...more recent posts
Well, this stuff is almost boring at this point; if only it weren't so important. Last week Microsoft sent another shot the open source way through a speech given by VP Craig Mundie, claiming once again that Microsoft owning everything is somehow better for everyone than having lots of competition. Huh? Anyway, I don't recommend the Mundie speech unless you're looking for examples of very poor reasoning. It's the same kind of logic that the RIAA, and the MPAA, and every other group that profits from selling the creative works of others tries to make: strong intellectual property rights are fundamental to creative output. It's the old, "nobody would make any music if they weren't going to get paid" argument, which is so patently false I wonder how some of these people can actually make it with a straight face. Ever heard of history? How about 10,000+ years of cultural development that had nothing to do with strong intellectual property rights. How about the very foundation of western science with its reliance on sharing of information? (peer review anyone?) We're all richer by sharing, and anyone arguing anything else is trying to...
Oh forget it. Read the response to Mundie from Linus "benedict" Torvalds himself:
"I'd rather listen to Newton than to Mundie. He may have been dead for almost three hundred years, but despite that he stinks up the room less."
Just got back in touch with an old friend from out west. She's just like I remember her. So sweet. It's nice when the past comes around again.
Potlatch - the gift economy.
"Right now we're just trying to describe an economic system in which creators don't have to sell their chldren to survive. Because of the nature and the popularity of P2P 'viral distribution' networks, we don't think that payment for cultural products can be enforced - hence the emphasis on gifts and voluntary payments. We do think that payment, or reciprocity, can be facillitated and encouraged in various ways. To this end we hope to introduce an intuitive, reliable, and reasonably secure peer-to-peer payment system. Design goals: easy to set up; easy to use; impossible to control."
Today I am 2 to the 5th years old.
Another good "What's a blog?" type story. There's been a couple good ones lately.
It's an Apple event day, which as hard as I try not to care, still gets me a little curious. I never thought much of the iBook, but the rumors about the new one which might be announced later today have got me very interested. Just how small can you make a laptop and still have it be usable? Apple had an old machine (years ago) called the 2400 which for many long time fans is the dream machine (although I had a Duo 210 that I thought had an even better form factor.) Anyway, this new iBook might finally fill the "small is better" longing. Super slim VAIO competitor, with powerbook-like titanium enclosure, 1024 x 768 12 inch screen, AND built in CD/DVD - starting at $999? Now, if they can just get those OS X updates out that would be a serious portable development tool. We'll see.
Well, I have a lot of work to do on the piece I posted yesterday. Now I'm disagreeing with - if not everything I said - at least the way I said it. I don't think I put the emphasis in the right place. I hope to have some major revisions to that document up by late today.
Happy May Day.
I've put up a page detailing some of my thoughts on the new system to which we are about to migrate. Rather long, and definitely a first draft, but might be good for you people here to check out. Sorry for the lack of editing. All comments and feedback welcome.
Now that's strange. I guess we're not the only ones planning a major site overhaul. I don't think we'll quite be ready on the 1st, but I guess there must be something in the air.