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August 30, 2004
English is easy..
..as this poem shows. After Frank asked for help on "getting it right", Andrew has a go.
Posted by Matthew at 10:22 PM
Cocoon GetTogether
And on the subject of upcoming conferences - check out who's coming to the Cocoon GetTogether in Ghent and take a look at who will be attending the Hackathon a day before the GT.
Posted by Matthew at 07:29 PM
ApacheCon US 2004 Agenda
The agenda for the US ApacheCon is up.
Posted by Matthew at 09:35 AM
August 27, 2004
RSS and corporate information infrastructure
An article by Greg Hughes on how "gathering" information via RSS feeds saves him a large amount of time. Here's a quote worth commenting on:
RSS has made me a more productive, and therefore (in theory ) more valuable employee where I work. A huge part of my job is staying up to date with the latest technology, trends and issues.
Sounds great - but here's a question: How many corporate information infrastructures out there already have RSS/Atom aggregation as part of the big picture? My bet is that most of them still don't and the RSS driven employee is still using her own aggregator or a centralized system like Bloglines to read those feeds. So what happens to that information once you've read it? Is it piped into the corporate information system to be spread amongst the rest of the company or does it just "disappear"? From a corporate side there is still a lot to be done to bring both worlds together. And the software vendors like Microsoft and IBM need to integrate that functionality (both aggregating and reading) into their line of products before RSS and Atom become corporate mainstream. But it'll happen.
Posted by Matthew at 01:43 PM
August 26, 2004
Welcome Autumn - Not
Over the past couple of days the weather has turned into what will soon become Autumn (Fall for you people on the Other Side). Lots of rain and dark clouds, make me want to dig a hole, get in and wait until Spring. "And we wish he would" I hear you cry, yeah right. On the other hand I could start making a Christmas gadget wish list....hmm...now there's a thought.
Posted by Matthew at 09:12 PM
August 24, 2004
Marathon postponed
Heavy hearted, I have decided not to run in the upcoming Berlin marathon. Basically I haven't been able to extend the length of my long runs beyond around 20 Kms. And that just isn't enough. So, I will of course be donating the money kind people sent (unless they want it back) and hopefully be more successful next year.
Posted by Matthew at 09:33 PM
Rumble in the jungle
Over on his blog, Josh Ledgard (the program manager for visual studio) is looking for feedback on which projects Microsoft should open source next.
Ears down to the track and you can hear the train a'coming....
Posted by Matthew at 07:29 PM
First EuroFoo baby...sort of
Inspired by talks and discussions at EuroFoo, Diego releases atomflow. atomflow is a package of Java components that allow you to store and retrieve data that has been converted to the Atom format. The idea behind the components hinges around the notion that if you store your data in a syndication format like Atom then you have the power and ease of use of Weblogs, feeds and aggregators at your fingertips. In his talk on "Better living through RSS", Ben showed how he uses feeds and an aggregator to basically organize all the information he needs or is interested in. Information that is either already in a syndication format or that is transformed into either RSS or Atom.
Posted by Matthew at 09:10 AM
August 23, 2004
Whose pipe is it anyway?
The two sessions by the folks from the BBC at EuroFoo were really thought-provoking (check my blog from Saturday for details). I have no idea whether other broadcasting companies are doing the same sort of work - but to me the BBC seems to be pouring a lot of time and money into working out - just where broadcasting is heading. In her session, Paula Ledieu talked about how the Internet is changing the way the BBC operates and how effort is now going into things such as the creative archive, using the Net as the broadcast "pipe" and how the Beeb is even doing games R&D. The BBC and games? The mind boggles.
I would really like to know whether license funded broadcasting companies in Germany (ARD, ZDF) are doing the same sort of stuff - are they? And if not - why not?
