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June 30, 2004
Rendezvous me
Apple releases a preview version of Rendezvous for Windows. So monkeys, when can we expect SubEthaEdit on Bill's platform? Now wouldn't that be cool!
Posted by Matthew at 10:52 PM
Orixo blog launched
This evening, we launched the Orixo weblog.
Posted by Matthew at 08:10 PM
What's in a name?
Ok, so we all know that the Safari 2.0 will support RSS - but notice something? Even though Safari will support both RSS and Atom - they are calling it Safari RSS.
Posted by Matthew at 03:46 PM
White Knights and Open Source business models
Last week, I spoke about the way we "do" Open Source at the Open Source workshop of a large German consulting company. After my talk, another - more product oriented - company spoke and constantly referred to us (somewhat jokingly) as the "white knights" of Open Source - and was sceptical as to how we are actually able to make a business model from the way we do things.
So, let me explain our philosophy. When we (a mid-sized German software company) started thinking about Open Source back in 1999, we thought long and hard about how we could use Open Source in our day-to-day projects and yet at the same time retain a good relationship with the community. For a company that was - to that point - 100% a build-custom-solutions-for-customers-and-get-paid firm, this was quite a revolutionary idea.
And yet I was able to convince my boss that "cherry-picking" Open Source solutions would only help us in the short-term and not in the long-term. So from the beginning we got involved with the community. This wasn't easy in the beginning - because the community itself was sceptical about our interests and the company was sceptical as to whether this would really work. It took a couple of years for us to actually find the correct balance between what we had to do (i.e. earn money) and what we wanted to do (i.e. support the communities). We had to learn how the communities function, what was expected of us, how we could help and we had to understand that - as a company - you need to give up (to some extent) your initial business interests to become commercially successful with Open Source.
Now, this probably sounds stupid, so let me elaborate. As a company we are prepared to invest a portion of time so that members of my team can work on the Open Source project - without there being a specific customer project in the background. They basically help other people (perhaps even competitors) fix bugs or get going with the Open Source solution. Doing so actually helps us to find new customers and extend our business reach using Open Source.
Giving up our own interests has actually proved to be more commercially rewarding than we expected. "Getting" Open Source is not easy - especially for a commercially oriented software company - and it doesn't happen overnight. To be called the "white knights" of Open Source is actually very flattering. Because it shows that many other companies don't yet understand the revolution that is happening around them.
Posted by Matthew at 09:42 AM
June 29, 2004
Recreating social networks
Next year will see the 20 year anniversary of my (German) high-school graduation. Frank and I went to the same school and we're both in this picture somewhere.
About a week or so ago Frank decided to get things going for a reunion party next year and wondered about the best way of getting everybody "onboard". He has been maintaining a list of addresses on the web for a while now - but information was sparse and people hadn't really been keeping in touch. After some thought (setup a wiki, how about a weblog), Frank decided to set up a simple mailing list hosted on his own server (easy sign-up, no registration needed). Those pupils who were known to have an email address were signed up and the first "welcome" email was sent.
It was like putting a spark to dry wood. Within the past week emails have been flying around the network, people on the network have passed on the news to other pupils they were in contact with and these have also signed up. We have all been catching up on what everyone else is now doing, exchanging pictures ("wow - where's the hair gone?") and discussing ideas for the meet-up next year.
Within the space of about a week, and using just email, we have been able to re-form - to already quite a large extent - a social network that existed 20 years ago.
Posted by Matthew at 11:08 PM
May the Schwartz be with you
Over at Sun, Jonathan Schwartz starts his blog. It will be interesting to see if it lasts longer than JavaOne. Actually I don't really see the point of a CEO blog. Why not? Well, a CEO is really too tied to the company he/she runs to actually be able to give us a cluetrain view on what goes on inside. I can imagine (as has been pointed out before) that any CEO will carefully, very carefully, think about what to write on a weblog. CEOs get enough chances to speak out to their customers and the media. It's the people behind the scenes that need a voice.
Posted by Matthew at 10:52 PM
June 28, 2004
Mac OSX v 10.4 Tiger preview
Steve Jobs previewed the upcoming version of Mac OSX "Tiger" today at WWDC. Looks like some interesting features in the tank.
Update: At least one of the revealed features (Dashboard) has the Net astir today.
More Update: It looks like the Apple Dashboard feature may be more than "just" a copy of Konfabulator after all. Still a sour taste though.
Posted by Matthew at 09:49 PM
June 27, 2004
ApacheCon Europe 2005 (hopefully)
Ok, so the last time this sort of thing was blogged it turned out to be slightly wrong. But this time I think we have it nailed. It looks as though my friends from S&S Verlag will be producing ApacheCon Europe 2005. Fingers crossed.
Posted by Matthew at 07:46 PM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2004
Writing fever
Another reason for the currently slow weblog here is the fact that I seem to have signed up to write about 9 articles over the next 4 months (on my own and with Carsten). Also, I am currently discussing 2 book projects with a German publisher. Oh yes, and then there's work and family....
Posted by Matthew at 07:35 PM | Comments (0)
Open Source week
This is a slow weblog week for me as I'm out and about for the most of the time. Interestingly enough, most of this week's traveling has to do with talking to customers, nearly customers and other interested parties :-) about Open Source. After a pretty slow first half of the year it looks as though things are picking up again - which is good news. One company I'm visiting is a large consulting company and they are holding a 2 day Open Source seminar "out in the country" for their consultants. A large part of the presentations will be focussing on the community aspects of Open Source. Now that is really cool news as it shows that "the Open Source way" is becoming a major business model for commercial entities. After all it's the consultants that then go into the major companies and spread the word. Seed planting.
Posted by Matthew at 07:32 PM | Comments (0)
June 22, 2004
Corporate blogging
A couple of articles on how blogging is affecting the corporate world. Blogging with the Boss's Blessing and Why Executive Blogging is Harder.
Posted by Matthew at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2004
Easy Commerce
I've been having fun with the new iTunes store this week, not that I've purchased a lot (just an album and a tune), but it's fun to browse through the store and see what's available. The great thing though, is how easy it is to purchase and "get" the music. Search, look, click. It's yours. Yes I turned that warning dialog off ("you are about to buy.."). As with Amazon, the ease of use is one of the points that guarantees success.
Posted by Matthew at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2004
atompub formed
The IETF announced the formation of an Atom working group (atompub) in the IETF Applications Area.
Posted by Matthew at 09:19 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2004
Go to the balcony
When I look closely at the goings-on between the syndication communities I sometimes wonder whether the time has come for us, the RSS users and developers of RSS tools, to unite in showing how we feel about all this.
I have no doubt that each community has valid points for his or her position, but (as I've said before) we're no longer interested. Move on.. We (I hope I'm speaking for at least one other person) have already grasped the way syndication formats and their components can change the way we use the Net for the better. We, the users, think that the ongoing fights between the two communities are damaging syndication formats in a way that may seriously delay the adoption of these formats by the Net at large and lead to widespread unrest and uncertainty. My suggestion to you is to meet together somewhere personally (you all spend so much time and energy verbally punching each other via the Net) and work together on making us, the users, happy. Life's too short.
So, while you're bitching over encoded HTML in description tags, take a moment and go to the balcony and take a look down on all this. And Get Past No. Please.
Posted by Matthew at 09:27 PM | Comments (1)
Reputation capital
Matt Asay writes an excellent article on the real implications of Open Source. If you are in the software business - this is one article you will want to print out and spread widely. (Via Steve).
Posted by Matthew at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)
Thawing RSS 2.0?
I'm currently writing an article on RSS and Atom for a German magazine and as such I've been paying more attention to the ongoing discussions on both formats. This afternoon - this caught my eye. Hmmm.
Later: In light of the comments to this posting - my reference to the word "thawing" had only to do with the fact that as I understand it the RSS 2.0 spec is currently "frozen". So any clarification or example could be seen as an indication that perhaps the 2.0 spec may move forward. So go away and bitch over on your sites please :-).
Posted by Matthew at 04:46 PM | Comments (7)
When weblogs die
A couple of days ago, Dave Winer closed down weblogs.com, the free weblog hosting service. David Weinberger has details. Weblogs.com was home to a few thousand weblogs and the shutdown has rocked the weblog world. Not so much for the reasons Dave gave (many of which are understandable) - but more for the fact that there was no prior warning. Rescue operations have however commenced.
