advocacy, content, Digital Life, hegemony, intellectual property, open-source, product and process, productivity, software development

Microsoft Disinforms on Open-Source and Free-Software

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Can Windows and Linux Learn to Play Nice?:

A commercial company has to build intellectual property, while the GPL, by its very nature, does not allow intellectual property to be built, making the two approaches fundamentally incompatible, Muglia said.

Interesting take on “intellectual property.’ Would benefit from a bit more of an explanation. Is “IP” the very foundation of any commercial company?
What's more awkward, though, is that Microsoft veep Bob Muglia talks about the GPL in the context of open-source. As he surely knows, this is exactly where the terms “open-source” and “free software” are not interchangeable. While the two are quite similar, “free software” refers to a movement in favour of free (as in speech) or “libre” development in direct opposition to the notion of “intellectual property.” “Open-source,” on the other hand, refers to a development process through which source code for software is shared by multiple developers in an open fashion, whether or not that code is meant to be protected as “intellectual property.” In fact, many open-source projects are not only interoperable with commercial software but do in fact have commercial licenses through which they protect their IP. Whichever model we prefer, free or open, they're models of very different things. The two models are quite compatible in practice. They are both used in resistance to Microsoft's hegemony. But confounding them serves little purpose in the discussion. It might not be a strategy on Muglia's part to confuse the two issues. Interestingly enough, the “free software” vs. “open source” issue wasn't even the main thrust of the Slashdot thread on the subject, at least in the beginning.

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cluetrain, content, Digital Life

RIAA and EFF

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Whiney EFF and RIAA knocked by digital license go ahead | The Register :

Under a blanket (or ‘compulsory’ license) for consumer downloads, record labels fear they would lose control of their hard-fought grip on physical distribution channels, and lose control over pricing. In fact, they’d simply have to work harder to gain a bigger share of the pie, and innovate to find new outlets for their copyrighted material.

A bit old by now but this one speaks for itself. Michael Geist always has interesting things to say about these.

Blogging

Ecto

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As said a few hours ago, been trying some blogging tools and ecto looks like it might be a winner. Among other things, ecto’s interface is efficient, it seamlessly supports multiple blogs (useful in my case because of my role in Critcal World‘s own WordPress-based weblog), integrates a variety of scripts (from Perl to Bash and Ruby to AppleScript!), and allows for both categories and tags. Unfortunately, its categories/tags support doesn’t seem to work like, say, del.icio.us (which is incredibly powerful). But that might not be much of a deal-breaker. After all, there probably are scripts which creates tags from comma-separated terms.
This entry is sent through the MetaWeblog API (instead of the MovableType, which is the default for WordPress.com blogs in ecto). My hope is that through this API, blog entries show directly on the blog front page. With the MovableType interface, my previous entry was published but didn’t appear on my blog’s front page.

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Blogging, open-source, Outlining, soapbox, social bookmarking, social publishing, social software, software, WordPress.com

Blogging Tools

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Been trying a few blogging tools on Mac OS X. Currently trying out ecto, posted the previous entry through MarsEdit, played around with Flock, downloaded MacJournal, Dossier, blogworkz, looked at pages for other tools (like Performancing).
Still haven’t found the ideal tool.
Would like the following features:

  • Free (as in beer) or really inexpensive.
  • Spell as you type through Cocoa Services or multi-lingual dictionaries.
  • WYSIWYG with a toggle for HTML.
  • On-the-fly categories and (technorati) tags.
  • Browser integration (Firefox, Safari, Flock).
  • Easily enter URLs from bookmarks and history.
  • Manage posts.
  • Batch application of categories and tags.
  • Basic outlining (move lines up/down, left/right).
  • Crossplatform (OSX/XP)
  • Statistics (wordcount, etc.)

At this point, ecto seems almost like a winner as it has most of these features. What’s missing, though, are the on-the-fly categories which WordPress.com has in its Web interface.

Another option would be to use Safari or another browser which does “spell as you type.” In fact, Cocoa Services available in Safari also include many interesting features, including text tools from Devon and integration with several applications. But the Scrapbook in Firefox is almost addictive and it doesn’t work in either Flock or Safari. (Flock doesn’t do spell as you type.)

Ah, well…

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GERD and Stress

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[This entry is about a health condition which causes some distasteful and potentially disturbing effects. Apologies in advance for the details!]

