Why I'm in favour of Proportional Representation

[andrewducker]

According to the BBC, the current polls show Lib Dems on 33%, Conservatives on 32%, Labour on 26%.
Which would give a seat allocation of Conservatives: 246, Labour 241, Lib Dems: 134.
Or, in a more easily digestible table format:

Party	Percentage	Seats
Lib Dems	33%	134
Conservatives	32%	246
Labour	26%	241

It should be pretty fucking obvious that this is an electoral system that is fucked in the head.

Comments

[andrewducker]

They possibly might be right. And if they want to put out good user guidelines then that's fine.

And if they want to say "Follow them or you can't write software for our platform" then I have no interest in it.

[skington.livejournal.com]

I completely understand your point, and I'm aware that what I'm about to say could easily leave me open to people paraphrasing Benjamin Franklin's point about people sacrificing a little freedom for a little security at me.

Having said that, how's Linux on the desktop doing these days?

Far more people than probably you or I would like put up with substandard computer systems because, eh, they don't care, or IT won't let them change. If said system is actually much more usable than the alternatives, then I'm not sure what the Right Thing to do is. Decide to develop for Android or WebOS or something, for purity's sake even though it's a far less interesting environment, at least at the moment?

[andrewducker]

Windows on the desktop is doing very well - and part of the reason for that is that anyone at all can write applications for it.

Android has trebled to 9% in the last few months. Apple is on 25%, so it's got a way to go, but it's doing pretty well, so far as I can tell. I'm getting an HTC Desire next, and last I heard Orange and O2 can't actually keep them on the shelves right now.