Flex Builder on Linux!

To all Linux users:

Sorry man. It took us a while but we get it. We have announced Flex Builder on Linux. It took a while but it is here.

Unlike Mac and Windows though, Flex Builder Linux is a plugin-only version of the Flex Builder.

Call to action:

The Flex Builder for Linux is going out *way* earlier than we would normally release a product in its maturity cycle. The early release is done to provide you the opportunity to provide us with your feedback and let us know your priorities for additional features.

Flex Builder for Linux Download:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flex/flexbuilder_linux/

Adobe Developer Connection launches

On Friday, Adobe launched the Adobe Developer Connection. Take a look at the new ADC and sign up to start using the updated developer site and new developer program. (If you are already in the MAX introNetwork, then all your information will be copied over to the new ADC introNetwork.)

The ADC is a portal for anyone building web, desktop, and mobile applications using Adobe technology. It provides technical articles, samples, code, and a forum for developers to interact with each other.


More details on ADC are here.

After you check it out, let us know what you think at the ADC feedback forum.

MAX 2007 Blog - Day 1

Today is the pre-event day at MAX 2007 in Chicago. I chose Bob Bailey's LiveCycle ES course. Bob is one of the brightest trainers we have and should not be missed. The session is well attended and we have approximately a full room (almost one person for every computer)



I have built a small AIR application for anyone interested in checking out who's blogging on MAX. It can be downloaded here. The source code is available to anyone upon request - just email me dnickull (at) adobe-dot-com. NOTE: When you download this, you may have to go to http://labs.adobe.com and get and install the AIR installer. You may also have to rename *.zip to *.air to run the installer (Vista might change it to *.zip).

Service Component Architecture? I am a HUGE fan!

The OASIS work on Service Component Architecture really fills an important niche in the pragmatic side of SOA. It is probably the most concrete and pragmatic work for companies to use when taking real steps towards SOA nirvana. SCA is composed of a set of specifications that are very closely aligned with and build on the OASIS Reference Model for SOA.

Imagine this scenario. Your CTO/CIO comes back from some conference and blurts out, "We have to do SOA. All the cool companies are doing SOA!" As an architect/developer the question looms: "What does this really mean?. Sure you can use the abstract Reference Model as a basis for an intelligent conversation on SOA but organizations really need something more concrete to take steps in the real world.

SCA is your answer. The work, originally from the Open SOA Alliance, is now under the auspices of OASIS. SCA is a set of related specifications which describe a model for building applications and systems using a SOA. It is based on business functions being provided as a series of services, which are assembled together to create solutions that serve a particular business need. SCA describes how services are based on a set of related business functions on two levels, one abstract of the actual binding. This is highly advantageous in order to preserve the lexicon of service definitions independent of the specific bindings used.

SCA extends and complements prior approaches to implementing services. Extensions include a programming model for building applications and systems based on open standards such as Web services as well as specific programming languages. The models should be highly effective for business stakeholders and technical stakeholder to align and describe services at various levels of abstraction including their purpose, interfaces and capabilities.

It's important to note that SCA is actually expressed as a group of related specifications, ranging in levels of abstraction from mid-level models to concrete bindings to several specific programming languages (Java and C++ were first).

Adobe has recently joined this effort within OASIS. The work is very relevant to our service oriented platform (LiveCycle Enterprise Suite or LC ES) architecture. In fact, many of the core tenets of SCA assembly have been inherent in LiveCycle ES's design for a while. We use many concepts similar to the service descriptions within the registry-repository component of LiveCycle ES. This allows people to use tools like the LiveCycle Designer and Workbench to assemble services into functional processes and aggregate applications.

I am looking forward to participating in this great work done by IBM, BEA, Oracle, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Red Hat, SAP, TIBCO and many others.

Adobe MAX 2007 is now SOLD OUT!

My colleague Ted Patrick (ATE) was put in charge of MAX this year to get it more in alignment with developers, architects and other technical personalities. Ted is a rabid over-achiever who strikes me as the type of person who has probably never failed at any job. His mandate was to grow the MAX event from around 3,000 attendees by ten percent.

