Scripting News

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 21:50:30 GMT

Doc: "Blogs are outlines, and blogging is a form of outlining."

Fri, 13 Dec 2002 00:39:57 GMT

John Burkhardt: "We've setup this initiative in Arlington to provide WiFi all over the town. And it's free!!!"

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 22:11:21 GMT

News.Com: "Builders of the Mono open-source development project released an update on Tuesday that will let programmers write Microsoft .Net applications for Linux and Unix operating systems."

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 17:55:55 GMT

Sam Ruby comments on version 2.0 of the Blogger API.

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 21:47:00 GMT

Ben Trott of Moveable Type comments on the 2.0 API.

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 18:04:22 GMT

Thanks to Josh Lucas for the pointer to XML-RPC for JXTA.

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 16:42:35 GMT

A great essay by Tim O'Reilly on piracy. Read it. He clearly knows what he's talking about.

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 16:42:58 GMT

An interesting hallway conversation at the Supernova conference with Howard Rheingold and Chao Lam from OSAF and myself. We were talking about Larry Lessig and the public back-and-forth we had a few months back. With the benefit of some distance in time, now it's more clearly understood. On legal matters, I'll go to Lessig for advice; but not on matters of software development. I would like him to ask me, a person with decades of experience both developing software and working with others who do, how software development works; and we can combine what we know, and our shared philosophy and goals to make things better. When we do that, that's respect and power. Perhaps that's been the bone of contention betw myself and Tim O'Reilly, as well. On matters of book publishing, he's the best thinker we've got in the technology business. His article reads like a person who spends many of his waking hours thinking about these issues, talking with other people, observing, reading his business's numbers. Now, software hasn't gotten that kind of respect. I have a lot of examples of that. If we can carve out a niche for software expertise, after all, it's an art that's been practiced for generations now, we can move forward faster.

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 18:39:24 GMT

The other side of the coin on piracy. What he says is very true. In my case, when you need solid health insurance, because you had heart surgery six months ago, you can't depend on the economics of a small software company to keep you viable as a human being. Think about the life you live, as a software developer, and how romantic the adventure is, until you can't afford it anymore.

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 16:29:22 GMT

NY Times: The WiFi Boom.

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 14:46:49 GMT

Wired: Segway Owners a Small, Happy Club.

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 15:41:55 GMT

Phillip Pearson: "Prototyping a very fast XML-RPC server."

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 15:47:08 GMT

Today's song: "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt. That's my name too."

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 15:47:37 GMT

BTW, for people who think the woman's movement started in the 60s, check out The Women, a movie made in the best movie year ever, 1939. Norma Shearer gives a speech to her mother about how things were different, back when women were considered chattel. Now they're equal to men, says Shearer's character. While a feminist could make a reasonable argument that the movie is sexist, it also carries the feminist message, strongly, in the 30s, way way before I was told (when I was a kid) that it existed. Women of my mother's generation (she was seven when the movie was made) said the same thing Shearer said, quite a few years later. The data is out there, feminism was brewing for a while if only in Hollywood. BTW, this is the same movie where Joan Crawford says "They asked for me by name? Why!" And her colleague responds "Maybe they're slumming." It's a totally gorgeous movie, on the circuit at TCM, watch it if you get a chance. Tons of gorgeous women. Two favorites: Rosalind Russell and Paulette Goddard.

Thu, 12 Dec 2002 15:01:40 GMT

According to Reuters, rumors abound that Microsoft is bidding on Rational (last week IBM announced they were acquiring them) and on long-time rival Borland. Looks like the market for development tools is hot, especially in light of the disappointing price Trellix got for its content tools in yesterday's announcement. You have to wonder why Trellix took $9 million, when their last round raised $35. Someone took a bath there. A wet one!