The Path to Zen

Right, Oscars of the Software Industry

I was just reading SYS-CON’s Readers’ Choice Awards for SOA, Web Services, Java, and XML Technologies, and, get this byline:

Also known as the “Oscars of the Software Industry” the winners were chosen by more than 17,000 SYS-CON readers.

OK, I knew I was going to bite something even before I started reading the news, but honestly, there are so many baits I don’t even know where to start. I can just skip the obvious ones like how Eclipse was voted Best Java Application, Best Team Development Tool, Most Innovative Java Product, Best Java Debugging Tool, Best Rich Client Platform(Eclipse Platform), Best Java Class Library(SWT), but miraculously lost Best Java IDE to Intellij IDEA. But, “Oscars of the Software Industry”? Since when did “SOA, Web Services, Java, and XML Technologies” amount to the whole “Software Industry”? What about LAMP? What about Microsoft – come on, you might not like them, but you can’t deny them.

And these “Oscars of the Software Industry” were chosen by “more than 17000 SYS-CON readers”? I’m sorry, last time I checked, the Oscars of the Movie Industry are voted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not “the 343293 Entertainment Weekly readers”, or “the 39860923 E! viewers”.