Google to enter browser war?
The Register and Slashdot are reporting that Google may be releasing their own web browser.
To be honest I think they should stick with what they’re best at or at least wait to see if GMail is a success.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is back on Radio 4.
The two new series are based on the books Life, The Universe And Everything; So Long And Thanks For All The Fish and Mostly Harmless.
If you’re quick you can catch them using their ‘Listen again’ service. Each episode is up for 7 days after it’s been broadcast.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers/index.shtml.
Squeak!
Just bought myself a new mouse.
Microsoft make far and away the best mice so I opted for their new mouse by designer Phillipe Stark.
See http://www.opticalmousebystarck.com for more details.
ASCII Conversion Tool
I’ve always had a fascination with ASCII art.
The stuff at http://www.asciimation.co.nz/ is incredible.
I was therefore quite pleased when PC Plus ran a lab to demonstrate how to convert graphical images to ASCII art.
I’ve modified the code to allow you to load any image and choose between Greyscale and Colour. You can use the tool here.
I’ve had to remove support for GIF images since my ISPs PHP config won’t read them.
If you notice any bugs or have any suggestions on how it can be improved do let me know.
WARNING: Large images can take a significant amount of time to render.
Weekend away
I spent the weekend at a cottage near Wenlock Edge. Lovely peaceful surroundings with some spectacular views.
Shropshire has to be one of the most picturesque counties in the country.
Sybase vs Open Source Databases
Sybase have just released a free version of its ASE Database for Linux.
This is good news and a step in the right direction, however, it’s prohibitive licencing means its more likely to be used for development than production environments. Hardly a threat to PostgreSQL or MySQL.
This is a shame, Talis moved to PostgreSQL for one of our products because Sybase just wasn’t commercially viable (i.e. too expensive).
David Jacobson Sybase Marketing Manager said that
Although the Sybase licence is being given away for free, it is only for internal use by "employees, agents and contractors". The database cannot be sold or distributed in any way to third parties without Sybase’s prior written consent, and cannot be used for "timesharing, rental or service bureau purposes," indicating that a Web site built on the free version of the database would be out of the question.
Looks like we’re sticking to PostgreSQL then.
Read more here.
Things should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler
Albert Einstein was onto something when he said that, but why it should be used to explain what Service Orientated Architecture means is something of a mystery.
See http://webservices.xml.com/pub/a/ws/2003/09/30/soa.html to see what I mean.
Still, this somewhat lengthy article helped me gain a better understanding of SOA and I guess that’s what matters.
"Artificial dependencies should be reduced to the minimum but real dependencies should not be altered."
Doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.
Longhorn announcement
Microsoft has announced some major changes to the Longhorn roadmap. This has been on the cards for sometime and it was obvious that they wouldn’t deliver everything in the timescale.
It’ll be interesting to see how WinFS develops over the next few years.
See the following article from ZDNet for more details.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/windows/0,39020396,39165023,00.htm
The following quote from Mike Cherry wins the award for stating the bleeding obvious.
Cherry said that in reality, there is no way to speed up a project other than to cut features. In modern software development, increasing the number of people on a project alone won’t make enough of a difference. "It’s not just a problem for Microsoft. It’s a problem for software development in general."
Microsoft Code Names
If you get as confused as me by the plethora of Project Code Names used by Microsoft this handy list should be useful.
http://bink.nu/Default.aspx?tabindex=4&tabid=8
Why they can’t use meaningful names is beyond me.
Having said that Talis are as bad, so far we have
Gatekeeper, Capio, Demeter, Venice, Gestio, Keystone and Hermes.
Answers on a postcard to the usual address…
XP Service Pack 2 – Security Review
See the following article from The Register for a no nonsense break down of what you really gain from installing XP Service Pack 2.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/02/winxpsp2_security_review/
I think the last sentence sums it up.
"Unfortunately, Windows remains a quite dangerous system to connect to the Internet, and users are still very much on their own in terms of security solutions."
Never mind, keep trying won’t you Bill?
