1<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?> 2<feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' 3 xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0' 4 xml:base='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/ongoing.atom' 5 xml:lang='en-us'> 6 <title>ongoing</title> 7 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/</id> 8 <link href='./' /> 9 <link rel='self' href='' /> 10 <link rel='replies' thr:count='101' href='/home/tbray.org/www/html/ongoing/comments.atom' /> 11 <logo>rsslogo.jpg</logo> 12 <icon>/favicon.ico</icon> 13 <updated>2008-07-21T22:10:32-07:00</updated> 14 <author><name>Tim Bray</name></author> 15 <subtitle>ongoing fragmented essay by Tim Bray</subtitle> 16 <rights>All content written by Tim Bray and photos by Tim Bray Copyright Tim Bray, some rights reserved, see /ongoing/misc/Copyright</rights> 17 <generator uri='/misc/Colophon'>Generated from XML source code using Perl, Expat, Emacs, Mysql, Ruby, Java, and ImageMagick. Industrial-strength technology, baby.</generator> 18 19<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/21/'> 20 <title>SPotD: Shoes</title> 21 <link href='Shoes' /> 22 <link rel='replies' thr:count='0' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='Shoes#comments' /> 23 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/21/Shoes</id> 24 <published>2008-07-21T02:00:00-07:00</published> 25 <updated>2008-07-21T22:10:12-07:00</updated> 26 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts/Photos' /> 27 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts' /> 28 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Photos' /> 29 <summary type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>There’s nothing wrong with kids having some weeks of flat time in summer with an empty schedule; they’ll look back on those days fondly. There’s also nothing wrong with the odd soccer or basketball camp. I rather enjoy dropping the boy off at these and watching the other parents, who appear, pre-9-AM on a weekday, in a remarkable variety of apparel and presentations. I caught one of my recent faves for this summer day’s photo.</div></summary> 30<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 31<p>There’s nothing wrong with kids having some weeks of flat time in summer 32with an empty schedule; they’ll look back on those days fondly. There’s also 33nothing wrong with the odd soccer or basketball camp. I rather enjoy dropping 34the boy off at these and watching the other parents, who 35appear, pre-9-AM on a weekday, in a remarkable variety of apparel and 36presentations. I caught one of my recent faves for this summer day’s photo.</p> 37<img src="PS081328.png" alt="Mom fixes kids’ shoes pre-soccer-camp" /> 38<p>This woman was dressed for work and I thought her shoes extremely superior; 39she was fearless striking off across the soft grass in them, too. It seemed 40poetic justice somehow that she got caught up in shoe maintenance.</p> 41</div></content></entry> 42 43<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/20/'> 44 <title>SPotD: Curtainshadows</title> 45 <link href='Shadows' /> 46 <link rel='replies' thr:count='0' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='Shadows#comments' /> 47 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/20/Shadows</id> 48 <published>2008-07-20T02:00:00-07:00</published> 49 <updated>2008-07-20T23:27:24-07:00</updated> 50 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts/Photos' /> 51 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts' /> 52 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Photos' /> 53 <summary type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>We spend a lot of time on our back porch this time of year. Unfortunately, the beautiful plum tree that kept the setting sun from boiling our eyeballs died, and until the replacement gets big enough, we’ve been hoisting bedsheets on the west end of the porch roof at suppertime. Which can make for some interesting shadowplay, as in the Summer Picture for today.</div></summary> 54<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 55<p>We spend a lot of time on our back porch this time of year. Unfortunately, 56the beautiful plum tree that kept the setting sun from boiling our eyeballs 57died, and until the replacement gets big enough, we’ve been hoisting bedsheets 58on the west end of the porch roof at suppertime. Which can make for some interesting 59shadowplay, as in the Summer Picture for today.</p> 60<img src="PS081308.png" alt="Porch shadows on blue bedsheet" /> 61<p>Actually, just this afternoon Lauren ran out of patience and put up a nice 62thick patterned curtain on real actual hooks.</p> 63</div></content></entry> 64 65<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/19/'> 66 <title>SPotD: Fireworks</title> 67 <link href='Fireworks' /> 68 <link rel='replies' thr:count='2' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='Fireworks#comments' /> 69 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/19/Fireworks</id> 70 <published>2008-07-19T02:00:00-07:00</published> 71 <updated>2008-07-19T12:45:16-07:00</updated> 72 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts/Photos' /> 73 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts' /> 74 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Photos' /> 75 <summary type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>Today’s summer picture is of some of the fireworks after the <a href='/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/18/Baseball'>ball game featured yesterday</a>. They weren’t big-league, but it isn’t a big-league park, so you get to sit pretty close to them.</div></summary> 76<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 77<p>Today’s summer picture is of some of the fireworks after the 78<a href="/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/18/Baseball">ball game featured 79yesterday</a>. They weren’t big-league, but it isn’t a big-league park, so 80you get to sit pretty close to them.