Twitter Sucks. Lightning does not.

If you haven't heard of Twitter yet, you must not pay much attention to life on the internet. Twitter is everywhere.

Twitter is a site that allows you to post incremental bloggings, one sentence at a time. The idea was to post what you're doing all day, so that friends, family, or anyone who wanders across your page can get an idea of your daily schedule, your inner thoughts, and other things that no one really cares about.

So why do I think twitter sucks?

1. I don't want to read about your life. Your life is just as boring as mine. Stop trying to blog, twitter (which is apparently a verb, now), flickr and vlog your way into my life, please.
2. The site is simple in functionality. The most basic of websites you could possibly make, aside from the site that just lets you log in.
3. This site does not deserve the attention it is receiving. You could clone it in a week with a russian programmer for $50.
4. The site is ugly. Guys, spend 5 hours on a redesign if you want to be taken seriously.
5. That f***ing cat. If I see one more blog posting about their stupid downtime cat with the screwdriver, I'll probably take the screwdriver and stab the site to death.

Now, I realize this post is highly subjective. I realize there are Twits out there who will rush to the defense of their beloved Twitter. Allow me to offer you all a lovely alternative.

Corel WordPerfect Lightning was recently released with WordPress support. I came across it on Read/WriteWeb today and gave it a shot. Not too shabby. It allows you to manage notes, take screenshots to insert into your notes, and you can even post the notes to your blog.

My point is this; if you have something to say that's worth hearing, get yourself the proper platform. People who design websites on geocities are not real web developers, and people who blog on myspace and Twitter generally have nothing worthwile to say.

Show me a single good use for this heap of web crap, and I'll gladly retract my words. Until then, let’s get garbage like this off of the web and get back to the real innovations.

James Thomas is a web developer living in Orlando. During the day he can be found building websites for the mouse, and spends most of his evenings working on various projects in a feeble attempt to change the internet.