title: "Link Roundup #2" slug: "link-roundup-2" date: 2023-01-13 00:00:00.000000+00:00
Microservices are a Big Ball of Mud
It's incredible that we still have microservice defenders in 2023. It's a prime example of the immaturity of software enigneering; the cargo-cult is truly rampant.
The article makes the point that this is 'over-engineering', which I take issue with. Over-engineering usually implies a baroque, but working solution, when microservices rarely even work in practice.
In a parallel universe, in which there exists effective way to measure software engineering productivity, the thousands of years of effort wasted on microservices would be exposed.
Is Moving to Mastodon Ethical?
"Everyone is wondering out loud whether Mastodon can take the strain and whether it can provide cool new features. What we haven’t been discussing are two ethical questions: First, is it OK to bail out of Twitter? And if bailing out, is Mastodon a acceptable place to land?"
Of course it is.
While I won't participate, it's encouraging to see federation beginning to pierce the mainstream consciousness. Our federated software is our most successful software; email and the web. The model is proven and reliable and scalable, even if it's only controlled by some independent greybeards rather than a corporation (again, this model worked just fine until about 2010).
No-one makes the case that "racists and abusers have access to email, therefore no-one should use email".