Today he sent an internal email that indicates the seemingly impossible has happened:

We shut down registration last night for MAX due to high number of attendees and our ability to deliver the conference.

First time MAX has "SOLD OUT"!

Ted :)

We are officially sold out. Ted rules! For those of you lucky enough to have registered in advance, this year's gonna rawk!! OMG!! Really, really rock!

For those who did not get in this year, I've already started a wish list for MAX 2008 here. Next year there are several things people want:

1. An earlier call for papers
2. Hold the conference on the east or west coast. Maybe we should alternate?
3. More external speakers
4. More technical sessions
5. No marketing fluff

I've waited 31 years for this

The Canadian dollar is now worth more than the US Dollar. While some have stated that this is primarily due to the fiscal irresponsibility of the current US government, it is also partially due to the strength of the Canadian economy. Should true Republicans be up in arms and have reason to change things? Perhaps, but looking back at the last 31 years, it is actually not bad having a weaker currency. Here are my top predictions for the US and Canada in terms of changes over this new status quo.

1. I think the US will benefit from a weaker dollar in the short and medium terms by keeping some blue collar and other manufacturing related jobs at home. If the US dollar weakens further, it could really help aid the US in terms of foreign orders for the manufacturing sector.

2. The Canadian economy will likely suffer as North American companies with the ability to take advantage of short term fluctuations will likely move manufacturing resources into the US. Canada will likely retain some core natural resource related industries, however processing will likely move south. This is not really bad IMO - it is the real time working of a global economy. Canada built up a good manufacturing sector when it had a weak dollar compared to the US. If this reverses, it should benefit both countries.

3. Pulling out of the war in Iraq will be very desirable for the next US administration. Regardless of Democrat or Republican politics, the economy and relative value of the US dollar will likely be a hot topic in the next 24 months. Luxuries like wars will be also on the table in Canada as mounting costs of our troop presence in Afghanistan also weigh into the national budget debates.

4. Bush is done! He has financially been the most irresponsible president in US history IMO. Forget about morals, he has truly taken a great nation and bankrupted it. Energy costs are at an all time high and the average American still does not have guaranteed health care. America is a great country but it needs to have a good leader. There are about 269,000 or so people in the US I think can do a better job of it than the current leader. Someone please step up and do this.

5. Both Canada and the US will need to work together to maintain competitiveness against the emerging financial superpowers. As globalization is upon us, we must put our petty differences aside and look towards the global stage and figure out how we fit in.

6. The software sector will continue to be profitable, however vendors will have to adjust their strategies to account for disparity in currencies. Currently, the Adobe stock has stayed strong if you live and breathe US dollars. If you are a Canadian shareholder (like me) you have lost 60% of your investments in 3 years on currency issues. Luckily, Adobe is very strong and has doubled in terms of base price leaving us ahead of the game. Nevertheless, foreign investment into Silicon Valley startups might dwindle amid concerns of the weakening US dollar.

SOA Anti-Patterns: Service Composition and Composite Applications!

FACT: Service Composition is not SOA. It is an anti-pattern of SOA. The same goes for Composite Applications.

I feel like I should have titled this post “The Emperor has no clothes: Part 16” as I have seemingly made a career by challenging the status quo. This post may be a bit of a rant but make sure you read it before passing judgment.

The SOA community has once again used poor judgment in terms of coining titles for aspects of SOA, namely Service Composition and Composite Applications. If these are truly built on an SOA infrastructure, most of them are in fact Service Aggregations and Aggregate Applications. Let me explain where the terms come from and what they really mean.

Composition and Aggregation are both types of Binary Relationships. They are also both specializations of the “whole-part” pattern, a pattern in which a whole “thing” has parts. In both cases, the Whole (in this case the so called Composite Applications and Service Compositions) rely and cannot exist without the Part(s) (the services). There are very subtle yet concrete differences between how Composition and Aggregation work though. The main difference is that in aggregation, the parts can exist without the whole. Wikipedia discusses aggregation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Object_composition#Aggregation):

“Aggregation differs from ordinary composition in that it does not imply ownership. In composition, when the owning object is destroyed, so are the contained objects. In aggregation, this is not necessarily true”

Composition (as defined by UML) is a special type of relationship where the part and the whole are inextricably linked. In short, the Whole IS MADE UP OF one or more Parts. If the Whole does not exist, neither can the Parts and their life cycle is tied directly to the life cycle of the Whole. The UML composition relationship is depicted below.



