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September 22, 2003

More Stupid Internet things...

SCO suing IBM and trying to scare everyone else. So there's this linux company, Caldera, and they buy the remants of this x86 Unix Company, SCO and rename themselves. Having bought enough of SCO to have legal claim to IP and to become the 2nd party in several legal agreements, they now as seen as nothing more than leaches in the barrell. The conspiracy theorists (go team!) hint at the futility of their legal fight for their own benefit, but everyone seems to think that the only real outcome is the FUD created. The best conspiracy follows those who would benefit from the loss in faith of linux: strange bedfellows indeed: Microsoft and Sun Microsystems (2 SCO licensees!).

My favorite spin comes from the zealots like ESR (Eric Raymond) who not only throw logical well reasoned attacks, but the occasional emotion ad hominem insult. It basically chides SCO, claiming that they do not want to reveal the "infringing source" in Linux, because they don't want it out (even if it exist). Because they know that the "community" will remove it faster then the press release hits the street. And then their FUD is gone....

Posted by KnipSter at 09:36 PM | Comments (0)

Stupid Internet Things

Well, I don't like the look of empty space on this page, so I've decided to comment on some crap that I think is dumb. And perhaps show a little opinion at the same time.

Verisign beginning wildcard resolution in the .net and .com TLDs. This sort of behavior by an organization entrusted with coordinating this important part of the internet. An organization/company is chosen to register names and map them to numbers. Part of the specification is to allow for wildcards or hierarchical resolution. The names evolve to an abstract sort of property as claims are staked in the frontier of the internet. So these people decide to take every hostname that doesn't exist and resolve it to their own address, where they can helpfully try and help you find the domain you were looking for. Of course this presupposes that I typed in a hostname to be looked up. Of course the eyes and benefits of clients looking at their webpage outweigh the costs of validating invalid hosts that are made up by spammers.

Posted by KnipSter at 09:20 PM | Comments (0)

September 21, 2003

Hangin' Out...

I'm laying in my hammock, waiting for my family to return. Maura, Kieran, Lori, Morgan & Nora hit the "Dog" show in Greenwich like last year. Its a strange mixture of guilt and reality that I sit here feeling. I ran an errand over to the condo (can't wait for the closing) and touched up the yard a little (pruning, raking, sweeping).

When I asked Maura what her favorite kind of puppy was, she said "a big one?" and when I asked what else, said she said "a black one..." I think she would have liked Excalibear. But it will be at least a few more years before we consider a dog in the family. We're still getting used to kids!

Posted by KnipSter at 01:06 PM | Comments (1)

September 15, 2003

Signed some contracts...

Knock on wood, we signed contracts to sell the condo. When we bought it (and our current house), I felt like we paid slightly too much, and now I feel like we aren't getting paid quite enough... I guess thats just how it goes, but the conspiracy theorist in me makes me pause. I'm sure that some extra complication will occur, but I'm ready to be done with it.

Posted by KnipSter at 07:28 PM | Comments (0)

September 07, 2003

Housing Prices...

So here's a surreal article. The main individual interviewed used to live up the street from me, growing up in South Burlington. The article is surreal in a number of ways:

Free Market is a challenge. A lot of people want to live in "South Burlington," and so the prices climb. People must be able to afford it, but which people? Is it the retirees gouging the next generation, or are there that many more "high income" jobs in "South Burlington."

How do you make more "high income" jobs? Unions (Teachers, Police, etc..)?
Are we all playing a giant game of "Prisoner's Dilemma"? Settling for less than we deserve and ruining it for everyone else? Can one really win the economic game? or is it luck? or is it skill?

Maybe its not what you know, but who you know...

Posted by KnipSter at 02:50 PM | Comments (1)

September 03, 2003

A little light on content...

This time of year is a little crazy at work. The end of the fiscal year is upon us and we take the time to set goals, review our work and ourselves, and look forward to what next month brings with regards to how we are compensated.

As an "engineer" (or "developer", if you prefer), I sometimes wish for an equation that is spelled out that determines how much one is worth to the organization. It would make optimizing that much easier. Fortunately there are jobs out there that offer this property. For example, my friend Chris used to assemble "String Art" kits for a fixed price per kit. That is certainly measurable.

Unfortunately, my chosen profession (does anyone know what its called?), combines the tangible (writing, testing, releasing, deploying software) with the intangible (deciphering what people want, designing how it should be, planning for the future, responding to the crisis, building relationships). Its a tough balance, and it seems that the intangible plays a significant part of the balance.

As a "manager", I fear the times where I explain these and related views. I fear those times because, invariably, they are just my views. What makes them any more or less valid? My "tremendous" experience? Sigh... Then I realize that its my responsibility to provide as much information and context as I can. Its the individuals responsibilty to cease their own career. My views are the best I can offer, and people are free to take them however they like, my bias and all.

I wonder what they are thinking ....

Posted by KnipSter at 08:21 AM | Comments (0)