</p> 81<img src="PS081276.png" alt="July First fireworks at Nat Bailey Stadium" /> 82<p>Before the game I went looking for advice on photographing fireworks and 83it seems that it’s all a matter of taste, except for one thing: use a tripod. 84For what it’s worth, these are with the ordinary 40mm prime lens at <i>f</i>8 85and using the “B” setting to keep the shutter open for quite a while. Next 86time I’ll try shooting with a 87wider-angle lens.</p> 88</div></content></entry> 89 90<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/18/'> 91 <title>SPotD: Ball Game</title> 92 <link href='Baseball' /> 93 <link rel='replies' thr:count='1' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='Baseball#comments' /> 94 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/18/Baseball</id> 95 <published>2008-07-18T02:00:00-07:00</published> 96 <updated>2008-07-18T16:32:21-07:00</updated> 97 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts/Photos' /> 98 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts' /> 99 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Photos' /> 100 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='The World/Sports' /> 101 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='The World' /> 102 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Sports' /> 103 <summary type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>On July first, we celebrated Canada and my son’s birthday by going to the ball game and fireworks. It was a warm, warm evening. The Summer Photo for Today is an outfielder and a scoreboard.</div></summary> 104<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 105<p>On July first, we celebrated Canada and my son’s birthday by going to the 106ball game and fireworks. It was a warm, warm evening. The Summer Photo for 107Today is an outfielder and a scoreboard.</p> 108<img src="PS081251.png" alt="Outfielder and scoreboard" /> 109<p>Yeah, the home team got thumped. But the fireworks were pretty good.</p> 110</div></content></entry> 111 112<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/18/'> 113 <title>Mobility Blues</title> 114 <link href='Mobile-Net-Gloom' /> 115 <link rel='replies' thr:count='26' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='Mobile-Net-Gloom#comments' /> 116 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/18/Mobile-Net-Gloom</id> 117 <published>2008-07-18T02:00:00-07:00</published> 118 <updated>2008-07-18T14:17:01-07:00</updated> 119 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Business/Internet' /> 120 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Business' /> 121 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Internet' /> 122 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology/Internet' /> 123 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology' /> 124 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology/Mobile' /> 125 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Mobile' /> 126 <summary type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>These days, I’m gloomier and gloomier about the prospects for the mobile Internet; you know, the one you access through the sexy gizmo in your pocket, not the klunky old general-purpose computer on your desk.</div></summary> 127<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 128<p>These days, I’m gloomier and gloomier about the prospects for the mobile 129Internet; you know, the one you access through the sexy gizmo in your pocket, 130not the klunky old general-purpose computer on your desk.</p> 131<p>We’ve all heard about the glowing future; 132<a href="http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/">Jonathan</a> is particularly good at 133telling it; “There are more mobile phones sold every day than computers sold 134every year, etc.” (OK, I’m exaggerating, but that’s the thrust). And indeed 135there are big parts of the world where a networked computer is in the 136economic reach of very few, but a cellphone is attainable to many.</p> 137<h2 id='p-5'>The Legacy Problem</h2> 138<p>We all know that cellphones have been able to access the Net for years and 139years. In theory. I’m a heavy Internet user and have carried a phone for a 140decade or more, and have never seriously used the one on the other. 141The browsers suck, the programming models suck, and lots of things are 142intentionally crippled, like my current pretty-good Samsung whose 143JVM won’t run anything that didn’t come with the phone.</p> 144<p>And anyhow, I remember the first time I got a phone advertised as “having 145Java”. So I went and got whichever flavor of Mobile Java was current at the 146time. Quickly discovered that I couldn’t use it to make a phone call on the 147phone, or pretty much anything except write pretty-but-vapid games. Couldn’t 148see the point.</p> 149<p>“But wait,” you say, “the iPhone has changed all that!”</p> 150<h2 id='p-1'>The iPhone Problem</h2> 151<p>Yep, iPhone owners do actually use them as 152general-purpose Net clients. And, for the first time ever, they’re decently 153programmable in a somewhat-uncrippled way.</p> 154<p>But there’s a little problem and a big problem. The little problem is that 155I don’t wanna learn Objective-C and I don’t wanna learn a whole new UI 156framework. I acknowledge that lots of smart people think Objective-C and 157Cocoa are both wonderful, and quite likely they’re right. I don’t care. I’m 158lazy; I know enough languages and enough frameworks. You’re free to 159disapprove, but there are a whole lot of people like me out there.</p> 160<p>The <em>big</em> problem is this: I don’t wanna be a sharecropper on Massa 161Steve’s plantation. I don’t want to write code for a platform where there’s 162someone else who gets to decide whether I get to play and what I’m 163allowed to sell, and who can flip my you’re-out-of-business-switch any time it 164furthers their business goals. 165<a href="http://pragdave.blogs.pragprog.com/pragdave/2008/07/if-you-work-for.html">PragDave’s 166experience</a> is hardly a confidence-builder. 