Aggregation is a different animal. In an aggregate binary relationship, the Parts may exist without the Whole and be used by more than one “thing”. The Whole CANNOT BE MADE UP OF the Parts. The UML aggregation relationship is depicted below.



Aggregation is akin to how services are utilized within an SOA environment. Services are not contained within the service consumer, services are independent entities within an SOA environment and “consumed” by the consumer. Services can therefore exist without the consumer being present, the opposite of a composition binary relationship. In fact, both services and consumers are usually considered first class entities within an SOA environment as commonly depicted amongst the SOA community. The UML relationship can be depicted below. Note this one is abstract of any stereotype such as <> or <> but these could be added. Consider this more of an existentialist binary relationship.



Given one of the core goals of SOA is the ability to “re-purpose” services amongst several consumers, it would be highly illogical (and an “anti-pattern” of SOA) to tie a service’s life cycle to one single consumer and to constrain that service to exist only within the consumer. That is in effect the pattern SOA strives to avoid. Note that once again, I have changed terms slightly. The term “re-purposed” has been used instead of “re-used”. Services that are re-used only by one consumer do not tend to offer huge advantages other than reducing dependencies and creating agility buy cleanly decoupling the consumer from the core functionality offered via the service.

Business Process Management (BPM), Service Aggregation and Aggregate Software Applications are all specialized types of service consumers. In all three cases they consume services but are not made out of services. The services exist without the consumer.

I am not confident that the industry will change but if you think this makes sense, please take a pledge to start at least making this distinction.

Adobe MAX 2007 is LiveCycle's breakout year.

Anyone who uses Adobe LiveCycle should definitely consider this year's MAX as a primary place to be in 2007. We have worked hard on making almost 4 full days of content available for the enterprise track and have lined up great sessions and speakers. This is ground zero for anyone who considers themselves a LiveCycle developer. Please also check out the discount available via the Google LiveCycle Developers list.

Organizing a track at MAX is hard. I now have 1163 emails in my MAX 2007 folder and already almost 100 in my Adobe MAX 2008 folder. Thanks to Charlton Barreto the Enterprise and Collaboration track is on track.

Yes - we are maxed out. Puns intended....

Convergence - Web 2.0::Television 2.0

Today is an important milestone in the journey to converge digital media streaming through the Internet. Adobe announced it upgraded its Flash Player with support for the H.264 video-encoding standard and improved audio-compression technology. The changes are astounding! Don't believe me, click on the screen below to experience it. You may have to download the new player first.



Code named "Moviestar," the Flash Player upgrade permits the playback of video encoded using the same standard deployed in Blu-ray and HD DVD high-definition video players for increased compression without quality degradation. It is currently available in beta as a free download, and the final version is expected this fall.

What this means:

Full-screen, TV broadcast quality images over the Internet. It really has to be experienced to be believed.

Canadian National Cycling Team needs your help!

As a former professional cyclist who raced for Canada at the World Championships and a world cup veteran of 8 years, I found a very troubling email in my inbox today. Chris Colbeck, a good friend, formidable cycling opponent and now coach of our national team sent out a plea for funding. It seems that our own national cycling body has disgracefully cut all funding from the downhill racing discipline while giving more funding to the Cross Country riders. Chris is not one to sit by while the world turns and has created a national organization to help get funding.

Not only is this move by the Canadian Federation a disgusting slap in the face to one of the largest contingents of mountain bike racers and cyclists in general, it seems to contravene the mandate of UCI, the world's governing organization. The UCI constitution clearly states in Article 3:

"The UCI will carry out its activities in compliance with the principles of: a) equality between all the members and all the athletes, licence-holders and officials, without racial, political, religious, or other discrimination".

