Regarding how "the right thing" stacks up to the worse-is-better solution, the author writes:
> How does the right thing stack up? There are two basic scenarios: the ``big complex system scenario'' and the ``diamond-like jewel'' scenario.
> The ``diamond-like jewel'' scenario [Scheme] goes like this:
> The right thing takes forever to design, but it is quite small at every point along the way. To implement it to run fast is either impossible or beyond the capabilities of most implementors.
This doesn't sound like it's actually the case, is it? There are, of course, many different Scheme implementations; they seem to get implemented in reasonable amounts of time, and some execute code very quickly indeed.
> My advice to young people is to pursue your interest in CS, but major in something else.
This sounds like a big mistake. I did not major in CS but instead later learned on my own and found that there's a shit-ton of holes in my CS-know-how to fill in -- and they're very difficult to fill in on your own. It's easy to learn a language, or how to admin Apache on your own; it's far more difficult to learn algorithms or compilers on your own.
> Being in a non-CS field with outstanding computer skills makes you very special.
Disagree here too. I got my degree in physics. So now I can program pretty well, have an undergrad in physics, and am basically qualified for PHP or Java dead-end jobs.
I've avoided dealing with hardware issues by buying hardware from [Los Alamos Computers][1], and avoided most sysadmin issues by using Ubuntu (an LTS release).
As for desktop environments (Gnome, KDE), I wish they'd progress towards simplicity, speed, and smaller size, rather than becoming larger, more complex, and monolithic. They both should come to their senses and stop trying to copy the most recent OS X and Windows desktops.