Just Don't Do It

I recently had the unenviable task of giving a presentation to the toughest of all audiences, Microsoft developers.

These are folks who, during the agenda slide, generally ask questions about why the framework is so slow, big, ugly, etc etc. I typically refer them to read some geeky blog posts and say things like "it's really just fine for the vast majority of applications".

This time I decided to use a bit of reverse psychology.

I opened with a story about how, in grade 5, the local fireman gave our class a fire safety talk. They explained that aerosol cans were dangerous. They showed us how to find out which aerosol cans were flammable by reading the warnings on the cans. Then, to drive the point home, they demonstrated that you can light the spray from one of these cans with a lighter and create a stunning dangerous flamethrower.

Then they told us not to do this.

In grade 5.

Mike.

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