This is the Ruby versus Java debate: should we treat professional programmers like they know what they're doing, or should we straightjacket them?
To which I answer: Yes. It is reasonable to run a Enterprise-oriented cloud scaling company which second-guesses your customers' decisions at every point. It is also reasonable to run an Enterprise-oriented cloud scaling company where a professional engineer engaged in capacity planning clicking OK to an estimate presented in 60 pt Arial is assumed to know what they're doing.
I don't agree. It's not an issue of straight jacketing programmers. It's an issue of reminding a user they are incurring an enormous bill for no reason. A simple "Hi, we see you're using X widgets but your traffic would allow you to reduce this to Y widgets. If you'd like to do that, here's a link. If not just ignore this email." That would solve the problem with very little effort. It would keep people forgetting and having a heart attack, getting pissed and leaving. It really doesn't matter if it is the customer's fault if it causes them to leave with a bad taste in their mouth.
Except that Heroku is very much targeting their brand for the do-it-yourself amateur projects (i.e. the handholding crowd) with their "starts-at-free" pricing, cutesy naming for all their a la carte features, and full-service VPS setup. At best, it's inconsistent and/or careless. At worst, this was their plan all along.
Comments
This is the Ruby versus Java debate: should we treat professional programmers like they know what they're doing, or should we straightjacket them?
To which I answer: Yes. It is reasonable to run a Enterprise-oriented cloud scaling company which second-guesses your customers' decisions at every point. It is also reasonable to run an Enterprise-oriented cloud scaling company where a professional engineer engaged in capacity planning clicking OK to an estimate presented in 60 pt Arial is assumed to know what they're doing.
I don't agree. It's not an issue of straight jacketing programmers. It's an issue of reminding a user they are incurring an enormous bill for no reason. A simple "Hi, we see you're using X widgets but your traffic would allow you to reduce this to Y widgets. If you'd like to do that, here's a link. If not just ignore this email." That would solve the problem with very little effort. It would keep people forgetting and having a heart attack, getting pissed and leaving. It really doesn't matter if it is the customer's fault if it causes them to leave with a bad taste in their mouth.
Except that Heroku is very much targeting their brand for the do-it-yourself amateur projects (i.e. the handholding crowd) with their "starts-at-free" pricing, cutesy naming for all their a la carte features, and full-service VPS setup. At best, it's inconsistent and/or careless. At worst, this was their plan all along.
I hardly think a single global setting (set one time) counts as something that "second-guesses your customers' decisions at every point".
Less like a straightjacket and more like an (optional) seatbelt.