If you write a program tomorrow, use the API correctly and this issue will not apply to you. This is for apps that aren't well written and don't check for the capabilities ahead of time.
Nothing Chen wrote motivates me to use the API correctly, that's the whole point. "Just don't do the bad thing" is naive. People will use APIs incorrectly, despite your admonition.
> "Just don't do the bad thing" is naive. People will use APIs incorrectly
That is the whole point! You don't have a choice for software that will not change - all you can do is try to keep it working anyway. Like they did here.
That you are not "motivated" to do things correctly is not a convincing argument otherwise.
If you don't want this behavior in your own apps, you don't have to invoke it. Using the API correctly sidesteps all of this but is not a choice when "doing emulation for software that will not change."
