Customizing our software worlds, Jon Udell, InfoWorld,
Dec 14, 2002
I've often wondered why we insist on
using the word "architecture" to describe the design of software
systems. Maybe one reason is that, in a quite literal sense, we inhabit
them. "For millennia," Williams writes, "the fact of settlement --
humans living with other humans in a place over time -- has shaped our
ideas and practices of work, family, time and space, and society." The
transition from nomadic to settled life must have taken generations.
Now, of course, we're going the other way.
I've traveled a lot since joining InfoWorld six months ago, but have
yet to visit the home office in San Francisco. A number of my
colleagues are elsewhere, such as Texas, New York, and Virginia. Like
many virtual teams, the "settlement" we inhabit is an artificial world
made of business processes and sustained by technology.
We're often surprised by how much people care about the architectures
of these artificial worlds.
5:56:55 AM 
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