Comment by knorker
12 days ago
It's hard, but it's not subjective.
There are many factors on whether to use a one handed or two handed backhand in tennis. It's subjective which one feels better, but there exists an objective answer to whether it makes a particular player better or not.
And just because it's hard and experts can get it wrong, doesn't mean expertise means nothing and "it's all subjective".
The fact that there exists a right and a wrong definitially means it's objective.
And for the business, or the project, there is a right and a wrong, on whether to build an OS or not. Even if it's very hard to predict, and not feasible to A/B test.
No, it's subjective because there is no right and wrong. The business goals themselves are subjective. There is no right answer to whether you should build an operating system. Very related to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem
So you're saying there's no right and wrong decision on whether to make your own OS because Meta has not decided whether it's a public corporation with fiduciary duty or a kindergarten for OS hobbyists to have unproductive wasteful but fun projects in?
So that's like saying there's no right or wrong answer on whether to leave your 15th floor apartment a normal morning via the stairs, or by jumping out of the bathroom window. Yes, actually, there is. Unless your goal is to go splat.
"Will this make the product better", "will this make the product deliver sooner", "will this be a net positive to the company's bottom line" are all objective, though hard, questions.
> Very related to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem
Nonsense. The company already has many many oughts already. Otherwise words mean nothing, and the "right answer" to an interview question about hashmaps is to strip naked and start humping the trash can.
And on my tennis analogy, it's objective that one way or the other allows a gives player to win more games. So we can call it "better". Even though you can still argue whether you "ought" to try to win.
> So you're saying there's no right and wrong decision on whether to make your own OS because Meta has not decided whether it's a public corporation with fiduciary duty or a kindergarten for OS hobbyists to have unproductive wasteful but fun projects in?
No, because it's subjective whether your interpretation of "fiduciary duty" precludes them from developing an OS. I think it does not, for example.
> Unless your goal is to go splat.
Yeah, goals are subjective too.
> Otherwise words mean nothing
Words do mean nothing, they are pointers to ideas. And for you "objective" points to a different idea than it does for most people.
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