Posted by Matthew at 08:46 PM
EuroFoo summary
After my first day back at work I feel I am now able to give a short summary of EuroFoo. In all it was a great experience listening to all the bright people talk about the interesting stuff they do. It certainly started some neurons firing in my brain thinking about what it is I want to "get into" in the future. Unfortunately the typical problem with conferences (or similar venues) is that you can only be in one place at a time - and so miss a good portion of the sessions. Another problem is actually getting to talk to all the interesting people there. You often see someone you want to speak to while speaking to someone else. When you've finished your chat the other person has gone or is engaged in some other deep discussion. Anyway I got to talk to quite a few people I've only emailed before - so I can put a face to an email address now :-).
Some improvements I would suggest for the next EuroFoo are: More sessions that are set up as "discussions/brainstorming", more "geeky sessions", sessions in the evenings too and a perhaps slightly longer venue. The setting at the University of Twente was ideal (for me especially - only 2 hours away).
It was a weekend well spent!
Posted by Matthew at 07:13 PM
August 22, 2004
EuroFoo pictures
I just uploaded a few shots from EuroFoo up to Flickr. Also, Sebastian took a picture of DJ chatting to me before a session - very relaxed.
Posted by Matthew at 09:38 PM
EuroFoo - Day 2
Good morning from Enschede. After a short night (there was a very loud student party on the campus that kept me awake), we're gathering for the morning sessions. Due to a flakey WLAN connection I may not be able to post this until I get back.
Another quote heard this morning "this is my first O'Reilly conference where there hasn't been a book stand where you can buy O'Reilly books". Actually this shows the perhaps greatest misconception about Foo here when I compare it to the notes on the US version. This isn't supposed to be a conference. But one of the main criticisms is that it has still been to much like a conference. I talked to some of the O'Reilly people and they were remarking that the subjects at the US Foo camp are in general "more geeky".
First session for me is "Social software in the enterprise". Allan Engelhardt is talking about the various aspects of "selling" social software tools to commercial entities and how to bring the different schools of thought (KM, social networks, collaboration, integration) into line with the philosophy behind social software. Some bullet points from his talk: Knowledge is a social construct not just content to be managed. Collaboration is not natural. One way to enable enterprise integration is to create feeds and then use tools such as aggregators and discovery style technology (e.g. Technorati).
Now listening to Tim O'Reilly talk about book sales and how this reflects on technology trends. O'Reilly gets their data from BookScan which registers all the book sales in the US. In the programming book section, Java and VB are losing market share, while C# and PHP are increasing their share. C++/C is very steady over the last year. In the database section, MySQL an SQL server books are gaining in share while Oracle is losing. Comparing Java to .Net reveals that between the 3rd and 4th quarter, .Net books overtook Java and now .Net has around 52% and Java 48%. The total share of Open Source programming languages is 70% compared to proprietary programming languages. The Mac has 3% market share - but in books has 25%.
EuroFoo finished for me with a discussion on commercial adoption of Open Source. Only a few people came (it was the last slot unfortunately) but the discussion was good and it made a nice ending to a very interesting weekend. I'm going to let it all sink in and then post some pictures and additional thoughts later.
Posted by Matthew at 09:59 AM
August 21, 2004
EuroFoo - Day - 1 - Afternoon
Afternoon sessions start in a minute. After a sandwich lunch and "socializing" (which, at EuroFoo means sitting in groups with an open laptop),
I've picked a session Paula Ledieu on the "BBC creative archive". The creative archive is a public service initiative to open up the video and audio archive of the BBC. The most difficult aspect of the whole thing is the "rights" question. The BBC does not actually own all the content it wants to open up. It only owns the storage tape, the shelf space etc. There are mechanisms in place to rebroadcast the stuff on TV or radio but things are not so easy when it comes to online distribution. The ultimate goal is not only allow viewing of the archived content but also that people can use it for their own ventures. But this represents a total shift in how the BBC (or any "broadcasting" corporation) thinks of its own role. The first piece of content is planned for release in October. Although Paula wouldn't say what that would be. She did however state that DRM will no be used to protect the content and that the BBC is working closely with Creative Commons.. A very interesting talk on the current state and future of broadcasting.