167Call me paranoid if you will, but I just ain’t 168going there. No way, nohow.</p> 169<p>Granted, the device is slick and has massive consumer pull, and maybe we’ll 170end up with a situation where the only way to be relevant in the mobile-apps 171space is as an Apple sharecropper. That’s not the future I want, but maybe 172it’s the one we’ll get.</p> 173<h2 id='p-2'>The Android Problem</h2> 174<p>I guess it’s a little impolitic for a Sun person to say this, but I really 175like Android, at the conceptual level. It seems more modern in 176its feel than the other mobile SDKs I’ve looked at, and the amount of new 177stuff I’m going to have to learn is much less, and the platform has no 178intrinsic lock-in that I can spot.</p> 179<p>On the other hand, it seems like there’s not much there there; haven’t seen 180much in the way of updates or hardware or movement, and there seems 181little transparency about what’s happening behind the scenes. 182And Android doesn’t address the dysfunctional business model that has 183crippled mainstream as Net clients, to date. More on that below.</p> 184<h2 id='p-4'>The JavaFX Mobile Problem</h2> 185<p>It’s easy to like the JavaFX Mobile idea. It’s just Java SE only with 186access to the whole device, so you can use the phone as a phone, and with 187a layer on top to make it easier to program. In principle there’s no reason I 188couldn’t actually write my app in JRuby or Jython or some such. 189It’s probably got the least lock-in potential of <em>any</em> of the 190mobile-future options.</p> 191<p>The problem is that it isn’t here yet. 192A year ago, my feeling was that maybe they’d started 193too late. Given the whole industry’s lack of progress since then, and the 194generally dismal outlook, I think there’s still a window of 195opportunity if FX 196Mobile ships before too long and turns out well.</p> 197<h2 id='p-3'>The Business Problem</h2> 198<p>I’m on the record 199<a href="/ongoing/When/200x/2004/11/15/WalledGarden">here</a> and 200<a href="/ongoing/When/200x/2007/11/20/Android">here</a> and 201<a href="/ongoing/When/200x/2007/09/23/Flat-Rate-Considered-Harmful">here</a>; 202many of my commenters disagree with me, but they’re wrong. 203Until we get network operators who are willing to open their networks, and a 204business model that makes access affordable while incenting operators to 205encourage its use, all the shiny SDKs and glitzy pocket-jewels in the world 206aren’t going to come close to realizing the true potential of the mobile 207Net.</p> 208</div></content></entry> 209 210<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/17/'> 211 <title>SPotD: Lemonade</title> 212 <link href='Lemonade' /> 213 <link rel='replies' thr:count='2' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='Lemonade#comments' /> 214 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/17/Lemonade</id> 215 <published>2008-07-17T02:00:00-07:00</published> 216 <updated>2008-07-17T21:36:34-07:00</updated> 217 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts/Photos' /> 218 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts' /> 219 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Photos' /> 220 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='The World/Food and Drink' /> 221 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='The World' /> 222 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Food and Drink' /> 223 <summary type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>I’ve been too overloaded to write much or even post pix, but never (it seems) to <em>take</em> pictures, so they’ve been building up. I look at the buildup and discern a theme; herewith the first Summer Picture of the Day; more to come. And what could be more summery than lemonade?</div></summary> 224<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 225<p>I’ve been too overloaded to write much or even post pix, but 226never (it seems) to <em>take</em> pictures, so they’ve been 227building up. I look at the buildup and discern a theme; herewith the first 228Summer 229Picture of the Day; more to come. And what could be more summery than lemonade?</p> 230<img src="R0010559.png" alt="Lemonade at the Liberty Café, Vancouver" /> 231<p>This is at the Liberty Café on Main Street on Vancouver, and a fine place 232it is for lunch or refreshments, albeit not fast. One of their better 233offerings is home-made lemonade, which comes in a big plastic pitcher, visible 234behind the glass.</p> 235<p>Some internationalization is called for. This is <em>North American</em> 236lemonade, which is just lemon juice, ice, sugar, and water; terribly 237refreshing on a warm day. The word can mean 238<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemonade">something completely 239different</a> elsewhere in the world.</p> 240<p>Confession: Not much 241<a href="/ongoing/When/200x/2004/03/15/Photointegrity">Photointegrity</a> 242here; this is oozing artificial sparkle and heat, courtesy of Lightroom. I can 243live with myself.</p> 244</div></content></entry> 245 246<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/17/'> 247 <title>It’s Called AtomPub</title> 248 <link href='AtomPub' /> 249 <link rel='replies' thr:count='1' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='AtomPub#comments' /> 250 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/17/AtomPub</id> 251 <published>2008-07-17T02:00:00-07:00</published> 252 <updated>2008-07-17T21:18:38-07:00</updated> 253 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology/Atom' /> 254 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology' /> 255 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Atom' /> 256 <summary type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>Recently, I was asked for feedback on some technology being built inside Sun which was said to rely on “Atom Pub/Sub”. In related confusing news, more than one big company has talked about “Rolling out APP”. Branding matters. So we took it up on the Atom Protocol mailing list and, for what it’s worth, the community of implementors has agreed that we’re all going to refer to the protocol specified in RFC 5023 as “AtomPub” and nothing else. Please co-operate.