Wednesday, November 10, 1999

MP3.COM: She Can Stay My Home.

Jon Eisenzopf asks questions about the future of RSS.

Very interesting! According to Francis Lu, Sun is distributing XML-RPC sample code with the Java XML parser. Apparently it's not compatible with XML-RPC. Oooops!

Steve Ivy is having fun with his new Manila site. There's an important bit of info here, you can change the look of the site ad infinitum. Ours all look pretty similar. But Steve shows that you can have it your own way. Same with Dan Gillmor's site. Running the same software as XML-RPC.COM, Qube Quorner, and DaveNet. Their site templates is edited thru a web browser, of course. All are Manila sites.

Salon: The Internet Illusion. "A constant diet of personal interest will leave us conspicuously unexposed to diverging points of view -- not a great way to maintain an open mind. "

Linux Today: "The Linux community is friendly, interesting and helpful. I don't have Steve Ballmer's E-mail address. I could get it if I want it, but I don't. Why don't I want Steve Ballmer's E-mail address? Because I don't want to talk to him. The chances that he would actually respond are approximately one to googolplex. On the other hand, Tom Christensen usually responds to my E-mail within the nanosecond."

4/22/98: "That's why I say it isn't about open source, it's about open minds. Drawing lines alienates people to you. Attacking Microsoft verbally causes Windows users to tune out. You can't undermine by trying to dictate the terms, you have to do it by invading at night, slipping in the back door unnoticed. Then when the old folks wake up, it's too damned late."

Clikz: Build Community with Weblogs.

Luke Tymowski: Qube for Newbies.

The Qube is like an Apple-designed Linux box. I don't think Tom Christensen would want one, but I do.

NY Times: "Another idea long favored by the states would be to force Microsoft to auction the Windows source code so that two or three other companies could sell competing systems. In that case, Hovenkamp noted, the competing companies would have to set up a 'joint venture for compatibility standards' so that computers and software would work equally well with each system." Welcome to Never Never Land!

WSJ: Outsiders Consider Microsoft Breakup. "The likely consequence is a lot of confusion."

PC WEEK: "Everyone was talking about how push is dead," said BackWeb CEO Eli Barkat. "The showstopper with push was the technology, not the concept."

Red Herring: IBM Starts Incubator with Conxion. "IBM, in partnership with the Internet service provider Conxion, is providing up to $1 million in Internet technology and services, including servers, software, Web hosting and managed services, tools, training, and round-the-clock support for six months to selected Internet startups."

After last week's outages and poor communication, Conxion is no longer on our A-list. Something happens when an ISP grows. It's not a pretty thing from a customer's point of view. I offered suggestions for improving the service based on the problems we encountered, but didn't get a response. We're still using Conxion, but I don't have the confidence in them that I used to.

7/31/96: The Compaq of ISPs.

Are there other Conxion customers out there? If so, I've started a Conxion customers mail list so when there are problems we can help each other debug them and get back on the air quickly.