Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Dan Gillmor: "A book is a book." 

Invisiblog, anonymous weblog publishing. 

News.Com: "Microsoft's market leading browser has slipped slightly in popularity, a researcher says." 

CBS Marketwatch: Web's convention plans top TV Nets. 

LWN: Oracle patents content management systems. 

Starting to think about the DNC, and what we can do to make sure we (the bloggers covering the con) can get online to update our blogs. We've heard that there will be WiFi in parts of the hall, but just in case that falls through, it would be useful to have a backup plan. So I wonder if anyone reading this blog in Boston has a networked office within walking distance of the Fleet Center who would be willing to let us come and go, if we need a place to get online? 

I just booked my flight into Boston for the DNC. Now that is really weird. What city should I choose to fly from? It'll be easy for me to get in and out of NY no matter where I am the week after next. I still may go to California for the blogging conference, but I'm leaning towards driving south to Florida and back in time for the convention. I'm going to look at locating in three places for the next year: Florida, New Mexico, and California. The first two are the two battleground states that I think I'd like to spend a year in. I've already spent a lot of time in northeast Florida, and I know I'd like it, it's where my uncle lived for 25 years. I've not spent a lot of time in New Mexico, but it sure looks lovely, and it's got good skiing (in Taos and in nearby Colorado), and it's inexpensive, and it's got massage schools, which I'm leaning towards, because I want to get into shape in the next year. I also need a good place for programming. If I land in California, it'll probably either be in Berkeley or Santa Cruz, for the same reasons I like New Mexico. It's more expensive, but I know a lot more people in Calif. On the other hand, I can't say I like the software atmosphere in Calif. Still not a lot of emphasis on technology, mostly on get-rich-quick corner-cuts, which is fine, but it's not what I like to do, or be around. Still dreaming of Europe in the back of my mind.  

Ed Cone: "Elizabeth Edwards drops by the blog..." 

Today's audio blog post is about formats and functionality.  

It doesn't take much time to see the mistake in Tim Bray's logic, but it does take some courage to say it out loud, because it means the Thought Police are sure to come down on you like ten tons of wet blankets. First, Tim, in the last paragraph, you mean "apple" not "atom." But that's the trivial mistake, the really big one is the idea that any substantial portion of the content of the Web is going to convert to XML. One has to assume that if it hasn't happened after six years, there must be a good reason it hasn't (yes there are reasons to do it, but not reasons that make sense to most of the millions of people who have learned HTML). HTML has frozen in its 1996 form, right around the time the standards gurus took over. If the alterative is N more years of stagnation, all of a sudden <marquee> starts looking pretty good, and <canvas>, with or without the colon (it's easier without) is just awesome, users will understand and appreciate it. Finally, the Safari-Mozilla-Opera guys are doing it the right way, reusing Microsoft's innovations where they exist.