</div></summary> 257<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 258<p>Recently, I was asked for feedback on some technology being built 259inside Sun which was said to rely on “Atom Pub/Sub”. In related confusing 260news, more than one big company has talked about “Rolling out APP”. Branding 261matters. 262So we took it up on the Atom Protocol mailing list and, for what it’s worth, 263the community of implementors has agreed that we’re all going to refer to the 264protocol specified in RFC 5023 as “AtomPub” and nothing else. Please 265co-operate.</p> 266<p>Next, we need a logo. Might Google or Microsoft, who are taking the lead in 267rolling out AtomPub-based services, be willing to dedicate some design 268talent to a candidate or two? Do any indie hackers with graphics skills want 269to play?</p> 270</div></content></entry> 271 272<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/17/'> 273 <title>Ephemeral Aggregators</title> 274 <link href='News-Gentrification' /> 275 <link rel='replies' thr:count='2' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='News-Gentrification#comments' /> 276 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/17/News-Gentrification</id> 277 <published>2008-07-17T02:00:00-07:00</published> 278 <updated>2008-07-17T20:56:55-07:00</updated> 279 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology/Publishing' /> 280 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology' /> 281 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Publishing' /> 282 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='The World/Life Online' /> 283 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='The World' /> 284 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Life Online' /> 285 <summary type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>I’m thinking that <a href='http://anarchogeek.com/articles/2008/7/7/the-ascendancy-of-hacker-news-the-gentrification-of-geek-news-communities'>The ascendancy of Hacker News & the gentrification of geek news communities</a>, by <a href='http://anarchogeek.com/'>Rabble</a>, is, in its quiet way, one of the most important think pieces I’ve read in quite a while. It’s pretty clear that online aggregations of individual contributions are occupying a bigger and bigger slice of the spectrum of useful information sources. And also clear that this new landscape isn’t stable, but steadily shifting underfoot.</div></summary> 286<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 287<p>I’m thinking that 288<a href="http://anarchogeek.com/articles/2008/7/7/the-ascendancy-of-hacker-news-the-gentrification-of-geek-news-communities">The ascendancy of Hacker News & the gentrification of geek news communities</a>, 289by 290<a href="http://anarchogeek.com/">Rabble</a>, 291is, in its quiet way, one of the most important think pieces I’ve read in 292quite a while. It’s pretty clear that online aggregations of individual 293contributions are occupying a bigger and bigger slice of the spectrum of 294useful information sources. And also clear that this new landscape isn’t 295stable, but steadily shifting underfoot.</p> 296<p>First off, I’d recommend reading the comments on the “Gentrification” 297essay along with it. Like the a couple of the 298contributors, I think 299the pattern of conversational flow is accurately described, but am 300uncomfortable with the use of “gentrification”.</p> 301<p>Here are my take-aways, the first couple lifted more or less directly from 302the essay:</p> 303<ul> 304<li><p>Success as an aggregator is ephemeral.</p></li> 305<li><p>The pressure of the SEO slime is continuous and unrelenting; 306a significant evolutionary force on whatever it is online communities are 307becoming.</p></li> 308<li><p>The effect of individual burn-out is maybe understated. Consider 309Slashdot; one reason it has less traffic these days is that the editorial 310quality filters are pathetic compared to back then; the regime where 311CmdrTaco and friends had the wheel and <em>just instinctively 312knew</em> the wheat from the chaff was probably just not sustainable.</p></li> 313<li><p>The value of following a few carefully-selected primary sources and 314keen-eyed individual observers just can’t be overstated. 315The right selection of blog and Twitter feeds can put you in a situation where 316you’ve already seen most of the good bits of today’s Reddit or equivalent. 317Yeah, it takes a little more time than just dropping by an aggregator. Whether 318this is a good trade-off depends on what your job is.</p></li> 319<li><p>It should be painfully obvious that these lessons probably apply to 320news loci outside the technology ghetto; today’s hot news fora for politics or 321sex or knitting are just as vulnerable to online traffic’s fickle flow 322patterns.</p></li> 323</ul> 324</div></content></entry> 325 326<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/14/'> 327 <title>Cargo Carriers</title> 328 <link href='Bicycle-Baskets' /> 329 <link rel='replies' thr:count='11' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='Bicycle-Baskets#comments' /> 330 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/14/Bicycle-Baskets</id> 331 <published>2008-07-14T02:00:00-07:00</published> 332 <updated>2008-07-14T22:29:20-07:00</updated> 333 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='The World/Puzzling Evidence' /> 334 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='The World' /> 335 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Puzzling Evidence' /> 336 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='The World/Gender' /> 337 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Gender' /> 338<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 339<p>It’s not obvious why the attachment of baskets to bicycles should 340be gender-related, but in fact one observes that 100% of the bicycles with 341baskets on the front handlebars are ridden by women. In fact 342I find the effect feminine and charming, but I suspect that’s because of 343the riders.