Posted by Matthew at 01:42 PM | Comments (0)
Clueful licensing
Personally I think Six Apart have been pretty clueful in listening to their customers. The updated MT licensing seems to reflect most of the criticism I've read.
Posted by Matthew at 12:19 PM | Comments (1)
Kids go blogging
Kids as young as 7 are getting into blogs, according to this report. Now only if someone would write a blog-client for the Nintendo GameBoy.
Posted by Matthew at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)
June 15, 2004
OSCOM.4 and ApacheCon Europe 2004
A joint ApacheCon Europen OSCOM conference will take place in Zürich from September 29th to October 1st. This is the first time an ApacheCon will be held in Europe, so it will be interesting to see how things work out.
Later: That's what you get for blogging announcements that are then corrected. Even though the original announcement actually read as though they were holding ApacheCon Europe parallel to OSCOM, they're not. Anyway, seems there will be Apache oriented tracks in parallel with OSCOM but that this is not ApacheCon Europe 2004!.
And of course it wouldn't have been the first ApacheCon in Europe anyway - duh. Thanks Ugo.
Posted by Matthew at 02:30 PM | Comments (1)
iTunes Music Store in Europe
As expected, Apple launched their iTunes Music Store in Germany, UK and France today. Prices for songs in Germany are 0.99 €.
Posted by Matthew at 01:43 PM | Comments (2)
Straight talk
ZDNet UK has some tips for discussions with Microsoft about Linux (via Steve).
Posted by Matthew at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2004
I'm outta here
Some interesting discussions going on about how "gone" is "gone". HTTP Status code 410 means: The requested resource is no longer available at the server and no forwarding address is known. This condition is expected to be considered permanent.. Kudos to the first person to put "410" on their gravestone.
Posted by Matthew at 08:53 PM | Comments (2)
The spamming continues
The flood of German right-wing spam continues this week. What really makes me mad is the use of real email-addresses (such as mine) to send the email. So all the bounced email is coming back to me and I'm sure I'm making a lot of friends out there. But just to repeat what Stefan has written - it's not from me.
Posted by Matthew at 08:24 PM | Comments (0)
Missing Open Source Projects
I originally saw this presentation by Robert M. "r0ml" Lefkowitz last year during OSCON 2003. Frank pointed me to an online version.
Posted by Matthew at 11:56 AM | Comments (1)
Phil Collins Concert review
Ok, so I missed probably the best match at Euro2004, what do I care - we lost. Actually I had the scores and infos sent via SMS to my mobile during the concert so I could sneak it out and take a look. Anyway here is my one-line concert review:
We're both getting old - and it shows.
Posted by Matthew at 10:49 AM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2004
In the air tonight...
Phil Collins speaks out in a discussion forum on the web (via Carsten). I'm taking my wife (see, I didn't put RoboWife) to see Phil in Hannover tomorrow (yeah, I'll miss the England-France match - but hey that's what married life is about Matt). Now I've seen Phil a few times in the last 20 years (both in Genesis and solo concerts) and I guess his music is as much a part of my "growing up" as a "Brit" in Germany as the German band BAP. Unfortunately I wasn't impressed with much of Phil's latest work, so going to the concert tomorrow didn't fill me with that much glee. However, having seen his message in the forum and seeing the set-list for the current concerts, I think that maybe it'll be ok. But please Phil, that's enough then.
His message in the forum also shows (again) how much power Internet "communities" now have. Just like product vendors, pop-stars cannot ignore the discussions taking place on the Net. They would do well to join in the discussions at an early stage. However this also means that they have to learn about the Net and understand why this "media" is becoming more important than a printed concert review in the local paper.
Posted by Matthew at 11:04 PM | Comments (0)
Euro 2004
The next few weeks will see most of Europe watching and talking about soccer in one way or the other. Euro 2004 just got underway in Portugal.
Posted by Matthew at 06:12 PM | Comments (0)
Situative companies
If you've read Clay Shirky's post on situative software, then take a look at 24HDC, a situative dot com that's currently trying to establish a company and a product within 24 hours at the WOS conference in Berlin. They are planning on IPO'ing the whole thing off this evening on eBay. You can even be an early investor in the company. (via Joi)
Now while this may be a more tongue-in-cheek art project/company thing - the idea really bares thinking about. Setting up and tearing down companies (in Germany) is really a long drawn-out process with lots of paperwork. Fortunately however, it is possible to set up UK companies (Ltds) in Germany too. And the process is a lot easier (you can even do it online).
