommend article by Ben Collins-Sussman about two types of programmers