Nest session is "Opening up programme information for people to build stuff with". A talk by Matt Biddulph and Tom Coates on how the BBC is providing a way of accessing information about BBC radio programming (specifically Radio 3). The site has URLs that point to a specific programme and not to when it was broadcast (because of problems with repeats). The plan (not yet actually decided) is to extend this to all radio stations and also TV stations. Another goal is to build a repository of programming information around the actual programmes that can then be accessed. One of the visions is to provide an API (like Amazon) to the data. The problem being that the BBC does not have unique identifiers (like the book ISBN) for their radio programmes. In order to get participation from the audience they are planning on publishing an RDF file together with each HTML file. Then third parties can use the RDF file to build services around the BBC data. Other discussions currently ongoing are centering around providing RSS or iCal files for the data as well. However the BBC has to be careful about not actually harming already existing commercial ventures in these areas. The BBC is publicly funded by the UK government (via the license fees). Matt Biddulph showed a little offline Python programme that displays a 3 week RDF "mesh" of Radio 3 programmes (he's also working on a version for Series 60). I asked about a wider perspective (i.e. a European wide RDF model for broadcasting).
The past 2 BBC sessions were worth the drive here alone. Cool stuff.
Tim O'Reilly is up next talking about the "O'Reilly radar". A talk that he gave at OSCON and it's available on ITConversations.
My last session for the day is the "Lightning Talks" session. A collection of 11 short 5 minute talks on any subject really. For example, Piers Crawley is now singing a song... and using singing as an example for managing complexity. Next lightning talk is Gavin Starks speaking on "streaming from ex military soviet radio telescopes" (here). And many more.
Posted by Matthew at 02:14 PM
EuroFoo - White Knights
I've now scheduled my talk for tomorrow at 12. Hopefully someone will come. Basically the idea is to talk about my experience in commercial use of Open Source starting back in 1999 to today. Although I'm more interested in any discussion and comments.
Posted by Matthew at 12:44 PM
Enschede - Day 1 - Morning
I just arrived at EuroFoo - it only took me around 2 hours which was a lot quicker than expected. Everyone's having breakfast so I'm currently grabbing a coffee and watching the breakfast room fill up. Things start at 10:00.
Checking the schedule reveals that I need to clone myself. Quite a few sessions that interest me so I'm going to have a hard time choosing.
My first choice is "Better living through RSS". Ben Hammersley is talking about the various aspects of aggregation. He starts off by showing the more professional "user-centric" services such as Feedburner. Now on to other things you can use RSS/Atom for. Repetitive tasks (in programming), following logging/error messages, generating and following validation errors of say your XHTML web-pages. Using a service such as Dodgeit to generate RSS feeds from email or a script to generate Atom feed from say Gmail. Ben then moves on to how you may be able to embed HTML applications into an RSS feed. This spawns a discussion on whether this would really be a good thing to do and brings up a side talk on the security of RSS/Atom feeds. DJ has a nice quote "all programs extend until they can read mail". Matt Webb jumps in with an idea of creating multiple user feeds - and shows how this could be used for things such as online chess.
Now sitting in on a discussion on how O'Reilly may organize a European conference on Open Source next year. Although none of the details are set yet, the word is that there will definitely be a EuroOSCON next year. Yippee.
"Internet of ends" by Diego (fellow Mobitopian) is up next. He is talking about the problems of the Internet today and possible solutions.
Posted by Matthew at 09:03 AM
August 20, 2004
EuroFoo starts
EuroFoo, the European gathering of "interesting people" (or Friends of O'Reilly) has started in Enschede. I'll be heading over there tomorrow morning to see what's happening and hopefully have a fun couple of days. Meanwhile, you can follow the goings-on over on #eurofoo or here. DJ has already put up some pictures.
Posted by Matthew at 05:56 PM
August 19, 2004
Handelsblatt weblog
The online version of the German newspaper Handelsblatt now has a weblog. It looks as though they are planning more than one. So slowly, it looks as though the weblog virus is spreading to German language publications after all.
