This Week - ISO fractures and are rich luddites just lazy?
12 October 2008
Welcome to another installment in my series about what I have read on the web recently.
Daniel has been trying out ZFS on FreeBSD, cool stuff. For those not in the loop, ZFS is causing a big stir in the server world because it can span multiple volumes and allows huge filesystems. It is not available as a root file system in Linux, so I doubt it will be the last word in filesystems.
David has not just been commenting here, he also has a blog as I (re)discovered recently. The latest highlights include some Python tidbits and some Newsnight Review-style music musings, it is good to know that Tammy Baker still has a lot on her plate.
Phill has been blogging steadily, including developing my point that some names are just better than others, he has been discussing polygamy and a remote desktop service which costs £12 a month which can be replaced by ten minutes of reading and no money. Sadly, I think they are onto a winner, sometimes people are not so much 'technophobic', it is more that the computer calls their bluff. Often good-natured smart people will assume everyone around them is smart; however in life, some people are just bluffing. Arrogant bluffers just glaze over when actually forced to read something, as opposed to leeching off the good natures of others. It takes one to know one, and the stupidity of the computer exposes the stupidity of the user - garbage in - garbage out.
When about ten months ago I moved commandline.org.uk from specialised blogging software to a more general web framework (Django), I stopped talking about this web site as a 'blog', and just used the word 'web site' instead.
Andy L asks whether we can define blogging without mentioning technology. Can we define cycling without mentioning technology? This is the wrong question, we are not interested in the verb but in the actor. If we leave the word 'bloggers' aside for a moment, and instead use {group A}. A more interesting question is, "Is there anything unique that defines {group A} in comparison to the majority of Web users?".
It does not matter whether {group A} are writing their own site, leaving comments on other people's sites, posting on a mailing list or forum, or making videos for YouTube or whatever. The main thing is that {group A} are creating, talking, commenting, collaborating; unlike the majority of Web users who are passive consumers of sites and services.
I have been saying for a year or two (e.g. in my crazy new year predictions), that the fast tracking of the half-baked MS OOXML format, whitewashing over valid and serious technical concerns and supplanting an existing, more mature standard (ODF), would have consequences; that the MS OOXML debacle was in danger of undermining ISO itself. If you stack too much on the roof, you will bring down the house.
Andy Updegrove still leads the coverage, on technical standards in general, and the MS OOXML debacle in particular. The latest development is that the state IT organisations of Brazil, South Africa, Venezuela, Ecuador, Cuba and Paraguay have released a statement indicating that they are losing confidence in ISO and that an ISO standard is no longer automatically the default choice for government use.
Science Fiction author and Free Culture campaigner Cory Doctorow has collected his non-fiction articles and essays in Content, which you can buy in print or download for free.
A very short hop to Lawrence Lessig, whose article Defense of Piracy explains why copyright law needs to be updated to enable not smother the digital generation's outpouring of creativity.
Meanwhile, a Swedish couple have called their child Linux. Poor little thing. Imagine in 30 years time when current computer technology is completely obsolete; imagine being called "System V" or "Windows 95". If anyone out there is stuck for a name, call your child 'John' or 'Zeth', please do not go surfing through Sourceforge or Launchpad for baby names.
Have you written a post or comment somewhere else that I have not found? If so, then please share the URL in the comments below.
1 The Open Sourcerer says...
Hi there. Nice round-up, thanks.
On the OOXML thing, I would also mention a couple of other significant items:
IBM's cloaked announcement about leaving the ISO for dust or expecting some serious cleaning up: http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=2615
The mass exodus of over half of the Norwegian standards body after their disgraceful treatment of their own technical committees; by ignoring the majority opinion and going for the vote of only 2 members who clearly have vested interests: http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/10/02/norway-standards-members-walk
Cheers
Al
http://www.theopensourcerer.com
Posted at 2:46 p.m. on October 12, 2008
2 Phill says...
I think half the problem with people is that they believe they don't get the whole computery thing and so don't even bother trying. There are some people who are obviously better than others, but just to not even bother to try and find things out for yourself is a little lazy IMO.
Still, that's the modern world - we don't have the time to do anything worthwhile, so just pay someone else to make it happen!
Posted at 4:44 p.m. on October 12, 2008
3 David Jones says...
Your link to my recent Python article should be: http://drj11.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/i-learn-python/
Glad you liked it enough to mention!
Posted at 2:01 p.m. on October 13, 2008
4 David Jones says...
Who is Tammy Baker, and what is Newsnight Review? Is that one of these broadcast television shows I keep hearing about?
Posted at 2:53 p.m. on October 13, 2008