We ran the piece by Hesh Wiener – on page 2 inside – despite the fact that it contains several allusions that may well be lost on British readers because not only do we think it funny (reason sufficient in itself), but it also makes some very pertinent points about the way the industry is going now that the discipline imposed by the necessity to write efficient code has been lifted from software developers – but in this age of glasnost, we feel we should assure people that Hesh’s assertion that Detroit’s nickname is spelled Mowtown and relates to the citizens’ horticultural excesses is the sheerest revisionism; and despite Detroit’s reputation, the city has some of the leafiest and most salubrious suburbs in the rust belt, and the one indigent Detroiters aspire to retire to is called Grosse Pointe.
