Hiring people to write code to sell is not the same as hiring people to design and build durable, usable, dependable software.
If we want users to like our software we should design it to behave like a likeable person: respectful, generous and helpful.
I regularly read Internet user groups filled with messages from people trying to solve software incompatibility problems that, in terms of complexity, make the U.S. Tax Code look like Dr. Seuss.
Ironically, the main task of chess software companies today is to find ways to make the program weaker, not stronger, and to provide enough options that any user can pick from different levels and the machine will try to make enough mistakes to give him a chance.
Back in my day, I would probe by hand. Now you can get commercial software that does the job for you.
Qmail out of the box works fine, so people will want to use it regardless of licensing restrictions, even when the software does not ship with their system software.
Software innovation, like almost every other kind of innovation, requires the ability to collaborate and share ideas with other people, and to sit down and talk with customers and get their feedback and understand their needs.
For many people my software is something that you install and forget. I like to keep it that way.
I think I am very goal oriented. I'd like to win the America's cup. I'd like Oracle to be the No 1 software company in the world. I still think it is possible to beat Microsoft.
It's my job for Oracle, the number two software company in the world; to become the number one software company in the world. My job is to build better than the competition, sell those products in the marketplace and eventually supplant Microsoft and move from being number two to number one.
A lot of people who work on open-source software don't mind making money elsewhere. They aren't anticommercial.
The 1980s will seem like a walk in the park when compared to new global challenges, where annual productivity increases of 6% may not be enough. A combination of software, brains, and running harder will be needed to bring that percentage up to 8% or 9%.
Most software has a tiny essence that justifies its existence, everything after that is wants and desires mistaken for needs and necessities.
The best way to get a project done faster is to start sooner
Even the best planning is not so omniscient as to get it right the first time.
Prolific programmers contribute to certain disaster.
It's OK to figure out murder mysteries, but you shouldn't need to figure out code. You should be able to read it.
It's better to wait for a productive programmer to become available than it is to wait for the first available programmer to become productive.
Design and programming are human activities; forget that and all is lost.
If you think your management doesn't know what it's doing or that your organisation turns out low-quality software crap that embarrasses you, then leave.
Reading computer manuals without the hardware is as frustrating as reading sex manuals without the software.
We can't ever forget that the Internet now is just a staid utility. The exciting platforms are software applications that are very, very simple.
I'm sorry that we have to have a Washington presence. We thrived during our first 16 years without any of this. I never made a political visit to Washington and we had no people here. It wasn't on our radar screen. We were just making great software.
Up to a point, it is better to just let the snags [bugs] be there than to spend such time in design that there are none.
When to use iterative development? You should use iterative development only on projects that you want to succeed.
Follow AzQuotes on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Every day we present the best quotes! Improve yourself, find your inspiration, share with friends
or simply: