Kapor on software development
David Strom at Tom’s Hardware interviewed Mitch Kapor; a few quotes:
Re: usability and sophisticated installs:
Eventually, the uses of metadata (emerging from today’s rapidly evolving baby steps of XML, RDF, tags, microformats and the like) will become sufficiently sophisticated. [Software] programs will be constructed [to have] automated dialogs and high-level configuration wizards for advanced users, which will tame the beast. This is a vision and dream, not imminent reality, but I am impressed with recent developments. The year 2005 might be the year of metadata.
Re: Microsoft and proprietary software development:
The biggest weakness is that [Microsoft does not] have a business model that is well-suited for the coming era. […]
I think ultimately such [proprietary] moves will fail, as the collective power of openness and the superiority of open source economics is too great. See the paper Coase’s Penguin by Yochai Benkler.
Re: the rise of the browser:
I expect that the trend of UI improvements for the browser is going to continue to accelerate to the point of parity with desktop UI for many classes of application. It will simplify application development a lot, and this is a good thing.