</p> 344</div></content></entry> 345 346<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/10/'> 347 <title>It’s Slow</title> 348 <link href='Slow-Linux' /> 349 <link rel='replies' thr:count='10' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='Slow-Linux#comments' /> 350 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/10/Slow-Linux</id> 351 <published>2008-07-10T02:00:00-07:00</published> 352 <updated>2008-07-10T13:42:27-07:00</updated> 353 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology/Servers' /> 354 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology' /> 355 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Servers' /> 356<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 357<p>The Penguinistas like to brag about how GNU/Linux runs 358just fine on low-rent hardware, by contrast with competitors like 359Vista that need the latest gleaming iron to be useful. And they have a point; but 360only up to a point. I can testify from personal experience that an elderly 361333-MHz Dell with a recent Debian totally sucks wind when you run 362WordPress. And the real point is, it ain’t operating systems that bog 363your computer down, it’s apps.</p> 364</div></content></entry> 365 366<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/10/'> 367 <title>LAMP, Rearranged</title> 368 <link href='LAMP-funnies' /> 369 <link rel='replies' thr:count='19' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='LAMP-funnies#comments' /> 370 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/10/LAMP-funnies</id> 371 <published>2008-07-10T02:00:00-07:00</published> 372 <updated>2008-07-10T10:45:28-07:00</updated> 373 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology/Web' /> 374 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology' /> 375 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Web' /> 376 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='The World/Humor' /> 377 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='The World' /> 378 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Humor' /> 379 <summary type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>It started innocently enough; someone mailed the internal bloggers’ list saying “We’ve got this <a href='http://developers.sun.com/solaris/articles/beyondlamp.html'>Beyond LAMP</a> article on SDN, might be good blog fodder.” Which constituted an opportunity for geeks to have fun with acronyms.</div></summary> 380<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 381<p>It started innocently enough; someone mailed the internal bloggers’ list 382saying “We’ve got this 383<a href="http://developers.sun.com/solaris/articles/beyondlamp.html">Beyond LAMP</a> 384article on SDN, might be good blog fodder.” Which constituted an opportunity 385for geeks to have fun with acronyms.</p> 386<p>That was yesterday, and they’re still coming. 387Let’s assume that “L” always stands for Linux, “A” for Apache, “M” for MySQL, 388and “P” for PHP (or Perl or Python).</p> 389<table cellpadding="4"> 390<tr align="left"><th>Acronym</th><th>Key</th></tr> 391<tr align="left"><td>SAMP</td><td>Solaris</td></tr> 392<tr align="left"><td>MARS</td><td>Rails, Solaris</td></tr> 393<tr align="left"><td>MAPS</td><td>Solaris</td></tr> 394<tr align="left"><td>SPAM</td><td>Solaris</td></tr> 395<tr align="left"><td>WIMP</td><td>Windows, IIS</td></tr> 396<tr align="left"><td>DAMN</td><td>DirectX, ActiveX, .NET</td></tr> 397<tr align="left"><td>WIMN</td><td>Windows, IIS, .NET (pronounced “women”)</td></tr> 398<tr align="left"><td>SIN</td><td>SQL Server, IIS, .NET</td></tr> 399</table> 400<p>I bet you can think of some more.</p> 401</div></content></entry> 402 403<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/09/'> 404 <title>Which Tools?</title> 405 <link href='Which-Tools' /> 406 <link rel='replies' thr:count='10' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='Which-Tools#comments' /> 407 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/09/Which-Tools</id> 408 <published>2008-07-09T02:00:00-07:00</published> 409 <updated>2008-07-09T13:50:57-07:00</updated> 410 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology/Coding' /> 411 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology' /> 412 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Coding' /> 413<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 414<p>Wow, this one touched a nerve. Some guys here at Sun were arguing about 415which bug trackers and SCM tools were currently da bombiest, and they decided 416to ask the world. Hasn’t received hardly any publicity yet, and already over 417200 responses. Join in, and pass the word; Here is 418<a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=xU6w8ry3_2f3IGfQZEn7s1hg_3d_3d">the survey</a> and here are 419<a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/sr.aspx?sm=Vng7MOwBeNpnJhv3392wadMvjE6rl8lq8Kcu95Q5Cig_3d">the 420results</a>.</p> 421</div></content></entry> 422 423<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/07/'> 424 <title>Atomic Monday</title> 425 <link href='Atom' /> 426 <link rel='replies' thr:count='6' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='Atom#comments' /> 427 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/07/Atom</id> 428 <published>2008-07-07T02:00:00-07:00</published> 429 <updated>2008-07-07T22:32:25-07:00</updated> 430 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology/Atom' /> 431 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology' /> 432 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Atom' /> 433 <summary type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>Herewith some evidence, for the general tech public, that Atompub is a big deal, and for the Atomistas, some interesting developments.