the art of writing is discovering what you believe
Nicest of the Damned: Meet the iServe
Curtain rises, crowd gasps … There, on a table, are a couple of small, sexy boxes, about the size of the ill-fated G4 Cube, but with the latest Apple styling. “Introducing the iServe,” Steve would say.
But click through to the iServe ad referenced in this post and see a better idea, form-factor-wise.
Lessig waxes nostalgic about the value of old programs that, for reasons unrelated to their value to end-users, are obsolete and out of their reach. HyperCard has appeared on these pages before, and the maligned Newton MessagePad are ideas that are of no value to their copyright holders, but are locked away nonetheless.
But if the copyright were to have expired, and if the source code were available to all, then there is no doubt that some would find it useful to keep More alive. I’m sure there are many who share my affection for this clean bit of code, and I’m sure at least some could do good work bring it back to life. And not just More. Think of HyperCard, held hostage by Apple Corporation, despite a fanatically enthusiastic community of developers and fans who would keep it alive. Or Newton (yes, still protected) (no, stupid, not the man), which also has a following of fans.
If this code were free, then there are many who could, in the tradition of our framers, build upon it and use it, whether commercially or not. And thus at least some orphans would find a home, cared for and fed by those who love them most.
My guess is that if we still had More, HyperCard and the NewtonOS, in revitalized and up-to-date form, it would cannabilize some market segment, but I think that’s pretty narrow thinking. I expect the best aspects of all of these would be re-commercialized and would then be profitable for someone else, and not necessarily at the expense of the current hostage-takerscopyright-holders. If any company wanted to make a pure and simple outliner or card-based organization tool, they would have done it by now. So what are Symantc, Apple, et al afraid of?
U.S. Diet Proposals Reflect Nation’s Lack of Fitness
The new recommendations call for most women from 35 to 70 years old, for instance, to eat 1,600 to 1,800 calories a day, and for most men in that age group to eat 2,000 to 2,200 calories. Previously, the recommendation for most such people, then assumed to be active, was about 600 calories more.
I think I’m not too far off the mark here, but I know too many of the calories I take in are the worst possible kind.
Of course, there are always problems with oversimplifications: the food pyramid is a good example.
Bonnie Liebman, director of nutrition at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group, said the changes being made were minor and would not make any difference.
The Agriculture Department, she said, “is still not dealing with serious deficiencies in the pyramid lumping together high-fat cheese and fat-free milk, and making no distinction between nuts and fish versus fatty meats.”
You can make almost any food non-nutritious if you really try. And then there’s deep-fried candy bars . . . .
Continue reading “if you’re like me, you eat too much”
Freedom to Tinker: Why So Many Worms?
Many people have remarked on the recent flurry of worms and viruses going around on the Internet. Is this a trend, or just a random blip? A simple model predicts that worm/virus damage should increase in proportion to the square of the number of people on the Net.
Professor Ed Felten has identified the components of the software worm’s ideal ecosystem: the post’s comments extend and amplify some of those points. I disagree that “use Linux” is a solution: trading one kind of homogenous network for another is not all that valuable, even allowing for the benefits of the true code review that open source permits.
InfoWorld: Moving to a Mac: September 05, 2003: By Chad Dickerson: Application Development
Now, you might ask: What does this really have to do with enterprise IT? The answer is simple: I used the Mac running OS X to replace a PC client and Linux server; the level of functionality was raised; and I did more with less. All the GNU and Unix tools I’ve used for years were right there in OS X: ps (process status), rsync, top, SSH (secure shell), Apache, Samba, and various Unix shells. I was able to access Windows file systems, and I easily shared Mac files to the Windows machine on my network via Samba, the open source file-sharing stalwart. I hardly struggled even for a second.
Better late than never, my friend.
Finally, I should make it clear that I don’t mean this post to heap dirt on the GeoURL project. This kind of stuff happens wherever there are many users and a potential for error. GeoURL has a large enough data set to make these patterns visible, and maps are something we can all understand. But the deeper point is that we are all fallen in the eyes of the metadata god.
Just another example of how important it is to supply some feedback or self-correction on any system that takes input from naive users . . . . I think Maciej‘s idea of the GeoURL interface showing a map with the user’s selected location is simple and elegant: I wonder if they’ll do it.
BBspot – Dell Patents “Reboot and See If That Fixes It” Tech Support Process
Dell Patents “Reboot and See If That
Fixes It” Technical Support Process
Round Rock, TX – Dell announced that they had been granted a patent for the “reboot and see if that fixes it” technical support process, which they pioneered.
“We’re really taking our cue from other industries,” said CEO Michael Dell. “The American Medical Association patented the ‘let’s see if that hurts tomorrow’ treatment plan and General Motors patented the ‘turn it off and start it up again’ fixing process for automobiles.”
Based on your answers, you are most likely a liberal. Read below to learn more about each foreign policy perspective.
Continue reading “Are you a neocon?”
CNN.com – Reactions mixed to Bush’s address – Sep. 7, 2003
[T]he $87 billion is “more than the federal government will spend on education this year, twice as much as the federal government will spend on our roads, bridges, highways and public transit systems.”
Why not? If the above quotation is true, Iraq will get more taxpayer dollars for its infrastructure than all 50 states combined.
Continue reading “Iraq as the 51st state?”
komo 4 | ‘Lets Throw The Coffee In The Water!’
SEATTLE – “No on I-77! No on I -77!”
A crowd of coffee roasters, espresso bar owners and ordinary caffeine lovers took to the streets Sunday to protest the proposed espresso tax.
“What do we want? Coffee! How do we want it? Tax free!” they shouted.
They made their point by staging a modern-day Boston Tea Party. Demonstrators marched from Zoka Coffee House to Green Lake, where they dumped burlap bags into the water.
Gee, I hope the increased caffeine content of the water doesn’t affect the carp or the persistent milfoil . . . . .