There Will Be Breakage

  For some reason I decided to re-watch There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis. I didn't care for it the first time, but the second time, wow I really did. Especially the music. And he's a great actor, and the movie is more like a painting than a plot. A few scenes, a few characters, they interact, there's a little drama here and there. But mostly it's the music and the scenery and the sets and the acting. Especially the music.
  So the title of this piece is a play on the title of that movie.
  Another title that would have worked: No Country For Old Software.
    The character played by Javier Bardem, in the closing scene, is told he doesn't have to kill the cute wife. They all say that, but he's going to kill her anyway because he promised her husband that he would. But he's dead, the wife protests. Doesn't matter, a promise is a promise.
  What am I talking about? Twitter's Oauthcalypse, of course! :-)
  I promised that I would not convert my Twitter software. I plan to keep that promise. But now I can see how much I'll be giving up. I have lots of little systems that depend on Twitter, here and there. You hardly notice them, but they will be noticed, when they're gone.
  I suppose I could convert them. But then they have promised to rip up the pavement again when the next version of OAuth is finalized. They say that one will be easier to support, but sheez, I already did the grueling work to support the first one.
  Whatever. The Twitter platform is going the wrong way. Deprecation is bad software culture. I've never liked it.
  Once I broke my users in a transition that involved changing the names of API routines that had clearly been labeled as toys. They screamed, and they were right. You pick a name, you stick with it. You don't decide one day that Amy would be a better name for your daughter Jody. "Henceforth, I, your father, proclaim the name Jody is deprecated. You and your friends shall now refer to the person formerly known as Jody as Amy." Your daughter and her friends would tell you to fuck off. And they would be right. :-)
  Sometimes there is a right and a wrong, and Twitter is just plain wrong about this Oauthcalypse nonsense. If I were making any money from my efforts with Twitter it might make sense to suck it up and do what they ask. But now seems as good a time as any to just say no and let it go. I'll try to think of a movie title that goes with that sentiment.