</div></summary> 434<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 435<p>Herewith some evidence, for the general tech public, that Atompub is a big 436deal, and for the Atomistas, some interesting developments.</p> 437<h2 id='p-1'>It’s an Atompub Future</h2> 438<p>Let’s see; 439<a href="http://www.25hoursaday.com/weblog/2008/05/28/NotTurtlesAtomPubAllTheWayDown.aspx">Microsoft 440is using Atompub</a> for... well, everything, pretty much. 441Google has been for a while, and that’s 442<a href="http://www.dehora.net/journal/2008/06/24/salesforcecom-and-google-integration-atompub/">now 443leveraging Salesforce.com</a>. 444Oh, and the Kool Erlang Kids are getting into the act: 445<a href="http://www.cestari.info/2008/6/19/atom-pubsub-module-for-ejabberd">Atom-PubSub module for ejabberd</a> 446(Hmm, I dislike “Atom PubSub” and all its orthographic variations). 447And then there are things like 448<a href="http://www.infoq.com/articles/atomserver">AtomServer</a>.</p> 449<h2 id='p-2'>The Right Amount of Cloud Lock-In</h2> 450<p>But here’s the real reason. We seem to have consensus that the future is 451<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Computing">cloudy</a>. My #1 452gripe with the cloud-computing infrastructure I’ve seen out there is that it 453all seems to come with some degree of lock-in.</p> 454<p><em>The only appropriate 455amount of lock-in, to build a cloud-centric future, is zero.</em></p> 456<p>It seems to me that Steve O’Grady really hit the nail on the head with 457<a href="http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2008/06/24/cloud_standards/">Question for 458Cloud Campers: The Cloud and Standards</a>. Now it’s quite possible that my 459obvious bias as one of Atom’s fond parents is showing here, but it seems to me 460that the Atom format provides a nice clean zero-lock-in way of getting 461information out of the cloud, and Atompub an equivalently safe way in.</p> 462<p>Now let’s move on to some Atom-technology news stories.</p> 463<h2 id='p-3'>Atom-Multipart</h2> 464<p>To post an image (or any other bit-blob) with Atompub, you HTTP-POST it; 465the server stores it and creates a synthetic Atom entry for metadata about 466it. Then if you want to update the metadata, you have to PUT that. So Joe 467Gregorio, based on his work at Google, is 468<a href="http://code.google.com/p/atompub-mulitpart-spec/">proposing 469“atom-multipart”</a>; the idea is use pack up your bit-blob and an Atom entry 470full of metadata, and push ’em at the server in a MIME multipart package.</p> 471<p>Everyone seems to like the idea, the Atom-protocol mailing list is chewing 472it over, the IETF seems to think it’s appropriate for the standards track, and 473I’ve volunteered to be the consensus referee (which is probably poetic 474justice since 475I’m obviously going to have to implement the sucker in 476<a href="/ongoing/misc/Software#p-5">mod_atom</a>).</p> 477<h2 id='p-4'>Meta-CRUD</h2> 478<p>Just to review: an Atompub implementation lets you create, retrieve, 479update, and delete (CRUD) Web Resources. So, suppose you think of 480publications as Web Resources, wouldn’t Atompub be a candidate for the CRUD 481job? Now, this is all getting more than a little bit meta, but the idea is so 482obvious that everybody is doing it. In fact, I’m doing it myself in mod_atom, 483since my original idea (to create a new publication, edit the Apache config 484file) is, well, really lousy.</p> 485<p>I thought “If everyone’s doing this, maybe we should standardize it, and 486then authors of Atompub test suites (like me) could build portable tests”. So 487I raised the issue on the mailing list and well, it’s complicated.</p> 488<p>Just by way of reminder: Atompub starts with a 489<a href="http://bitworking.org/projects/atom/rfc5023.html#appdocs">Service 490Document</a>, which contains one or more named 491<a href="http://bitworking.org/projects/atom/rfc5023.html#workspaces">Workspaces</a>, 492which contain 493<a href="http://bitworking.org/projects/atom/rfc5023.html#dataiscode">Collections</a>, 494which are what you actually POST to in order to start up the CRUD process.</p> 495<p>So the meta-idea is simple; have a collection that when you POST to it, 496creates a new publication. What could be simpler? Well, it turns out that 497there are three obvious choices you could take as to what happens when you 498POST to one of these meta-collections:</p> 499<ol> 500<li><p>Create a new Service Doc, with Workspaces and collections.</p></li> 501<li><p>Create a new Workspace in the current Service Doc.</p></li> 502<li><p>Create a new collection in the current Workspace.</p></li> 503</ol> 504<p>There are implementors out there doing all three of these things; mod_atom 505does #1. We just don’t have enough experience yet to decide which (if any) of 506’em deserve standardization. Oh well.</p> 507</div></content></entry> 508 509<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/04/'> 510 <title>(Last) RotD: Lucky Sunset</title> 511 <link href='Lucky-Sunset' /> 512 <link rel='replies' thr:count='4' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='Lucky-Sunset#comments' /> 513 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/04/Lucky-Sunset</id> 514 <published>2008-07-04T02:00:00-07:00</published> 515 <updated>2008-07-04T22:14:13-07:00</updated> 516 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts/Photos' /> 517 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts' /> 518 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Photos' /> 519 <summary type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>The last rose of the day is a “Royal Sunset” in the sunset, A lucky shot, another small instance of good fortune in what’s been (so far) an unreasonably lucky life.</div></summary> 520<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 521<p>The last rose of the day is a “Royal Sunset” in the sunset, A 522lucky shot, another small instance of good fortune in what’s been 523(so far) an unreasonably lucky life.</p> 524<img src="PS081174.png" alt="Sunlit Royal Sunset rose blossom" /> 525<p>Well perhaps not sunset exactly, but after supper last Sunday, a narrow 526shaft of slanting sun illuminated the blossom and not much around it. I had 527the 528<a href="/ongoing/When/200x/2007/05/24/Pentax-SMC-DA-21mm">21mm wide-angle</a> on but there wasn’t time to fiddle with lenses, I just 529threw the camera on all-auto and pointed and shot. Lucky, I said.</p> 530<h2 id='p-1'>Lucky, You Say?</h2> 531<p>In spades. My family is mostly free of both insanity and cancer and we 532mostly like each other, all of which 533puts us in a small minority of families. 534I drifted through life without working very hard 535at anything until I stumbled into work that I loved and have been well-paid 536for it. 537My kids are tractable and healthy. I live in a nice part of a nice city. I 538get to travel to interesting places and meet interesting people. I 539get along well with my wife of twelve years. I get to tell stories to the 540world, and some people like them.</p> 541<p>And sometimes a sunbeam catches a rose when there’s a camera handy.</p> 542<p>There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t shake my head in amazement at 543how well things have worked out so far. If I were a character in a play by 544Sophocles the outlook would be grim.</p> 545</div></content></entry> 546 547<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/03/'> 548 <title>Good Morning</title> 549 <link href='Morning' /> 550 <link rel='replies' thr:count='3' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='Morning#comments' /> 551 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/03/Morning</id> 552 <published>2008-07-03T02:00:00-07:00</published> 553 <updated>2008-07-03T23:35:45-07:00</updated> 554 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='The World' /> 555 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='The World' /> 556 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts/Photos' /> 557 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts' /> 558 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Photos' /> 559 <summary type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>I like mornings. Especially bright ones on foot in the city. People are up and about for a reason; it’s easy to believe the world is on the whole is a well-organized purposeful kind of place.</div></summary> 560<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 561<p>I like mornings. Especially bright ones on foot in the city. 562People are up and about for a reason; it’s easy to believe 563the world is on the whole is a well-organized 564purposeful kind of place.</p> 565<img src="R0010436.png" alt="Bee at breakfast" /> 566<p>I smile particularly when I walk past a restaurant or other storefront and 567they’re outside washing the big windows. Glass in a city gets cruddy 568fast, and the window-washers are a daily battalion of shock troops in our 569doomed but admirable struggle against entropy generally. People who ten hours 570later pause hungrily by the windowgleam to consider the menu, they never think 571about the minion in the morning light with the bucket and rubber blade on a 572pole.</p> 573<img src="PS081183.png" alt="Transparency" /> 574<p>And if they’re washing the windows in front, in the back you know they’re 575chopping and peeling and mixing and baking.</p> 576<img src="PS081161.png" alt="Baking" /> 577<p>Driving can be good too (well, unless you’re going east) but it could be 578better. I like all kinds of music but 579when it’s morning and I’m behind the wheel of a car, all I want to hear is 580rock & roll, hard fast and loud. I could put a CD in but it’d be nice 581to be surprised. Sadly, the rock stations don’t play much music in the 582commute window, that’s their prime slot for ads and then they seem to 583think the people in cars want airhead DJ banter, mostly.</p> 584<p>Hmph, this is a big-government country with an intrusive 585<a href="http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/welcome.htm">broadcast regulator</a> that 586oversees radio formats. Clearly they’re doing something wrong. I’m a taxpayer 587and I want some damn enforcement; compulsory morning rock & roll 588please.</p> 589</div></content></entry> 590 591<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/03/'> 592 <title>The Shambling WS-Undead</title> 593 <link href='The-Shambling-Undead' /> 594 <link rel='replies' thr:count='12' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='The-Shambling-Undead#comments' /> 595 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/03/The-Shambling-Undead</id> 596 <published>2008-07-03T02:00:00-07:00</published> 597 <updated>2008-07-03T22:34:26-07:00</updated> 598 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology/Web/Services' /> 599 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Technology' /> 600 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Web' /> 601 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Services' /> 602<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 603<p>I’ll try to play this straight. 604It seems that a posse of 605industry titans (IBM, Oracle, CA, and EMC) 606<a href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-ws/2008Jun/0001.html">want 607a W3C working group</a> to standardize WS-Transfer, 608WS-ResourceTransfer, WS-Enumeration and WS-MetadataExchange. Because, as they 609say, “There is still some work to be done”, and “Accessing data about a resource through Web services is an area of 610the Web services architecture that has yet to be fully realized.” 611I guess that if you really do want to implement HTTP on top of the 612SOAP stack on top of HTTP, these are clearly the Right Vendors For The Job. 613There is, however, real danger in this move, as outlined by Mark Nottingham in 614<a href="http://www.mnot.net/blog/2008/07/04/a_new_dread">The WS-Empire Strikes Back... feebly</a>.