Millions of Facebook users indicate that it might work with ActiveX/Java (tho I don't find it cool either). You're also inclined to trust a big and established site more when it comes to installing software on your computer.
Just like photons, "Rock Stars" emit light but don't have substance. I'd rather have a look at a programmers code samples to see if it's elegant, clean and efficient.
absolutely not. The rockstars I know (3 on my life), do really produce a lot of code, and get done things quickly (and two of them had to leave early from work, as they family and children to take care off, yet they could produce almost twice the amount of quality code from other people and that's why they are so impressive.
There are people that are all talk, and no game, but then they are people that can really produce code faster than you can think about a feature.
Also, some of these people are able to do things that are too complex for any average programmer to even grasp. Things like implementing a very efficient interpreter, parser for a dynamic language, it top of something else, is only domain of people that really know their stuff.
Sure, I worked on a interpreter, for a fictional language in CS class in college, but doing it for a production level language, is a totally different ballgame.
As I said, management might be impressed by people that know how to talk, but a good programmer will only be impressed by people that really can code and get done things better then them.
The only way to recognize one, is to work with one.
