Is Typemock Isolator Like A Credit Card?

Well, no. However, this post from The Simple Dollar reminded me so much of the discussion whether Typemock Isolator is too powerful, or can be overused. (If you want a rehash of that discussion, you can find the links on Eli’s blog in this post, and the InfoQ post.)

The post talks about the holy war between those who believe credit cards are evil, and those who believe they are a blessing. Here’s a quote from the Simple Dollar post:

“I look at credit cards as being like a very dangerous power tool. If you’re careful and take the proper precautions, they can save you time and shower some rewards on you as well. On the other hand, if you use credit cards with reckless abandon, you run the serious risk of some intense financial damage to yourself.”

Now replace “credit cards” with “Typemock Isolator”. And “financial” with whatever is relevant for you. Sounds familiar, isn’t it? I’m not going to go into this discussion again, though.

I want to take a different spin on the analogy.

I would like Isolator to be like credit card. It should be:

  • Simple to use
  • Reliable
  • Accessible to most people (And I do consider most developers to be people)
  • Allow you to use it in which way you desire (as long as you understand the consequences)

I would also like Isolator to do the following: whenever I enter a license key, it will give me money. But for some reason, it is currently at the bottom of the feature backlog…