To me, this implies equality in funding. Factoring in an adjustment for numbers, this still means we should be getting funding for all disciplines at some level, not putting all our money towards one form of the sport.

The Constitution also goes on to state in Article 6:

"As members, the federations shall comply with the Constitution and Regulations of the UCI, as well as with all decisions taken in accordance therewith. Likewise, they shall have the Constitution, Regulations and decisions of the UCI complied with by all persons concerned.
2. The Regulations of the UCI shall be incorporated in the corresponding regulations of the federations."

This implies that the Canadian organization should incorporate the equality, across not only discipline but gender and other considerations.

Downhill Mountain Bike racers have never fared well with respect to funding. At the 1996 World Championships, we were given used national team jerseys to wear, some of which had to be returned. We paid all our own expenses with the exception of Andrew Shandro, being the #1 seed based on being national champion. Our Dual Slalom squad was totally neglected despite having several top 50 finishes in world cup qualifying (myself included).

The news release is pasted below. I want to urge anyone reading this to please do what you can to help Chris help our 2007 national downhill squad and whatever country you come from, please consider helping to make an athletes dream come true. Representing your country at the world championships or Olympics is the highest honor any athlete can have. To have this taken away by a short sighted lack of funding is horrible.

Media Release August 16, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

National Downhill Cycling Foundation of Canada “NDCFC”
&
2007 Canadian National DH Cycling Team

www.NDCFCanada.com / www.NDCFCanada.ca

HEADLINE: National DH Cycling Team making history!

NDCFC and the 2007 National DH cycling team is making history this month!

The team is facing the reality of having no funding! Canadian Cycling Association will offer no direct funding to the Downhill Cycling discipline which is directly inline with the levels of funding received by Sport Canada.

With 10 members on the National DH Team and no funding, manager/coach Chris Colbeck and the athletes have come up with a way to help themselves and the future of the sport! All are trying to travel to the biggest event of the year, the 2007 World Mountain Bike Championships in Fort William, Scotland September 8/9.

Chris Colbeck manager/coach of the 2007 National DH cycling team and former member himself is heading up the National Downhill Cycling Foundation of Canada “NDCFC”. “I will not sit back and watch the athletes struggle year after year after year financially! It paralyzes the future growth of the sport” We have organized a major fundraiser in Vancouver, BC to help the athletes.

For more information please visit our web site or contact Chris Colbeck directly.

Contact Name:
Chris Colbeck
NDCFC President/Founder
National DH Cycling Team Manager
Mobile: 604-932-0809
Ccolbeck@telus.net
PO Box 960 Whistler, BC. V0N1B0 Canada

Has Wikipedia been Hijacked?

I have become concerned over the last few years of the growing tendency for Wikipedia to censor or delete information that they alone determine is irrelevant. I have always been a fan of Wikipedia in general, but I feel that someone needs to stand up and state clearly that the Emperor has no clothes. Wikipedia is a volunteer driven organization with many good editors. However there appears to be vast discrepancies regarding content. Lately, there have been incidents where editors seem to be acting like dictators. I feel compelled to write becaues of the latest series of incidents that has been brought to my attention, all detailed below with references. I encourage you to read these and contribute to this conversation.

On the Ontolog Forum, I recently conversed with and traded email with a scientist by the name of Jon Awbrey. I decided to look up his name on Google to see what other articles he might have available on the subjects of Computational Intelligence and Ontology/Semantics. I found this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jon_Awbrey

For those of you who do not know Jon, he is a respected member of Ontology circles and has been very active in several groups. He has a long history of useful contributions in a remarkably contentious domain of knowledge. Jon has made numerous contributions to Wikipedia including a lot of information about Charles Peirce. I read Wikipedia's Ban Policy which is well worded and written with seemingly good intent. Wikipedia also seems to be fairly transparent (albeit somewhat cryptic) in their rationale for the ban and publishes the conversations. What I really don't understand is how the politics work.

