An inconvenient truth

[Walter Bright]

Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> You'd be amazed. I personally know two guys - awesome hackers - who 
> wouldn't touch Eiffel in part because it introduces comments with "--". 
> Not only that, but for one of them that was all the example he had to 
> get to never even look at Eiffel. In fact I think this anecdote will 
> start the introduction of TDPL. I think it's very instructive with 
> regard to how much people care about syntax, and in what arbitrary ways.

There's another possibility at work. They may just not like Eiffel, or 
are too lazy to look at it. But they don't say that, because "I'm too 
lazy" doesn't make them look good. So they latch onto some minor issue 
and declare it a deal breaker for them.

How do I know this? I see it all the time. I won't use your product 
because of XYZ. So, I fix XYZ. Still no sale. Obviously, that was not 
the real reason.

You can make yourself crazy trying to cater to people who say "I won't 
use your product because of XYZ" because the odds are very good that 
isn't the real reason at all, it's the excuse.

This is why I place a LOT more weight on what the actual users say they 
need.