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Eric S. Raymond: Why Python? Dan Anderson, the original "don't lock me in the trunk" guy, is back with a tribute and a tutorial on .NET programming. Maureen Dowd: "So now we have a whole new alliance with Central and South American countries simply because W. feels more comfortable at what USA Today dubbed 'amigo diplomacy.'" Here's a conundrum. In the last week I've reviewed two books, written the foreword for one, and in both cases the books are on Amazon, but I'm supposed to keep them secret. I've played along, but it doesn't seem right that the books already have a public existence, so aren't a secret, but I have to pretend that they are. One of the books won't be published until Aug 13, according to Amazon. eCompany: "Steve Ballmer suddenly rotates his burly right shoulder, driving a meaty fist deep into the green Naugahyde couch at a point about 12 inches from his visitor's kneecap. 'We just keep slugging away!' booms the Microsoft chief executive. He fires another punch. 'And slugging away!' Another punch. 'And slugging away!' Another punch. 'It's paid off for us!'" Hugh Pyle starts a thread on Jxta on the Decentralization list. More breakage due to the demise of My.Netscape. John VanDyk: "There are a couple of good times to visit Iowa. Late April can be a wonderful time. The insects are just waking up from their wintertime slumber, the trees are leafing out, and the sultry days of summer are only dimly visible." Michael Roberts: Zope for the Perl/CGI programmer.  I'd like to see something like the Hero Machine for new web technologies. Create a customized super-hero out of any of the following: XML, HTTP, UDDI, WSDL, RDF, SOAP, Jabber, Jxta, XML-RPC, RSS. What logo would your super-hero wear? What kind of a shield? Maybe your super-hero would look like a Buddha, with a big belly and a relaxed grin? Maybe your super-hero would be a beefed-up Jim Allchin or Bill Joy? What kind of weapon would each of those carry?  I have another question, on the eve of WWW10. What does all this have to do with the Web? That's a serious question. To me, the Web is about brain-dead simplicty at the expense of functionality. User interfaces of the 1980s were far richer, even in a limited environment like Hypercard, than the Web. The Web trades off all that richness for developer simplicity. The platform-specific RPC mechanisms were also much more complex. The Web cleans it all up. Apple: Introduction to Apple Events. Macintosh. Microsoft: Distributed Component Object Model. Windows. OMG: CORBA. Unix. Just for fun: Hyakugojyuuichi. Flash. Sjoerd Visscher: "Why didn't these simple solutions become popular before the web?" The first Inside Macintosh was simple and low-tech. Easy to program for. But as systems evolve they get more complex. Then a new generation comes along, forgets everything we once knew, and all of a sudden things are simple again. It's the breathwork of technology. Look at the stuff that gets left behind. Did you bet on one of these? You have to be careful where you make your investments, or learn the hard way, that sometimes things don't turn out as many think they will.
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© Copyright 1997-2005 Dave Winer. The picture at the top of the page may change from time to time. Previous graphics are archived. Previous/Next |
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