Hardware, operating systems, version control, what's next?
When I started in the industry, everybody made their own chips - then Intel won. At least, everybody still made their own operating systems - then Linux won (at least in my current line of work, SaaS/Cloud style stuff - but that seems where we're all moving). They go under the heading of "solved problem" coupled with "80% is good enough" (or "less is more", if you want to), and that's it.
I've been using tons of version control systems, starting with RCS and ending with Git. Git is the first one to qualify as "good enough", there are usually bigger fish to fry in any development team, so everybody starts using Git (including MS, and I think pretty much for the same reasons).
I wonder when that'll happen with programming languages as well. Most of them are roughly similarly productive, with a large group clustering around "fast for computers, somewhat slower for humans" (C, C++, Java, Golang, Rust, ...) and a large group sitting at "fast for developers, somewhat slower for computers" (PHP, Ruby, Python, these days Elixir - although the latter is only marginally slower for computers). And of course, the front-end lingua franca, Javascript. There's really no differentiator anymore for a team to choose any of these, none of them will - if you're brutally honest - get in the way of success although some of them will make for a more fun time than others (and some of them in the hands of an unskilled team will make a mess much quicker than others).
It's a sign of maturity, in my opinion. People learn to leave their tech religions at home and have a somewhat more realistic look at the sort of tools that make a real difference for a team. And often, they rightfully conclude that "it just does not matter". We've mostly made that decision for hardware, operating systems and clearly version control; I'm curious what's next.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