Sadly, this is not the only incident. Last year my friend Sim Simeonov built an entry for "Social Commerce" which was a challenge because an Internet Explorer crash lost his information (who saw that coming?). Sim's thoughts on Social Commerce are fantastic and worthy of reading by anyone attempting to understand Web 2.0. Sadly, the Wikipedia page was deleted. Sim writes:

"Update: Well, despite the fact that to my knowledge at least 5-6 people contributed to the page and the content was starting to look pretty good, we weren’t able to defeat the Wikipedia bots–they auto-deleted the page, probably due to lack of references. Hard to have references to a new concept… It didn’t help that during that period I had to do a lot of travel and so had limited time to contribute. How about this–put some content in comments to this post and then I’ll try again early next year."

It appears that bots were not the only ones to delete his page. Mailer Diablo, a known Wikipedia editor, apparently deleted the Wikipedia Social Commerce page as described here:

14:52, 13 December 2006 Mailer diablo (Talk | contribs) deleted "Social commerce" (Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Social commerce)

It is interesting to note that the German page for Social Commerce still exists.

I don't know who Mailer Diablo is but other users have had issues with him including a non-profit organization trying to keep the Wikipedia entry for "Camp Mendocino". Mailer Diablo deleted the page and wouldn't even give the courtesy of replying to the email asking for clarification. The contributor also offered to change the article to meet guidelines. The conversation is public here:

*********************REQUEST***********************

Please undelete "Camp Mendocino"

Hi!

I didn't get an answer to this, so I will try again.

You can also find this in your archives:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Mailer_diablo/Archive_%CE%B7

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Chiefcoolbreeze

Hello,
If possible, I would like to see the article "Camp Mendocino" undeleted.

Excerpt from deletion notice:

22:22, 15 January 2007 Mailer diablo (Talk | contribs) deleted "Camp Mendocino"
(Proposed deletion expiring after 5 days, 9/1/2007)

I'm not sure why it was deleted. Camp Mendocino belongs to a non profit organization, is very traditional, and has existed since the 1930s. If the article requires changes, please let me know.

Thank you in advance.

User:Chiefcoolbreeze

*********************END RQUEST******************

Another good friend of mine, Dick Hardt, had to struggle to save his Wikipedia page. One of the concerns was around "notability" however as user Lori P writes to Wikipedia:

"Not sure why "notability" would be a concern. Dick passes your "google test", with over 160,000 references to him.)".

I too have had run-ins with Wikipedia. Matt MacKenzie and I have derived an Architectural Patterns metamodel from the gang of fours work and updated it to speak to business users as well as to add more details for developers. It comes up #1 in Google for the search term "Architectural Patterns Metamodel" as evidence of its popular use. When listed on the Patterns page (one simple line noting it's existence so people needing a template could download and use it), it was quickly deleted by someone from Wikipedia. I complained and suggested they at least read it. The editor who deleted the line item had no clue as to the contents or usefulness of the template to those who architect, design and develop software.

Conclusions?

In all fairness, it is obviously a hard job to try and keep Wikipedia as a source of fact despite the fact there are valid, opposing opinions. Surely someone who doesn't know Dick or care might think he is not worthy but anyone using Perl considers him an icon. Those who live at Camp Mendocino might have trouble reconciling the fact Wikipedia does not think they exist with their reality. This unfortunately happens at the expense of knowledge for the rest of us.

Wikipedia editors do need to be *very* careful. I am very concerned over the apparent trend to censor information based on the decision of a few individuals. I favor a wider approach and a community that can keep itself in check. I am concerned that the people making these decisions do not have the necessary level of intellect to make the judgment calls on the items they are editing too. Who will contradict Sim's theories on Social Commerce?

We all need to be a bit more vigilant and run to the aid of those who need our help to maintain their Wikipedia pages.

Thoughts? Anyone else think Wikipedia is being hijacked?

Semaphore Publicly Solved

The Adobe Semaphore riddle, subject of many previous posts and community speculation, has been solved by a non-Adobe person as reported today here. Thank you to everyone who contributed ideas back to this blog previously and read the hints and clues.

