So Paul Kafasis of Rogue Ameoba wrote an interesting article about something that has been bugging me for a long time. The new so-called "generation" of developers valuing form-over-function, who are creating gimmicky apps instead of useful apps.

Let me be the first to say that this behavior was indeed inspired from Delicious Library, but Delicious Library is definitely not one of these apps.

It's pretty simple. Style over function is a bad thing. Function over style is equally atrocious. It's the balance of both that creates a great application. Calling these new developers the Delicious Generation is an insult to Delicious Library - which currently has perfect balance.

Take Disco. An example of everything that is wrong with Mac software. It's a disc burner. Plenty of other applications burn discs, namely Disk Utility and the Finder. It even uses Apple's own framework for burning discs. But the lack of innovation didn't stop the developers. What does this application bring to the table? Let's go over a few of the amazingly great features.

• Transparent windows Ah, the best way to create a usable application. Not. Transparent windows only affect readability, the most important part in app that is simply a mass of dialogs.



• The custom GUI Is it great? No, it's awful. Not only is it ugly (something that this decision was supposed to solve, not create?), but the actual dialog UI smartly dubbed "Crossroads" is just that - a maze of decisions and paths that is completely unintuitive and confusing.



• And finally, the smoke, which is nothing more than a gimmick to help sell the application. It doesn't even work on half of Apple's lineup of Macs. And this is by far the most important feature of Disco - Smoke. Something's wrong here.

This is not an example of a new generation of developers. It's an example of developers not knowing what they're doing. I truly believe that these developers only value money, and not creating awesome software. Because really, who sets out to create a great innovative application, and ends up writing a disc burner with smoke?

I am writing this article because I've witnessed first-hand what is going on. The projects mentioned by Paul are all run by a select network of people. I won't deny it, their marketing is flawless. Taking advantage of vulnerable systems like Digg was an excellent way to constantly attract traffic to their projects. Am I bitter? Maybe. But this is what goes on, whether you like it or not.

I believe that there still are some great developers out there making cool stuff. And long as they stick to their roots they'll continue to make great apps.

Our new application won't be part of the new generation, it will be part of the right generation. A perfect balance of style and functionality. This is the only way to write great software. I wouldn't write an app any other way.