</p> 615</div></content></entry> 616 617<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/03/'> 618 <title>RotD: Morning Mist</title> 619 <link href='Morning-Mist' /> 620 <link rel='replies' thr:count='0' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='Morning-Mist#comments' /> 621 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/03/Morning-Mist</id> 622 <published>2008-07-03T02:00:00-07:00</published> 623 <updated>2008-07-03T14:13:35-07:00</updated> 624 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts/Photos' /> 625 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts' /> 626 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Photos' /> 627 <summary type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>We planted today’s rose in an awkward corner of the garden and thus had to move it; this summer it’s recovering and only produced one blossom. Pretty pictures are a relief, I hope, in a week that feels like summer’s <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_Latitudes'>Horse latitudes</a>.</div></summary> 628<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 629<p>We planted today’s rose in an awkward corner of the garden and thus had to 630move it; 631this summer it’s recovering and only produced one blossom. 632Pretty pictures are a relief, I hope, in a week that feels like summer’s 633<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_Latitudes">Horse 634latitudes</a>.</p> 635<img src="PS081215.png" alt="Morning Mist rose blossom" /> 636<p>Tomorrow’s RotD will be the last, and it’s a honey.</p> 637<h2 id='p-1'>Horse Latitudes</h2> 638<p>Yeah, I seem to be busy enough; talking to product and research groups 639internally, Wide Finder moving right along, making progress on mod_atom albeit 640slow, but it all seems an effort of will, not something that’s pulling me 641toward the keyboard at all times. Right now the only thing that’s exciting is 642a couple of big Fortune top-whatever Sun customers I’m talking to about modern 643Web stuff; the cognitive dissonance between the vigor of the high-tech Twittersphere and 644what’s actually in BigCo production is invigorating.</p> 645<p>Whatever, time’s on my side; I never stay bored long.</p> 646</div></content></entry> 647 648<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/07/01/'> 649 <title>RotD: Sombreuil</title> 650 <link href='Sombreuil' /> 651 <link rel='replies' thr:count='1' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='Sombreuil#comments' /> 652 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/07/01/Sombreuil</id> 653 <published>2008-07-01T02:00:00-07:00</published> 654 <updated>2008-07-01T14:29:41-07:00</updated> 655 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts/Photos' /> 656 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts' /> 657 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Photos' /> 658 <summary type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>Today’s rose has a lovely French name and, like many others, lots of <a href='http://www.google.com/search?q=sombreuil%20rose'>associated lore</a>.</div></summary> 659<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 660<p>Today’s rose has a lovely French name and, like many others, lots of 661<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=sombreuil%20rose">associated 662lore</a>.</p> 663<img src="PS081212.png" alt="Two Sombreuil rose blossoms" /> 664<p>I don’t have time to be a rose geek, I just prune ’em and 665photograph ’em.</p> 666</div></content></entry> 667 668<entry xml:base='When/200x/2008/06/30/'> 669 <title>RotD: UltraPink</title> 670 <link href='Ultra-Pink' /> 671 <link rel='replies' thr:count='2' type='application/xhtml+xml' href='Ultra-Pink#comments' /> 672 <id>http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/06/30/Ultra-Pink</id> 673 <published>2008-06-30T02:00:00-07:00</published> 674 <updated>2008-07-01T01:04:05-07:00</updated> 675 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts/Photos' /> 676 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Arts' /> 677 <category scheme='http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/What/' term='Photos' /> 678 <summary type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>This rose-of-the-day grows in our front yard, but we inherited it and I don’t know what it is. Plus, Nikon is making waves in the camera world.</div></summary> 679<content type='xhtml'><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'> 680<p>This rose-of-the-day grows in our front yard, but we inherited it and I don’t know what it 681is. Plus, Nikon is making waves in the camera world.</p> 682<img src="PS081211.png" alt="Extremely pink rose" /> 683<p>You might want to check out 684<a href="http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2008/06/27/Other-Rugosas#comments">Alex 685Waterhouse-Hayward’s wise remarks</a> on the difficulty of photographing this 686colour range; my experience would suggest he understates it. But in this 687particular case, I walk by this particular plant several times every day and I 688think the rose→camera→Lightroom→browser bucket brigade does a 689surprisingly good job of showing you what I think I saw.</p> 690<h2 id='p-1'>Cameras</h2> 691<p>Nikon 692<a href="http://www.dpreview.com/news/0807/08070103nikond700previewed.asp">launched 693the D700</a>. This is the camera that might have pulled me off the Pentax 694bandwagon, but it arrives too late. Still, I don’t know. Most of these rose 695pictures are Pentax’s “Limited” 696<a href="/ongoing/When/200x/2007/04/27/Pentax-P-DA-40mm">40mm prime 697pancake</a>, except for the last one which I’m saving up to end with a bang, 698shot with the 699<a href="/ongoing/When/200x/2007/05/24/Pentax-SMC-DA-21mm">Limited 21mm 700prime</a>. 701I’m pretty sure that those two lenses don’t have any serious competition 702smaller than any camera body you might want to attach them to. I’m happy for 703now.</p> 704</div></content></entry> 705 706</feed> 707
