Quote of the Day

From Kevin Gamble:

There is a lot more to building and supporting communities than installing software.

Amen to that.

More on how closed Facebook is

Dear Facebook,

What James said

Hotel California is particularly appropo I thought.

You lose nothing implementing feeds and an OpenID consumer – and you gain a lot. You’ve already shown you had a modicum of sense – but going only part way doesn’t cut it.

Now get with the program.

p.s. This will also be my last post on the matter. Not that you particularly care. But I think the platform is promising enough that I’ve wasted two posts on you – but I’ll move on. Without feeds and open authentication – you won’t.

Memorial Day

…And on this Memorial Day, I offer my deep gratitude to these American men and women. Those that went to war in noble pursuit when America called. Those that gave their service and their lives that I might have life and freedom and have it to the full.

To each and every one of these American veterans this Memorial Day, thank you.

Quote of the Day

From Terry Chay:

Be honest about the consequences of your actions: whether it is the programming language you choose, a framework/no-framework you adopt, a design pattern you apply, or the choice to simply download someone else’s application and install it. Choose wisely. A lack of self-reflection leads to a poor choice and spells disaster.

I soooo wish I could get this across to more people. My experience in higher education is that we’ll form task forces and work teams over graphics and documents – but there’s way too much “just write this application” or “just install this software” or “there’s this extension that does this…”

The Dinner Table Rule

I’m in complete agreement with The Dinner Table Rule

Getting It

From Christopher Blizzard:

Learning requires the transparency that free and open source software provides.

People – and companies – that don’t get this have some learning to do. People – and companies – that purposefully fight against this idea aren’t just ignorant and ill-informed. They are corrupt.

Two things…

Two things that I’m exceedingly thankful and happy for:

I don’t have to manage Microsoft Windows systems and I don’t have to write Java.

… and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I know I’m late to the game, but…

So for the first time that I can recall – I actually wanted to listen to an audio clip of an interview at NPR. You see, I like my web in text. But I do typically like NPR and wanted to hear Scott Simon interview Andy Griffith

But NPR, while they apparently get the podcasts right – don’t get the clips in their news articles right. I have to have Real or Windows Media – and choosing between either for a Macintosh user is like choosing between a punch to the gut or a boot in the arse.

Needless to say, I won’t be listening.

Announcing Young’s Law

Young’s Law:

“Every stop-gap becomes a permanent feature in applications written in University environments.”

corollary(a):

“Every internal application eventually becomes an external application, with no additional design or resources granted to make it so.”

corollary(b):

“All external application users will eventually complain about the design quality of the given application and wonder why on earth such an application was ever released to begin with.”

corollary(c):

“Stop-gap measures will be introduced in internal applications released as external applications to address the concerns of those using the external application for purposes to which it was never designed in the first place.”

p.s. Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Hooray Wisconsin!

Ars Technica: University of Wisconsin Decides Not to Pass Along RIAA Settlement letters (also at recording industry vs. the people)

“These settlement letters are an attempt to short circuit the legal process to rely on universities to be their legal agent,” Brent Rust, communications manager for the school’s Division of Information Technology

FANTASTIC!