Text-mode apps (Was :Who are the "spacists"?)

[Rick Johnson]

On Saturday, April 1, 2017 at 11:01:03 AM UTC-5, Steve D'Aprano wrote:
> On Sat, 1 Apr 2017 12:17 pm, Rick Johnson wrote:
> 
> > Most people just quietly change the filename and move on
> 
> There are over a billion people in China, almost a billion
> more in India, about 140 million people in Russia, nearly
> 130 million people in Japan, 250 million in Indonesia,
> about 290 million native Arabic speakers, and even 9
> million speakers of Hebrew.  If you think that all these
> people, and hundreds of millions more, will just "quietly
> change the filename"

The majority of the populations you reference are
illiterate. Have you ever seen the endless slums in India?

> To say nothing of the hundreds of millions who use Latin
> character sets that ASCII cannot handle, including around
> 65 million British.  Open your eyes, there is a whole world
> past the borders of your insular, close-minded little
> country.

Then create whatever encodings you so desire and then STFU
about it. Why are you whining to me? Contrary to your
beliefs, America does not exist to satisfy the whims of non-
americans. If you are British, then America does not exist
for you. Go request an audience from your beloved Queen
Mother; and if she's too busy, perhaps Mother Mary will
entertain you; and if she's too busy,  there is always Sir
Paul McCartney to sing you a lullaby. And since he's not
toting around that one legged girl anymore, he probably has
quite a bit of free time, even for someone as unimportant as
you.

    When i find myself in times of trouble,
    Mother ASK-EEE comes to me,
    Speaking codes of pragmatism, 
    let it be
    And when the broken hearted people,
    Living in the world agree,
    There will be an answer -> "ASS-KEE"
    For though they may be parted
    There is still a chance that they will see
    There will be an answer -> "ASK__EEE"
    ASS-KEE, ASS-KEE, Oh ASS-KEE, ASS-KEE
    There will be an answer -> "ASS-KEE"
 
    Hey, Steve!
    Don't be so sad,
    We'll take a bad encoding, 
    And make it bettuh!
    
Because we're 'mericans. 

And failure is not an option.

> 95% of the world is not American, 

And yet America continues to be emulated by 100% of the
world. A small country that has hardly existed for a few
hundred years, has not only created a social transformation
that has reverberanted around the world, we continue to define
popular culture. If you hate us so much, then why do you try
so much to emulate us?

> and there are millions of Americans who want to use non-
> ASCII characters in their file names, even non-Latin
> characters.

Great. More reason for you to create your beloved encoding
so you can become their hero. Perhaps you can convince a
remote island tribe to worship you as god.

> You talk about a fraction of that 5%, the tiny minority who
> care only about ASCII, and describe them as "most people".

Most people don't even know what Unicode and ASCII are, and
even if you had the time to educate them, they could care
less. I'm talking about technical folk, not idiots off the
street; i'm talking about people who write software and
advanced users of technical softwares; not some drooling
twit who downloaded the latest version of angry birds from
the apple store.

> That demonstrates the smallness of your world-view and the
> enormity of your ignorance. Wake up. The world is not
> Smallville USA, it never has been, and never will be.
> Either adapt, or get out of the way of those who have.

I am more than willing to provide whatever features the
_majority_ of my clients request, but what i am not willing
to do, is expend my labor capital on your pet social justice
project that caters to large concentrations of illiterates
and non-technical folk. *YOU* may ascribe to the religion of
imperialism, but i do not; if i am to ascribe to any
religion, that religion would be pragmatism. And even if we
cull the geographic Set you provided to include only the
literates of that Set, it would simply be impractical for
small or even medium sized developers to devote the time
needed to cater to all those foreign markets.

Does that mean i don't care about these people -- no. 

Does that mean i look down on these people -- no. 

It just means that my time is very important to me. 

And for you to suggest that those who do not support your
pet "inclusivity project" are intolerant (or whatever
pejorative you want to use), well, that discloses more about
your personality than does it mine. So let the bright lads
in those counties rise up and provide their own people with
great localized products. My market includes the entire
Western culture; spanning multiple continents and even some
of the more advanced areas of the undeveloped nations you
mentioned. That's a large enough market to make billions.
Why should i take anymore?

Sheesh. Out of one side your face you people whine because
major american corporations like Mcdonalds and Coca-Cola
have invaded just about every market on the face of the
earth -- and i agree, those companies should not be there!
-- then, out of the other side of your face, you whine
because America has not invaded _enough_. So which is it?
You can't have both ways.

It is every nation's own responsibility to care for their
people, to provide an education for their people, and to
provide an economic system that can support their people.
And just as America has no business telling you Brits what
to do, you have no business telling us what to do. The days
of King George are gone forever. Wake up and smell the spam.