Vancouver RIA/Flex Camp

The Vancouver RIA Camp is filling up. We have now added a code camp to the schedule. Here is a video of a similar event in San Francisco (above). The schedule is below.

Last day to pre-register for MAX 2007

Anyone interested in going should note that tomorrow is the last day for early bird registration for MAX 2007. You can still register for the discounted price of $1095. Prices increase to $1295 Friday night at midnight PT.

Disclaimer:
I'm not trying to sell you anything, just save you money if you are going.

Adobe MAX 2008

Adobe MAX 2007 has not yet happened but it will on Sept 30-Oct 3. So why a blog post about Adobe MAX 2008? Simple - I am interested in your opinions on what we should be thinking about now for this event. Here are some questions for MAX 2008:

1. What should we add that is not present for Adobe MAX 2007?

2. Which speakers/sessions would you like to see more of at MAX 2008? (Choices = technical, marketing, demos, roadmaps, other....)

3. What venue would you like to see MAX at in North America (Examples - San Francisco, Whistler, New York)?

4. What types of parties, extracurricular activities would you like to see more of? (For example - a side ski trip if in Whistler)?

Please also ping me by email dnickull at adobe dot com to let me know of any other ideas you have for MAX 2008.

Adobe MAX 2007 gets Ryan Stewart

Ryan Stewart has just become another one of our evangelist team members to speak at MAX 2007 in Chicago. Ryan will be tackling a cool subject of manipulating PDF within Adobe AIR (formerly Apollo) applications. The abstract is:

Leveraging PDF within Adobe AIR Applications
Skill: Intermediate

Adobe AIR is a cross-OS runtime that allows developers to leverage their existing web development skills (Flash, Flex, HTML,PDF, JavaScript, Ajax, etc.) to build rich Internet applications that can be deployed to the desktop. This session will examine how Adobe AIR applications can utilize PDF content alongside HTML and Flash. We will explore how PDF content can be interacted with using Adobe AIR functionality, integration, and scripting.

At Adobe MAX 2007, there are so many cool additions now that it is hard to track all of them. Be sure to catch the latest breaking news by subscribing to the MAX list. See you there!

Silverlight on Mac OS X? It truly sucks!

Today I had my second experience with Microsoft's Silverlight on a Macintosh. The first experience resulted in a hung app which is okay given it was billed as early alpha. This time I decided to be a bit more picky as this version of Silverlight is billed as a Release Candidate. For the record, this is a MacBook Pro (latest edition) with 2.4 GHz processors (Intel Core 2 Duo) with 4 GB of RAM. I was looking at some old email and found some spam inviting me to a MS doo here in Vancouver. It invited me to go to a certain URL.

"Look forward to seeing you there – to RVSP, simply reply to this email or visit the Event page at the Experience Expression homepage"

Upon reaching the URL, I was asked to enter and given a choice of a Silverlight site or non-Silverlight. I wanted to really see Silverlight in action so I chose the Silverlight option. When I tried to reach the site, the first warning I got was this:



I figured that the "OK" button was safe to hit but upon hitting it, the alert disappeared along with all the content behind the page. I guess I was supposed to remember it from just looking or something??? The page now looked like this:



Even reloading the page did not return me to a place where I could get the URL. Luckily, I had made a copy of the screen because I was going to document a different problem I had experienced on another Mac in my house. I hit the URL and was redirected to a page at http://www.microsoft.com/SILVERLIGHT/default_ns.aspx After a few guesses I found the page to download their Release Candidate 1 (RC).

The install went well and reported success:



When I went back to the page to view the invitation to the event, I was redirected to the page saying I needed to install Microsoft Silverlight -- despite the fact I had just installed it.



Okay. Starting to get annoyed. Now I want to point out that I work for Adobe, largely viewed as the company owning the biggest rival to Silverlight (called Flash). Some people have wrongly compared Adobe AIR to Silverlight (Silverlight is akin to Flash but does not really have anywhere near the advanced capabilities of AIR). Despite my employment, I like to think I can be pragmatic and appreciate good software. After all, I do use Entourage, Word, and PowerPoint regularly. My counterparts at Microsoft also use PDF, Acrobat, and Photoshop. Anyways, read on and try the links yourself if you want to make your own judgment.

