Tuesday, January 19, 1999

Kurt Egger suggests an obvious enhancement to our search engine. We already thought about it and came up with a more sneaky (and workable) solution.

Fredrik Lundh posts the source for a Python XML-RPC server. These Python guys are amazing! I love the energy.

Then Skip Montanaro posts a Perl XML-RPC client. My head is spinning!

What a day! Now there's a Perl XML-RPC server.

Believe it or not, Marc Canter made headlines in the Trieste paper today! I wish I read Italian. What does it say?

InfoWorld's Industry Achievement Award discussion.

On slashdot.org, Jeremy Lee talks about the future of the Open Source community. The piece gave me goosebumps. They're figuring it out in OpenSourceLand! Here's a quote. "Look at Silicon Valley. It's a case in point of what to avoid. The defining characteristic of the Executive Suit is the search for power. They look for the biggest game in town and muscle in at the top using the forceful application of money and the law. Can you say 'Venture Capital'?"

Now they're starting to talk sense. Read this piece from 1996 for more clues. I've spent 20 years in Silicon Valley. I've had my nose rubbed in their shit so often. I want to work around them now.

RightDoc documents are "XML-based smart entities that encompass the concepts of conditional processing and conditional formatting to any degree that document authors may require." Pet peeve time: Where's the screen shot?

Here's a site that lets you choose a display theme.

Wired: Microsoft is a $20 billion company, earning almost $8 billion in profit on an annual basis.

Paul Nakada has started a news site for PocketMail users.

Lotus Notes R5 runs JavaScript.

What is the Content Exchange?

InfoWorld reports on a slew of new Internet products and services at the Showcase conference.

News.com: OnSale to sell PCs at wholesale. They would make money on ads. Fascinating!

Press release: Excite and @Home to merge. Congrats to Chris Nolan at the SJ-Merc for getting this story first.

I'm not taking any more private email on the subject of what's appropriate on Scripting News. You may post your opinions on your website, with your name, affiliation, and email address, and I probably will point to it. But don't expect accolades. Scripting News is influential for a reason, it takes a stand, it isn't passive, it isn't Barney the Dinosaur. I think the meddlers will learn something about themselves thru this exercise, not about me.

Broadband, ADSL, working around the VCs, Excite on @Home, OnSale selling PCs at cost, limits on editorial control, it's all about the same thing. Fast full-time net-connections and new kinds of content flow. The demand for content-aware fractional horsepower HTTP servers is growing every day.