Knotwilg

It will not help the discussion forward to behave like fans and treat any substantial critique as "you are one of those old fashioned mindless programming dudes".

On the other hand, in the light of Victor's achievements in industry (including "shipping" stuff) one cannot dismiss him as a smooth talking TEDdie either.

Victor has provided many crafted examples of what can be achieved in the fields of engineering, mathematics and programming, or any field of science and technology, if the feedback loop between the tool and its user is improved.

Indeed, this 30 minute talk does not compare to an industrial delivery. It has some theatre and some deliberate exaggerations or unfair treatment of society evolutions. Such is the nature of talks.

I do not think he sees the current state of affairs as a great mistake. He will surely acknowledge all practical circumstances and conceptual challenges that have made certain inferior designs survive while superior ones did not materialize.

The message is: we shouldn't accept this state of affairs as final or as one that can only be marginally improved. It can still be radically improved. The industry is still fresh - even ideas from the 60s are valid and underachieved.

I see his critique as a positive statement of hope and encouragement, not as a pointing finger to all you silly programmers.

That's an exaggeration. I'm Belgian and recently went to France and took pictures of us enjoying our dishes. I didn't notice the personnel having an issue with that. So it is not a general rule.

But the spirit of bambax' and others' messages is true: in Europe, customer is not king and should behave in a way that pleases the shopkeepers or restaurant owners. This is more true the closer you are to the capital or the city's hot spot.

And more generally, one has to develop a sense of what is right in a particular place, not assuming that the same customs apply as in your home country. Americans don't have a good record at that, I'm afraid. As someone pointed out, you're bound to inadvertently offend people, but rushing into a place with a camera is a good way to start learning from your mistakes.

That being said, the violence displayed by this particular personnel is completely over the top and should not be tolerated, not by customers and not by law.