So it doesn't seem that far-fetched to get a group of people together who want to build a situative piece of software, set up a company around that software and then sell the whole thing off if it is a success. If not then just de-register the company and try something else.
Later: I am now heavily invested in 24HDC :-). So is Steve!
Posted by Matthew at 01:01 PM | Comments (1)
June 10, 2004
Right-wing spammers strike
Right-wing spammers have begun massively spamming email addresses today. They are using spoofed "from" addresses and bounced spam is being returned to their "originators" (including me). The content of the spam email is a link to right-wing websites and propaganda.
Posted by Matthew at 02:21 PM | Comments (0)
June 09, 2004
Hiring a network
If you're out there looking for a job and sending in your cv to would-be employers - make a point of emphasizing the networks you belong to. As our world becomes more and more interconnected, the more we use social software and partake in various communities, think about how much value this could be to your potential employer. Point that out when you go for the interview. How many readers does your weblog have? How many links do you have on LinkedIn. How many potential business links can you generate from your Orkut contacts. Who's in the channels on #irc you regularly hang out on (no not those channels - the techie ones). How many IM contacts are in your buddy list and how might they help the company you want to join. One day, this will be more important than the number of programming languages you speak fluently. It actually already is.
Posted by Matthew at 07:33 PM | Comments (3)
June 08, 2004
IBM webloggers
Here. With monthly RSS feeds. Hmmm... Well at least they're getting there. (via Bertrand). Also: Spot the missing IBM A-Blogger :-).
Posted by Matthew at 07:03 PM | Comments (0)
Excalibur explained
Leo Simmons gives an overview of another new Apache project - Excalibur (via Erik). Actually, the code originates from the Avalon project and contains some of the basic plumbing at the heart of Cocoon.
Posted by Matthew at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)
Venus crossing
No-one alive on Earth this morning has seen for themselves what is about to happen - in around 2 1/2 hours. Venus will cross the face of the sun for the first time in 122 years. Let's hope it doesn't get sunburn.
Later: And thanks to an old floppy disk I have lying around I can actually see it happening.
Posted by Matthew at 05:14 AM | Comments (0)
Apple releases AirPort Express
In a very quiet move, Apple releases AirPort Express, a pocket sized WiFi base station that will also let you stream your music to your home stereo.
Later: Here's more. Also - with WWDC coming up at the end of June - what else do they have up their sleeve? And how hard would it be to add a video-out to that little device?
Posted by Matthew at 05:07 AM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2004
Microsoft tried to take over SAP
The German online news service is reporting this evening, that Microsoft tried to take over the German software company SAP recently. According to the report, Microsoft approached SAP at the end of last year for talks about a merger. But Microsoft ended those talks this Spring due to complications in the actual details of such a merger. Bloomberg has this in English.
Much of SAPs current strategy is actually based on J2EE (as noted here), so I would have liked to be a fly on the wall during those talks. That being said, a move like this would have made (would make) absolute sense for Microsoft. I'm sure this isn't the end of this story.
It's interesting to note, although based purely on personal observation, that over the past years SAP has remained pretty visible - regardless of hypes or shifts in technology. Of course this is largely due to the way they dominate their market (read: lock-in customers if you will) - but at the same time, and highlighted by the recent emphasis on Web technology in their products, it shows that they have some smart thinkers.
Posted by Matthew at 09:31 PM | Comments (1)
New Cocoon PMC chair
The votes are in and Sylvain has been elected new Cocoon PMC chair. Congratulations!
Posted by Matthew at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2004
Mobile champagne
Fellow Mobitopian Matt is getting married today - congratulations! The Mobitopians got together (virtually) over the last week and in the end we organized for a bottle of bubbles to be sent to him.
Martin has more on the saga of actually sending him the champagne.
Posted by Matthew at 09:46 AM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2004
German iTunes store in June?
Rumors are appearing that the start of the Apple iTunes store in Germany may only be days away.