I clicked on the "Get Silverlight" button to try again and was directed to another page with a really bad graphic (presumably Silverlight-based). If this is an example of Silverlight's graphics, I am sticking with Flash and Flex.



Cautiously, I reloaded the page and this time it recognized that I had installed Silverlight. There was even a link to get back to previous page.



Now this seems reasonable yet a bit weird. If you can recognize the Silverlight player is installed, why send the user running around? I clicked on "Return to the previous page" only to find a page that tells me I need to install Silverlight to view it. Further attempts to view the content result in getting redirected to this page:




Okay - time to give up. I am trying hard to be balanced about this and to not push a "pick Adobe Flash vs. Microsoft Silverlight" battle, but the inescapable conclusion is that my experience was suboptimal. I hope someone from Microsoft reads this and can maybe offer some help as to what happened and a way to work around it.

After two attempts, the score is Silverlight 2, Me 0. I actually do really want to see it. Does that mean I have to go back to (cough) Win-D'ohs?

Anyone else have luck with the URLs?

Web 2.0 - time for social networks to grow up, open up

Slashdot is having yet another raving discussion/permathread about social networking's lack of openness. This is a topic I have strong feelings about. The rise of microformats has made this type of thing possible but perhaps it is time for a more formal standards process to build interfaces between places such as Facebook, MySpace, Mix2r, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc.

What advantages would such a standard have?

First, it would allow any new social network startup to get enough information to seed their idea based on opt-in choices being made by those who own their data.

Second, an API would allow people who use the networks to quickly change their profile across multiple networks, instead of having to manually change things as is done today. An example of this is MySpace and Mix2r. When you put out a new mix of music, you have to manually upload it to both sites. If there was a standardized API for updating audio that could syndicate out to all control points, it would ease the maintenance of social networks.

Third, it would help with the synchronized web pattern. If a site is out of sync, it would be able to detect the error and notify the data owner to ask if they want it updated to reflect changes on other sites.

These are just a few examples of the architectural advantages of being open. Yes - owners of walled gardens do not often want to build gates, but they really need to get over themselves and start looking at what the community wants.

OOXML Marketeers notch another "win"

As reported by Andy Updegrove "Massachusetts announced today that Ecma 376, the name given to the Microsoft Office Open XML formats following their adoption by Ecma, would be acceptable for use by the Executive Agencies of the Commonwealth." To be frank, this surprises me as Massachusetts appeared to be vehemently anti-Microsoft two years ago.

This news has been picked up on Slashdot where the discussion is raging over the Massachusetts open standards initiative failing.

What really surprises me is that this announcement comes despite uncertainty over the status of Ecma 376 within ISO/IEC JTC1. While OOXML has been approved as an Ecma standard, the push to fast-track it through ISO has bumped into negative reactions. South Africa voted against it 13-4 with Spain rejecting it by a narrower margin. There have been predictions that the fast-track status of OOXML will fail as P-members from various countries voice concern over it legitimacy.

My take? I have reservations. First, in the scope of mutable office formats for documents, there already is an open standard -- namely Open Document Format, a standard developed by OASIS. Why do we need another one? Second, there are major concerns with respect to patents in OOXML and Microsoft's apparent failure to guarantee not to sue. The failure to promise not to sue is not necessarily a show stopper by itself as it might be prudent for a company to reserve such a right in case a competitor tries to mutate the format. However, given Microsoft's past activity, this has a few people nervous.

I would love to see someone else implement OOXML and share their experiences to see if there are problems with it. To me, this will be the true litmus test.

Electric Dirt Bike

As a former dirt bike rider, I was highly skeptical of Zero Motorcycles' claim of high performance, light weight, and fun. Nevertheless, the technology of a lithium-ion battery powered electric dirt bike seems to be sufficiently advanced, especially when compared to how far the gas powered motorbikes had evolved in a similar place in their maturity cycle.

Anyways, don't just trust me - take a look for yourself: