Egg Blog

The Big Move

sakar — 2003-12-15T13:15:17+00:00

I have decided to do it. This will be the last entry I will post to this blog. The new blog is called Endless Words, and is available here.

The big advantage of the new system is that it now has much better support for the fact that I am using two languages. If you want to see only the english language posts, for example, you can do just that.

The new RSS feed is:

http://www.stelo.uklinux.net/blosxom.cgi/index.rss

I have posted some introductionary notes for your information, which goes into a bit more detail about how to separate the two languages.

Blosxom

sakar — 2003-12-13T12:37:58+00:00

I've been experimenting with Blosxom, another weblogging tool. I really like it because rather than storing the entries in a database, the weblog is simply created via the file hierarchy, so to add a new entry you just have to create a new file and put it in the correct directory. This is the solution to the problem I have been having of how to make Emacs the centre of my blogging experience. A further advantage is that I can easily backup and duplicate my blog, which will be great if I move to a new server.

So consider this advance warning...pending a few further experiments, I will very probably move my blog over to this new software. Unfortuantely, that will probably mean that the URL for the RSS feed will change. If that happens, I'll make sure I announce it with the new URL in the feed.

Fixed RSS feed

sakar — 2003-12-10T16:17:07+00:00

I changed the RSS feed so that it now shows the whole blog entry, including links, rather than just an unformatted (i.e. single paragraph, link-free) extract. I prefer to read other people's blogs this way, so it annoyed me that mine didn't do it. Now it does.

Free Software makes me hate paying

sakar — 2003-12-10T14:32:35+00:00

After being brought up on Free Software and its philosophy, I now find myself actually feeling guilty if I am tempted to pay for software. The little voice in my head (not the one that reminds that I have no money and can't afford it anyway, I succeeded in silencing that one a long time ago) chimes "All Software Should be Free!". However, on a number of occasions I have become dependant on some great pieces of software that I got for free. At other times I have become dependant on a great piece of closed source shareware. On both occasions I feel like the authors really deserve something for thier work and the fact that it is so useful to me. However, I have never contributed financially to the first three projects, but to the fourth I have (by purchasing a registered version). What's the difference? Certinaly not the program quality. No, the difference is that with (for example) AudioHijack, I have to pay to keep using it. Legally and technically (it stops working of a number of days). My moral watchdog flags up this kind of shareware as bad news, but at the same time, I love the program and don't mind paying for it (its not very expensive anyway).

I think the real solution is a compromise between the two. I have often thought there is simply not enough encouragement in the free software community to highlight the fact that the software is free as in speech, but not neccessarily as in beer. If I was encouraged to 'register' my copy of Mutt or Emacs or whatever, I think I would probably do so. However, if I was forced to register, I probably wouldn't have started using those programs in the first place because of my enthusiasm for the free software ethic. So perhaps the solution is simply a better promotion of the fact that these projects need funding, without any change to the license (you don't have to pay, its just nice if you do). This donation process could be assisted by the techniques in use by small shareware companies such as RegNet.

Having said that though, I realise that there is one major difference between a traditional and successful shareware product, and a GNU-style free one. That is the warranty. If you register a shareware program, you expect to have a certain level of after sales support, and more importantly, to have your payment be a form of guarentee that that support will be available. With a free software package however, while this support is usually available via discussion groups and your own DIY attitude (the source is available, after all), the project maintaners are rarely in a position to guarentee that support or its quality. For that reason, free software is almost always distributed with a no warranty disclaimer.

But does that have to be the case? There is currently a lot of buzz surrounding the fact that free software is currently poised to enter the mainstream, with great projects such as Gnome and OpenOffice. The current model seems to be that which gave RedHat its success: a group of geeks doing it for themselves create great software, then a commercial organisation with the required structure and management provides customer and support and takes in all the profit. Perhaps these organisations should be combined. Companies should be formed which create the traditional polished, boxed, high quality software that is found in your local PCWorld, but at the same time having it distributed by a liberal license (this is similar to what Apple have been doing with MacOSX, but the freedom is not extensive enough: it only covers the underlying foundations of the OS, not the entire shrinkwrapped package). The majority of buyers may not even be aware of this latter fact, but thier payment will guarentee that they get the kind of support they have come to expect from the software they buy. The free software faithful would be able to buy this software without sacrificing any of thier beliefs, while still getting the benefit of the kind of software that can be written when the programmers are getting paid for it and doing at as full time job. Those who genuinely cannot afford the product need not be left out, because they have a legal right to aquire it for free if they can find a source. However, people who can pay should be encouraged to do so. No more need for complicated student certification processes, it will all work on an honour system. I think that with a successful and popular product, the numbers and social pressure will make it work. But I could be wrong.

Boring

sakar — 2003-12-10T01:17:26+00:00

I was relieved to click on a link entitled "The Dullest Blog in the World" and find that it didn't lead to this one. At least they do it on purpose...

A couple of MeFi posts just made me laugh.

Coke enters online music industry

sakar — 2003-12-09T16:18:04+00:00

Us limeys have been patiently waiting for a strong contender to bring us Brit-centered legal online music á la the USA's iTunes. Who would have thought that the first company to give it a try would be Coca Cola?

Of course, the big question on everyone's lips is, what technology will be used to distribute the songs? More specifically, how restrictive will the DRM be, and will the system be multi-platform? Perhaps we are being naive even asking these questions, but for the time being, I'm prepared to give Coke the benefit of the doubt. I am looking forward to seeing what this project produces.

Esperanta Blogaro

sakar — 2003-12-05T12:06:48+00:00

La fekunda Ĝangalo lastatempe fondis novan projekton kiu tre interesas min: esperanta blogaro. Ŝajne, la teknologio kiun ili uzas ne estas tre rafinita, kaj pro tio la blogoj mem havas nematuran guston, tamen ĉiam gravas pri blogoj la enhavo, do ĝi esats plu atentinda. Ĝis nun mi ne sukcesis trovi RSS-ŝuton, espereble tio venos poste.

Esperanto-televido minacas alveni

sakar — 2003-11-30T17:16:26+00:00

La internacia televida projekto ITV prezentas kelkjan indikojn ke ĝi vivas. Oni eldonis prov-filmeton kiun oni nun povas spekti ĉe la ĉefa TTT-ejo.

Tamen, min tre malfeliĉigis lerni ke ili uzis " Windows Media Player'n". Mi ne sukcesis spekti ĝin per mia Makintoŝo, kvankam teorie mi ja havas tiun eblecon (mi ne scias kial ĝi ne funkcias). Espereble oni povas konvinki al ili uzi pli malferman sistemon.

Nanowrimo

sakar — 2003-11-27T13:40:47+00:00

The Radio 4 program You and Yours had a good piece on the the National Novel Writing Month this morning. The whole program is available (probably only until the next program is aired tomorrow morning) as a RealAudio stream from the You and Yours website.

I remember reading about the Nanorimo project at the beginning of the month, when the novel writing shenanigans began. It will be exciting to see the final outcome in the next few days.

CafeBlogging

sakar — 2003-11-21T13:04:36+00:00

I am blogging in the wild. Its quite a mesmorising experience. I've got a borrowed Zaurus in the BagelFactory at Canary Wharf. A few clicks and I'm away. The wonders of modern technology.

I think next time I'll bring my laptop though. Why don't they make PDAs with screens that are wide instead of long, so that you only have to scroll in one direction? The keyboard is working out well though.

The Matrix: Revolutions

sakar — 2003-11-09T11:11:21+00:00

Note: This post contains some mild spoilers, if you don't want to know anything about the story of the final film just yet, then you should probably read this post later.

I finally went to see the The Matrix: Revolutions yesterday. After reading a number of critical reviews of the film, I went in expecting to be disappointed. However, after leaving the theatre, I just kept asking myself, "What the hell were these reviewers on?" I cannot understand how this film could have been so universally slated, while I found it to be a superb climax to the trilogy.

One of the frequent complaints which I have heard is that it is dissapointing simply because it does not provide the same innovation that the first one did. However, I am unsure exactly what people who suggest that were expecting. The way I look at it, this film is merely the third chapter in the same story, and its aim is solely to present the events which occured following the previous two. The revelations around which the story is based were presented in detail and discussed in the first two installments; the job of the final chapter is to examine the effects of these revelations, and how they touch the lives of the human beings involved. There is a real feeling of progression across the trilogy: a sense of beginning, middle and end, with the end providing a feeling that something has been resolved. That is the recipe for an 'epic'. We are used to sequels which create a new story set in the same world as its predecessors; films which are related but ultimately stand up on thier own. I don't think that was the Wachowski brothers' goal with his series: I see the Matrix trilogy as a six-hour whole.

