Trouble in Paradise?

March 11, 2005 Leave a comment

With having an uncertain future and the development process being called into question, is the project doomed? One really has to hope not. With Firefox being so mainstream, for it to falter would be a huge setback for (whether deserved or not), at least from a mainstream perspective. SO, is it all gloom and doom? The good news is, I don't think so. The project grew fast and they are clearly going through some growing pains, but in the end I think too many people are too dedicated to this succeeding for it to fail. If you're a programmer and are looking to get involved in an Open Source project then SeaMonkey and Firefox are both fantastic candidates (you can view Asa's blog for some additional info on the process). Remember, OSS is about scratching your own itch, and I'd say the need for a non-IE browser is more like a rash than an itch.
–jeremy

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Why I like Blogs II

March 10, 2005 Leave a comment

I mentioned a little about why I like here. Here's another good example. Mark Cuban, an intelligent savvy investor who happens to be a billionaire, is giving you a look into his portfolio. He even gives you both Longs and Shorts. Now, should you go blindly invest in these stocks? Obviously not. But to get this kind of insight as a starting point to your research is amazing.
–jeremy

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IBM, Lenovo PC Deal Passes U.S. Review

March 9, 2005 Leave a comment

Well, it appears that the IBM-Levanto deal just got approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Can't say I'm too happy about this one. I really like the Thinkpad and while it's obviously too early to say that the quality of them will go down, I'd guess the amount of R&D and refinement that goes into them on a long term basis seriously declines. I'd also guess that my next laptop will be an Apple running Linux, but like I said we'll see.
–jeremy

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Yarro-Canopy Cases Settle

March 9, 2005 Leave a comment

Looks the Canopy Cases that we mentioned in a recent LQ have now been settled. Here are some additional details. Looks to me like the counter suit had more merit than the actual suit. The details of the settlements have not been released at this point. Sad to think that a trust setup by Ray Noorda to help the LDS Church, two nonprofit charitable organizations, and a special needs child ended up funding the litigious bastards.
–jeremy

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Another Jeremy Blog

March 7, 2005 Leave a comment

This is why I like blogs in general and why I read Jeremy Zawodny's blog specifically. A long time (at least by Internet standards) Yahoo! employee telling everyone how useful Google's Desktop Search just got to him. A couple snippets:
I had tried the previous version of GDS a bit, as well as the company dog food (Yahoo Desktop Search or YDS). But both lacked the ability to search the most important asset on my computer: my e-mail archive.
Being one who does not use Outlook, that meant I was on my own until now. The latest GDS release has the ability to index Thunderbird mailboxes.
This is the killer feature for me. My computer just got twice as useful. It's funny how sometimes it just takes one feature to completely change your mind about a product, isn't it?
and
And yes, before you ask, I have pointed out how useful this feature would be in YDS to anyone who'd listen. More than once. And no, I can't tell you if you should expect to see it or when that might be–so don't ask.
So not only does he tell us 1) that he likes a competitors product better than his employers and that 2) he is actually going to use the competitor product, but he has let his employer know why and lets us know that he has done so. Good stuff. Kudos to Jeremy for the honesty and to Yahoo! for allowing such honesty in such a public forum.
–jeremy

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Google VS. Evil

March 6, 2005 Leave a comment

An old but interesting article about the difficulties of not being evil as you become a behemoth. Now, while I can't say I agree with every decision Google has made over the years, I still think that they really do try to do the right thing. While some people may not like certain end results, to me it's the intention that matters. Google's in a bit of a precarious position right now. A large part of their success has been due to the fact that there seemed to be a perception in the media that the company could do no wrong. You can't pay for PR that good. They seemed to have reached a size now that people are uncomfortable with them though. They've crossed some invisible line and now in some peoples mind they seem to be evil by default. Now, I can't say where Google is going or whether they'll continue to not be evil – but I can say that they have earned enough of my trust at this point that they really need to actively do something to lose it. …and I really hope they don't. The Internet will be a worse place if they do.
–jeremy

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Tiemann New OSI President

March 6, 2005 Leave a comment

It looks like Russ Nelson has stepped down as the OSI President, to be replaced by Michael Tiemann. I've had a chance to talk to Michael on several occasions and I'm sure he'll do a great job as interim president (it looks like his role is mostly going to be expanding the board to 9, so they can vote on a full term president). It's unfortunate what happened to Russ and I think it was much ado about nothing. He's been a member of the community for a long time and hopefully everyone can put this behind them and move on. It's good to see that he will stay on the board and continue to contribute to OSI.
–jeremy

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Good to Know People are Listening

March 6, 2005 Leave a comment

After making a comment in the LQ Podcast that I could not read any of the UK ZDNet articles in firefox, I am happy to report that someone from CNET contacted me and things seem to be working great now in Firefox. Fast response and good to see that this was cleaned up quickly. Nice!
–jeremy

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Sowing the Seeds of Open Source Advocacy

March 4, 2005 Leave a comment

An interesting article about properly advocating Open Source by Jono Bacon has been posted to LinuxDevCenter. Some good points are made and overall it's an article that almost anyone can glean some useful info from. It's sometime easy to get overzealous and I think we've all seen some cases where a person trying to advocate has done more harm than good.
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, Main Page

Microsoft and Shipping Software

March 4, 2005 Leave a comment

An interesting perspective from a really smart guy who worked at Microsoft for 15+ years and now works at Google. From the post:
I would argue that Microsoft used to know how to ship software, but the world has changed…
An good read from someone who has seen both sides on the coin.
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, Main Page

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