18 Quotes by John Naughton

Elegance? It may seem odd to non-scientists, but there is an aesthetic in software as there is in every other area of intellectual endeavour. Truly great programmers are like great poets or great mathematicians - they can achieve in a few lines what lesser mortals can only approach in three volumes

To say that Sputnik gave rise to some concern in the United States would be the understatement of the century. The truth is that the US went apeshit

Appeasement, said Winston Churchill, consists of being nice to a crocodile in the hope that he will eat you last. At the moment, the biggest crocodile in the world is Microsoft, and everybody is busy sucking up to it.

Nostalgia isn't a business model

Computer programmers tend, by and large, to be quirky and highly individualistic. Trying to organize or manage such awkward characters is normally as thankless as herding cats.

It is too early to tell whether the Internet’s effect on media will be as radical as that of the printing press. It is not too early to tell that there is nothing that happened between 1450 and now that comes close.’49.

To say that Sputnik gave rise to some concern in the United States would be the understatement of the century. The truth is that the US went apeshit.

Elegance? It may seem odd to non-scientists, but there is an aesthetic in software as there is in every other area of intellectual endeavour. Truly great programmers are like great poets or great mathematicians – they can achieve in a few lines what lesser mortals can only approach in three volumes.

Nostalgia isn’t a business model.