All posts by Arjen Lentz

Dad, parallel entrepreneur, cook, gardener, explorer, philosopher, tinkerer....

Innovative Companies and Innovative Products

“Innovative”, a term frequently used by companies to describe themselves and their products.

You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means
— Inigo Montoya, in The Princess Bride (movie, 1987)

To me, it means they’re just using some buzzword – it has no real meaning in that context, but it does manage to give me an instant negative impression of the company that uses it.

Similarly, a person or company declaring themselves as “cool” is by definition uncool.  Others can say you’re cool, but saying you’re cool yourself is a definitely no-no.

On a related note, have you noticed that any country that has the word “Democratic” in its name actually isn’t [democratic] ?

The Judge’s Code | The Verge

Meet the judge who codes — and decides tech’s biggest cases

Judge William H. Alsup of the northern district of California.  He’s a particularly interesting person, because he has a clue about programming.  He taught himself, decades ago, for hobby.

And my goodness does it come in handy nowadays.  I found the (long) interview an interesting read.  The difference between artistic work and functional matter is highly relevant, but difficult to discern for someone without a clue about coding (most lawyers, judges and juries).

I also noted his middle name is Haskell, whereas he does his pretty nifty programming in QuickBASIC.

On the Complications of Choosing Customers

Most companies choose their customers. Some merely do so as a side-effect of their cost structure and the priorities their  sales people apply, other (particularly service-oriented) companies might review during the initial contact whether their way of working suits the structure of the potential client.

Some also choose on the basis of their beliefs.

Cloudflare posted an article after dropping the daily stormer as a client, explaining the trigger reason, their process, and the overall issues with considering such things. It’s very thoughtful.