The most memorable scenes of the final film for me are those depicting the siege on Zion perpertrated by the robot hoards. It was a moving, and genuinely frightening, portrayal of hopeless warefare. Most prevelent was the determination of the lead charecters to survive and fight on despite the obvious realisation that they had little chance of victory. I could not help but equate this with some of the sadder chapters in human history (on an emotional level of course, I do not wish to undermine the memory of people's suffering by comparing it to an ephemeral science fiction film).

The fact of the matter is, that I left the cinema with a genuine feeling of satisfaction: I think this film duely completes the story, providing us with a sense of closure, and a feeling that we have really seen something happen. An event which streches right from 1999 to the present day. There will undoubtedly be more films in the Matrix series, which will most likely form a sequal in the traditional sense, a sequel to the inital trilogy. I'll look forward to these. Ultimately, however, everyone must make up thier own mind.

Meatrix

sakar — 2003-11-05T18:05:20+00:00

An interesting parody of The Matrix, with a moving political agenda. Makes you think, without being entirely unamusing.

Personally, I haven't eaten meat for around six years. I've been doing this for so long now, that it has ceased to represent an aggressive action but has become instead merely a passive habit. There are rare occasions when I see some horrible manifestation of the meat trade (such as the link which prompted this post) and think to myself how glad I am that I don't participate in it, but on the whole it's wider implications are something that I really don't think about.

If, when I had abandoned meat, I had passed into a totally meat-free existence, that is to say I was never again exposed to the notion of eating animal products, I can say with conviction that I would have never missed it. In no way do I feel that my life is missing something because I don't indulge my carnivorous tendencies. On the contrary, the thought of eating meat is in many ways repulsive after all this time. However, being vegeretarian, and by extension being the member of a minority, does have its inconveniences. Food and eating in general are concepts which are so integral to the human experience, that a signifant alteration of the way one experiences them must have an effect on one's life as a whole. So many cultural anchors are centered around food: hardly a week goes by when I don't meet a friend for a meal or have a hungover fry up after staying around someone's house. If I am the only vegetarian on such occasions, I become an outsider and am labelled as such by having to force people to choose a resteraunt which serves something I can eat, or having to wait outside the kebab shop while everyone else partakes in the ritual of post-club gorging because there is no meat-free option.

Those inconviences will never be enough to make me abandon vegetarianism: it's a habit that is too deeply ingrained in my make-up. However, it's the only thing that sometimes has the power to make me question it.

Literatura Mondo

sakar — 2003-10-31T10:09:21+00:00

Roel Haveman enretigis la duan numeron de Literatura Mondo antaŭ kelkaj tagoj. Tio ĉi estas laŭ mi tre grava ebleco konatĝi kun nia historio. Tamen legante la enkondukon al la unua numero, mi estas kortuŝita. En ĝi vere estas sentebla la esperego kaj timo kiujn oni investis en la revuon, kaj rigardante ĝin kun nia futura perspektivo, vidante ke esperanto ankoraŭ estas malgrava afero laŭ la monda politiko, mi ne povas ne tristeti.

Elliot Smith

sakar — 2003-10-28T14:57:12+00:00

Today, I found out that Elliot Smith has died. This came as a complete shock, and it is very sad news. Not only was I fan of his music, but I was also a fan of him: at least in the sense that someone who didn't know him personally can be anyway. Facts (or even speculation) about the events surrounding this sad occurance seem difficult to come by, and perhaps that is as it should be in these sensationalist times. However one thing seems certain: he was a man who was deeply unhappy, and that is a profound injustice. The one consolation is that he had so many fans, and that his grief in his life is now shared by many in his death.

Register monopoly article

sakar — 2003-10-26T12:24:22+00:00

The Register have a great article up (its old, but I've only just noticed it) about where Microsoft is, and the fact that Apple are trying to get there.

This line really made me laugh: "...Mac owners are collectively suffering from Stockholm Syndrome...", and I think of it all the time now when I see Apple discussions and promotional material.