miniblog.

The Rise of the Stupid Network: a remarkable 1997 essay on what ISPs as dumb bit pipes enables, moving innovation to client devices on the internet, and avoiding the scarcity mindset from when hardware was expensive: https://www.hyperorg.com/misc/stupidnet.html

Finding meaning in open source projects, the principle of charity, and avoiding a mindset of scarcity. Really great reflections on the motivations of open sourcing Rails. https://world.hey.com/dhh/i-won-t-let-you-pay-me-for-my-open-source-d7cf4568

I definitely think there's some truth in the idea of needing a killer app to make a successful PL. An alternative mindset is that *successful PLs are designed for their environment*. If you can tailor the language for its domain, you can build a better overall solution.