How about the opposite direction? Instead of needing parentheses in a language with infix notation, can parentheses be removed in a language with prefix notation (like Lisp)?
Is elegant composition possible with prefix notation and some whitespace and indentation instead of parentheses everywhere?
Because anything that requires running a database is burdensome, and even those of us who roll our own services are becoming less patient with software that requires hand-holding just to walk.
The heck with the prices. They not only won't tell you how much it costs, they will practically come right out and tell you that you, as one of the Great Unwashed, will never be able to buy one of these. Because they won't sell to you, period, for any amount of money, unless you're some kind of incorporated fictional creation that's willing to enter into all kinds of onerous contracts before they're even willing to speak to you further.
Keep in mind this quote comes from the same man who said, "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."
Most likely the "open source tea party" post wherein Mr. Shuttleworth collectivized and dismissed any and all critics as irrational haters with nothing of substance to say.
They will claim they have no money for cops, post offices, libraries, kittens and apple pie, while they continue to spend billions waging endless war on anyone, foreign or domestic, who does not kowtow.
When you treat adults like children, and children like babies, you get exactly that. And that's why a hundred years ago 14-year olds were captaining their own ships, and today you have 40-year olds who can't do their own laundry or balance a checkbook.
There is no "we", but I also disagree that it would "destabilize things". I think that after a brief initial upheaval, it would stabilize things to a great degree, and in a positive manner.
<i> can also just ask a human "please make me a sandwich" without specifying anything, and (most) humans could proceed to do so without more details</i>
Depends who you ask. My mate and a few close friends would know to make me a sandwich without bread, but hardly anyone else would get that right.
I wish I had saved the results every time over the last few years that Google showed me a page it claimed had what I was looking for, when neither searching the visible text or even the source code of the page produced any such string. I am sure that it's happened to me hundreds of times by now, if not thousands. For a long time, it was surprising and ranged from annoying to infuriating. Now I just sigh and accept it as the cost of Googling.