Posts tagged “open source”
I've relaunched Planet Afterlife on my own server using SimplePie and CodeIgniter instead of the flaky Planet Feed Reader. It's fast, except when it's updating every 20 minutes. Don't be that guy.
I rebuilt Afterlife using CakePHP as a starter project, and the result is seldo.net, now in beta. It's faster, more robust, and comes with four feed channels. Per-user feeds and social features are coming. It's also laughably insecure right now, so please don't break it.
I've set up a mirror of Planet Afterlife while Will is away. Spent 45 minutes making it pixel-perfect, with slightly more entries per page and updates every 20 minutes. It'll stay up until Will returns.
Software patents differ fundamentally from copyright: copyright protects your specific work, but patents let you block anyone from implementing similar ideas, even independently. This stifles innovation, which depends on building on existing ideas. Software patents serve lawyers, not inventors, and shouldn't be allowed in the EU.
Back in 2003 I wrote a university project arguing the web was broken and proposing fixes. Two years later, everyone's building my ideas without me. So I'm finally implementing Web2 myself, publicly, before someone patents the whole thing.
Commenting is broken across my MovableType-hosted blogs. Fixing it requires a $100 upgrade I can't justify since I'm broke and don't even use MT myself. If six of you chip in £9 via PayPal, we're sorted. Don't be a free rider.
I've set up Planet Seldo, a temporary replacement for the absent Planet Afterlife using the same software. It updates every 20 minutes. Let me know if you want feeds added, and if Wabson sends me his CSS I'll make it look just like the original.
Right after I asked why geeks instinctively favor freedom of information, ESR published his hacker ethos confirming exactly that. Convenient. His proposed hacker logo leaves me cold though -- we need a cute, malleable mascot, not a corporate emblem. The glider pattern is clever but soulless.
Exploring CMS options and related tools, collecting links on software integration ideas.
SCO is picking a fight it can't win by threatening IBM's AIX license. But the real issue is bigger: overzealous copyright and patent claims are strangling innovation. Copyrighting UNIX now is like copyrighting "car" in 1950. The system is broken, and it's killing the internet.
BitTorrent's P2P magic should apply to websites, not just big files. I'm proposing WebTorrent: a local proxy that lets browsers share cached pages with each other, eliminating the Slashdot effect without requiring any changes from website owners. Someone please build this. I'm begging you.
Text-mode Quake 2 exists, and even though I don't play Quake or use text mode, I appreciate the sheer audacity of it. Boredom breeds brilliance.
Ralph Nader wrote a great letter roasting the DOJ's pathetic Microsoft settlement, which actually protects Microsoft from open-source competition. Also: Internet2 and Geant are doing amazing things with bandwidth. And there's a girl on the BBC who really should be a lesbian.
Microsoft's .NET turns out to be an open standard, meaning Linux users can implement it freely. Soon you could run Office on Linux, making Windows expensive and unnecessary. Looks like Bill's antitrust dodge has spectacularly backfired.
Microsoft's new three-year licensing plan means you no longer own Office. I hate Microsoft. On the bright side, FreeSQL wants to use FreeNet as a SQL storage backend, which is stunning. Maybe I can port this blog there to escape Bill Gates's wrath.