Posted by Matthew at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2004
Getting to Yes
Community building is sometimes not an easy task and the community can get into all sorts of problems when trying to organise things such as votes. The great thing about Apache communities is the fact that the project (in this case the Cocoon PMC) is quite free in the way if goes about things. However this also means we make mistakes - and hopefully we learn from them. I recommend reading this book as I think it gives you some good tips on reaching joint goals without killing one another in the negotiation process. And in the end that is what it's all about - reaching a common goal.
In the end, I voted for myself to be the next Cocoon PMC chair. This may sound totally big-headed - and it was a decision I really made after a long thought - but I think I could do the job and if I think I could do it then it would be wrong not to vote for myself I guess. Someone else will win though and this will be a great result for the community, whatever the outcome.
Posted by Matthew at 05:18 PM | Comments (0)
JSR-170 seen in public
The JSR 170 Java Content API specification is available for public review.
Posted by Matthew at 03:21 PM | Comments (0)
June 02, 2004
Hacking the Touran
Fellow owners of the Volkswagen mini-van "Touran" have discovered that pressing combinations of buttons that control the air-condition can summon up lots of different information about the car. Stuff such as the current car speed, engine temperature and temperature inside the car. Hidden features also allow switching between Centigrade and Fahrenheit and synchronous controlling of driver and passenger air-condition temperatures.
The forum, maintained by car owners - and not by Volkswagen themselves - is a great cluetrain source of information on the (relatively new) car. Lots of high-tech stuff is discussed there - things like the current software version in the automobiles electronics system ("I need to get my dealer to flash me a new version"). There's even an FAQ that car owners take with them to the car dealers and point out stuff that they have never heard of.
Posted by Matthew at 10:47 PM | Comments (0)
Geronimo moving up
Yesterday, the ASF announced that the Apache J2EE effort "Geronimo" has moved out of the incubation process and become a top-level project.
Posted by Matthew at 05:43 PM | Comments (0)
My iPod wishlist
With today's pointer to the increased capacity of future iPods - here is my wishlist for the next one. In fact it's not so much of a wishlist as a "this will surely happen". Synching your photos from iPhoto to the iPod - just as easily as the music from iTunes - and then being able to display them on the new iPod color screen. I don't really need video playback - but to be able to take all my digital images with me and then be able to "show them around" on the iPod would really rock. Of course video playback would be cool too....
Posted by Matthew at 05:06 PM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2004
Cheap drug tricks
An item on tonight's German TVs Plusminus program shows just how our "free" markets work. The prices for medicine been constantly going up here and people are increasingly having to pay more for their prescription drugs when buying from the local pharmacy. Online pharmacies such as Doc Morris offer medicine at cheaper prices than the pharmacy around the corner and patients are trying to save money by buying online. With varying success. It turns out that the drug wholesalers are not supplying Doc Morris with certain prescription medicine but in fact boycotting them. There are 19 drug wholesalers in Germany and they supply 21.000 pharmacies with medicine - but none of them will supply the online pharmacist Doc Morris. This boycott (some would call it a cartel) means that people have no alternative but to pay the higher prices.
Posted by Matthew at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)
Java-Source.Net
A directory of Open Source Java projects (via Erik, the LinkGod)
Posted by Matthew at 02:24 PM | Comments (1)
Blog-A-Newspaper
In my information overloaded life, there is a regular time period where I would like to catch up with the overnight information flood, but can't. It's that time between waking up and getting to work (or starting up my computer at home). Also known as "breakfast". Now, the newspaper lying on my doorstep is old news to us information junkies - and it's way to thick for a quick glance. So, here is what I want:
I leave my computer on overnight (which I do anyway) and 10 minutes before I normally get up, a programm (let's call it a newsreader) generates and prints out a one or two page "newspaper" with a condensed overview of my configured feeds. So when I stumble bleary-eyed through the house in the morning, I can grab it from the printer and it's short enough for me to glance through while munching on my toast.
I think Feedster offers something like this with their Feedpapers, but to me this seems more suited to be an extension to my newsreader (NetNewsWire). And I want the output to be in paper form!
Posted by Matthew at 01:09 PM | Comments (0)
Wikis in Business Week
Another sign Wikis are becoming mainstream in corporate land (via Rick).
Posted by Matthew at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)
HP to support JBoss and MySQL
Reuters is reporting that HP will announce certification and support for JBoss and MySQL on its servers later today.
Posted by Matthew at 08:31 AM | Comments (0)