...more recent posts
Blast from the past. My first ever excursion into the online world happened from my basement while in junior high school. I would dial into the Top Cat BBS with my 300 baud modem equiped IBM PCjr. Those were the days! Anyway, some nut has compiled an abolutely huge list (that's a /. induced mirror, the permanent site is here) of all these old (pre-internet) bulletin board systems. Over 77,000 listings. Western Massachusetts, where I lived, has over 200 entries. And low and behold, the tiny little Top Cat BBS is listed about half way down the page. Apparently it ran until 1991. When I was on I think there were only 4 or 5 members. Maybe it got larger later. Not very interesting to anyone else, but this sure took me back to how it all began. Thanks to my Mom for originally hooking me up.
Here's a nice quick overview of some different google search features.
We took the weekend off and spent some great time out on Long Island. Our friends in Sayville have a very nice house on a well tended little patch of paradise. I got to work for a few hours (well, 20 minutes at least) in the garden. This sort of work is so foreign to me that it is really fun. Probably the level of fun is tied somehow to the 20 minute part. Anyway, a little break away from the computer was good for the head. The air is so different out there. Very clean. I'd probably go into shock if I got to some place where the air really is clean.
Still a few little problems brewing in the new system, but I think all the big stuff is hammered out. Not sure how to go about making the change over. I guess I'm not in a real big hury. Bought a new domain and I think maybe I'll put that up first. My other project (the one for someone else) is about to go live as well. Should be a busy week as usual. Hope I can stay on top of the wave.
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.