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comparing Vista and Ubuntu

nospam@example.com (Guido Stevens) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:30:00 +0200

I recently bought a laptop for my daughter. It came with Microsoft Vista pre-installed. I paid for this in the form of a compulsary Vista license (the infamous Microsoft tax). I carved out some harddisk space and installed Ubuntu Linux as a second option. Ubuntu is free.

This provides a perfect setting to compare the initial Vista and Ubuntu experiences.

Which is faster up-and-running?
Which is sponsored by spammy advertisements?
Which contains more software?

Continue reading "comparing Vista and Ubuntu"

OOXML approved as an ISO standard

nospam@example.com (Guido Stevens) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:02:00 +0200

Several Dutch sources confirm (in english) that Microsoft's Office XML (OOXML) has been approved as an ISO standard.

Amidst new reports of voting irregularities, this makes ISO the worst april fools joke in history.

Microsoft has succeeded, not only in pushing through a non-standard, but in effectively destroying the credibility of ISO. This is a serious blow to the concept of standardization.

The amount of dirty play exhibited around the OOXML effort reveals the PR talk from Redmond about "interoperability" as nothing but a sham. To quote Glyn Moody:

If the whole sorry OOXML saga shows anything, it is Microsoft's deep and utter contempt for the whole idea of an open, collaborative process based on mutual respect and consensus. Henceforth, members of the open source community must view with deep cynicism all - not just some - offers by Microsoft to work more closely with the free software world. If they don't, they could find themselves used and abused just like the once famous, and now former, International Standards Organisation.

gandhicon 4

nospam@example.com (Guido Stevens) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 23:10:00 +0100

The following @LinuxJournal caught my eye:

Open Source has won. We've moved into Gandhicon 4. Now what?

This refers to a simple but powerful model for the adoption of open source:

First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.

And we do seem to have crossed over to the fourth, last stage: Gandhicon 4, in which we win.

Just take a look at the news emanating from Redmond lately:

Facebook apps leave nest, lose appeal

nospam@example.com (Guido Stevens) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:12:00 +0100

The announcement that Facebook apps can now also be deployed on other websites (outside Facebook), has gone largely unnoticed, except for some Dutch press coverage.

Following the introduction last year of the Facebook platform, which precipitated the OpenSocial effort, widening the scope in which Facebook apps can be deployed is potentially a big deal. Deployment of Facebook apps across the web is attractive for both application developers (gain exposure) and for Facebook (drive traffic).

However, Facebook may have passed the peak of it's hype cycle already. The proliferation of apps results in a deluge of spammy messages that seriously annoys the user population.

Exporting this problem to other sites will only hasten the "Through of Disillusionment."

IE8: not quite standard

nospam@example.com (Guido Stevens) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:54:00 +0100

Microsoft has announced, that the upcoming release of Internet Explorer will render standard-compliant web pages in a non-standard way. Standard-compliant rendering requires a non-standard page tag. Huh?

welcome to the mirror palace!

If you get the feeling something's not quite right here, you're right. The reasoning behind this proposal was quickly shredded to pieces by the development community. You might as wel have a laugh

Continue reading "IE8: not quite standard"