Been suffering from GERD (“gastroesophageal reflux disease” or “acid reflux”) for about ten years at this point. Heartburns are a fairly big part of it but there are other symptoms, especially after a lot of reflux episodes. GERD is very common. But it's not frequently discussed. Perhaps because its symptoms are so repelling and are unlikely to be mentioned in polite company.
GERD is easily treated, including by surgery. Haven't had surgery myself. At one point, my condition was bad enough that we feared it might lead to cancer. Things have gotten a lot better since then.
Overall, my condition has been quite stable for a long while (thanks to some well-known medication). There are days however, like today, during which things aren't as good. Not because of pain. It can be quite painful at times (like when you get a horizontal bar of pain in your back). But it's also causing a generally displeasing overall state. Had a rather acute episode today. Woke up with almost a mouthful of acidic bile. And there wasn't anything special from the past day which might have led me to expect this episode (like eating before going to bed or sleeping in too horizontal a position). But it hurt and the effects are still with me, ten hours after waking up.
One thing about GERD, for me, is that it stresses me out. And vice-versa: stress is likely to cause a reflux episode in me. It's quite annoying but it's also potentially damaging. A seemingly simple situation may become a big problem under GERD symptoms and too high a level of stress and acid reflux is likely to change my mood. It's not at all like hypochondria, AFAIK, but it's a psychosomatic connection between mental state and physical condition. It's no less real than any other physical condition or mental state, but there's a clear connection between the two.
The upshot is that stress has become a known state to me. In my experience, and it really does seem to make sense, it has little to do with having a lot to do or even with being in a hurry. But it does have to do with situations of “double-bind” in which you feel trapped. Those types of “darned if you do, darned if you don't” situations we all know on occasion. For me, it's difficult to think straight during GERD episodes. And stress caused by double-bind situations will likely generate an acid reflux episode in me. Kind of a vicious circle. It's easier if the source is physical (if the GERD starts the pattern) as it's then possible for me to convince myself that things are fine and it's best to just wait for the GERD symptoms to pass. But it's still very inconvenient.
Another aspect of GERD, which can be especially “gross,” is that it's often associated with IBS or “irritable bowel syndrome.” Not that they're intimately linked but with GERD, IBS symptoms are frequent. Haven't had IBS diagnosed in my case but it does sound as if it were the same symptoms. In such situations where IBS is apparently caused by my GERD, it's an overall uneasy feeling which is tolerable but quite annoying. Ah, well…

Life is still good.

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Academia, academic models, economics, innovation, Medici effect

Great Changes from Small Ideas

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Valley Advocate: Thinking Small

An interesting concept and a fairly good article on the benefits of starting from very small ideas. It connects with a lot of different things, like innovation, maybe because it's so simple (in a useful way). A bit like “baby steps” on both cognitive and social levels. Reminds me of Chowhounds and the SBM (slightly better muffin) idea. And because it focuses on idea generation, it makes me think of Gotlib's  «homme à idées» (“Idea Man”) in a volume of the famous Rubrique à brac series (volume 3?).

If more academics could think like this. Medici Effect, anyone?

And why is it so many big ideas find their ways into economics and business yet have limited practicality for the real world? 😉

academic publishing, ethnomusicology, music, podcasting

Nicholas Cook on Music

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Haven't read his Music: A Very Short Introduction yet but Nicholas Cook's perspective on music in general sounds quite insightful. A broad definition of music in the context of recent history. Jacques Attali's Noise has some of the same impact on me.
Here's a reading of the French version of the first chapter to Cook's very short introduction. 

Anybody read the whole book?

art, Beer, brewing, craft beer, science, taste

Belgian Artist and German Engineer

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This one might already be somewhere in my beer entries. Still, it's worth repeating… 😉

Much of craft beer culture in North America uses a continuum based on two important images from two important brewing traditions: Belgian Ales and German Lagers. Not that these are at all exclusive associations. Belgium produces many lager beers and Germany produces many ales. Other brewing traditions (especially from the Czech Republic or from the British Isles and former British colonies) also have their own ales and lager beers. But these two “national” traditions are quite important in craft beer culture's imagination and self-identification.

The German Lagers used as a prototype are usually clean, crisp, refreshing, balanced, and especially consistent. The Belgian Ales used as a prototype are usually complex, smooth, soothing, malty, and especially distinctive. Many beers are located along this continuum. And it's not unusual to see malty brews associated with complexity or crisp brews with clean-tasting. The values of consistency and distinctiveness are quite important in craft brewing as it influences brewing practise. Those of a more creative approach may tend to prefer brewing Belgian Ales, even when the results are disappointing while those with a more technical perspective may prefer brewing German Lagers, even if their taste is relatively unassertive. In such a context, the images/stereotypes of a German Engineer (GE: who wants his work to always be perfect and dependable) and the Belgian Artist (BA: who wants his work to make a statement) seem useful, if simplistic.

For one thing, those images don't necessarily correspond to beer styles. Many of the BA beers could in fact be based on German beers like the Hefeweizen and Berliner Weiss. Similarly, GE beers are likely to be ales, especially British ones. But the brewing traditions of Germany and Belgium are perceived through those models/prototypes.

And speaking of beer in Germany, see Ron Pattison's criticism of the so-called “purity” law, his take on German Beer, and especially Thomas Perera's description of the German beer spirit.

For Belgium, there's a wealth of resources (including on Ron Pattison's site) but its beer scene is characteristically described by disparate details as it's difficult to make sense of Belgian beer in general.

Of course, discussions of regional differences within these two countries in brewing patterns are extremely important. But these differences are rarely seen by North American craft beer people as implying much distinction in brewing philosophy.

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A bilingual blog on disparate subjects. / Un blogue disparate bilingue.