Posted by Matthew at 01:18 PM
August 18, 2004
Teleportation at a distance
Researchers at the University of Vienna have managed to show that quantum teleportation works in real world situations - such as a distance of 800 meters under the river Danube. Hmm.... Anyway, this is an important step to being able to use the "spooky action at a distance" properties of quantum entanglement in scenarios outside the laboratory. Start putting that cash aside for the first quantum computer on the block.
Posted by Matthew at 09:59 PM
Cocoon GetTogether - 2004 edition
Mark your calendars for the new release of the Cocoon GetTogether in Ghent, Belguim. Be there - or use Struts :-).
Posted by Matthew at 09:19 PM
August 17, 2004
Busy busy busy
All go this last vacation week, what with unpacking and winding down from the holiday, checking my work email (now there's a mistake in itself) - and getting ready for EuroFoo in Enschede. I'll be leaving at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning and driving the 180 Kms as quickly as possible (umm.. allowed) to get there before I miss too much of the fun by not being there Friday evening.
Posted by Matthew at 06:00 PM
Syndication article out
Before I left for sunny Denmark, I wrote an article on Atom and RSS for the German IT monthly - Javamagazin. Grab a copy at your local vendor.
Posted by Matthew at 05:57 PM
August 15, 2004
One hour portal
Some details of this year's W-Jax conference (Munich, 15-18th November) are up. Carsten and I will be focussing on portal themes there this year. Carsten will be doing a session on portal standards (JSR168, WSRP etc.) and together we will be doing a "One hour portal" session. We basically will be showing how easy it is to build a corporate portal using just Cocoon and a text editor. Well, that's the plan anyway :-).
Posted by Matthew at 03:12 PM
August 14, 2004
The long run
A major part of my marathon training is the long run. The long run is where you try and extend your endurance so that your body gets used to being on the go for several hours. Something that I have come to understand is that the long run is not just a run. You don't just put your running gear on and go for it.
The long run is a quest. It needs to be prepared in advance. At least the day before, you will start planning on when to run. After all you will be gone for around 3 hours and that needs to be integrated into the general plans for the day. 3 hours running means planning your meals so that you don't eat to far ahead of the run (or you'll get really hungry after around an hour) or eat to close to the run (or your meal will come up during the run to say "hi" a few times). Drinking is even more important. You need to make sure you drink enough but stop about an hour before you run (for obvious reasons). During the past couple of weeks where the temperature was between 28 an 30 C I took some water with me. Which means carrying more weight etc. Of course running during those temperatures is not really recommended (your water supply will be empty after exactly half of the run - that's a law :-)) - but if that's how the quest planning turns out....
A 2 hour plus run is really really long. Boringly long. Terribly boringly long. You'll be cursing after the first 15 minutes when you realize you still have oh so long left. So you need distraction. Now normally the track you take won't exactly be full of distraction - so you need to supply your own. I switched from listening to music (the beat influenced my pace) to listening to spoken stuff (audio books etc.). Listening to spoken words means you have to concentrate more on and so the time passes ... somewhat ... quicker.
Finding a good track to run is really important. After all you don't want to end up in the middle of nowhere after 3 hours of running. So you'll be planning a sort of circular route that brings you close to home at the end of the run. Just make sure you take a mobile with you in case things don't go as planned and you collapse after 2 hours with still around 10 Kms to make it back. Also, make sure your pickup will be around when you call for help. (My wife took the kids to the beach - so it was tough luck and a long crawl back).
And in case you're wondering - my marathon training still isn't going very well (I'm way below the "plan") - but at least I'm learning "stuff" :-). Berlin is very much touch and go at the moment.
Posted by Matthew at 01:13 PM
Back
Two weeks of Danish sun, sand and hospitality are over, sadly. Normal programming will resume - shortly.
Posted by Matthew at 12:33 PM