It was great to hang out this week with Fellow Traveler, John Goetze (Denmark FLOSS advisor & biz school prof), for three days in Boston at IDEAlliance's XML 2007 conference. John, I hope you're home safely.
Heard about the interesting Mark Logic server.
Met Microsoft's Craig Kitterman & Vijay Rajagopalan; Vijay spoke about Microsoft's Identity initiative with Windows CardSpace and gives a credible (actually) representation of the document interop (I say this from seeing Office 2007 working for the first time and how the outside-the-menu integration of ODF and UOF filters might not jar the nerves of common users that same way it does us sensitive Microsoft competitors).
Had a few laughs with Craig -- about ourselves and each other -- and appreciate the cogent track on interop Microsoft assembled. Apart from some IBM XML presence on other tracks, ODF was entirely AWOL from the presentation ranks at this conference -- although we ran into ODF guys Rob Weir (IBM) & Svante Shubert (Sun) in the gallery.
Other highlights of Day One were Bob DuCharme's enthusiastic & clear presentation on XHTML 2 in the publishing context. Bob's a very good communicator.
Also Jens Erlandsen's talk was quite fascinating: "Developing XML Schema for Svenska Academiens Ordbok" on the schema requirements of organizing content elements for the Swedish Dictionary (equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary), a project (sponsored in the Swedish Academy -- the Nobel Prize people) that's over one hundred years old -- the First Edition is winding up in a few years time (then they will begin the Second Edition, presumably ;-).
As a Literature person by background I was interested and amused that the Swedes are using Citations in their dictionary entries: this is like Samuel Johnson used in his important dictionary of the English Language (1755) to stabilize and standardize usage by citing word references in Shakespeare, Dryden & others.
We caught Miguel de Icaza on several occasions: first attached to Microsoft's OOXML & ODF interop presentation and then later on "Binging Silverlight to Open Source" (through Mono). Miguel's enthusiasm for making software is unmistakable, as is his interest in making Linux successful.
Oddly, Miguel is a controversial figure because his Ximian team at Novell is doing two things that make Microsoft's life a little easier: Mono (an open source implementation of .Net framework using C#) and they are doing a C# mechanism to permit OOXML documents to run more smoothly on Linux.
I say 'oddly' because these guys are very committed to the practice of the open source methodologies and have a unique record of writing code, creating applications, and building a Linux desktop that is palatable to enterprise (GNOME, Evolution, F-Spot, SLED, for example). Their interest in writing code, in making GNU/Linux useful and their disinterest in software politics makes them insensitive to fears about proprietary dependencies and generally unsupportive of Free Software messaging ("Free Software" "GNU/Linux").
Even as a member of the Free Software Foundation, I support this, mindful of the compromises necessary to make widespread adoption possible (this is my opinion ... people are free to disagree and I encourage open discussion). Their work falls in the grey context (rather than the black & white) of reality. If Mono provides the bridge for .Net apps to run on Linux and their C# extensions of the OOXML Translator will permit Linux users to read and convert documents originating in Microsoft-Land, considering a Linux desktop without these capabilities reminds me of the old Linux desktop without Flash or media support that is not useful to the general population.
Please note: I did not say that these compromises are good for GNU/Linux the artifact; but that I see them as necessary for GNU/Linux's adoption. I did not say they are not dangerous (knowing as we do Microsoft's talent at Embrace-Extend-Extinguish). I did not say that you are paranoid for criticizing the Novell deal.
Fear is well-justified; but it is important to find support for our assertions. The wider array of choices of software today does mitigate my own fear a little -- though I remain afraid too. So far, the Novell-Microsoft deal -- while in legal detail it appears to compromise the GPL -- has in practice provided validation to GNU/Linux (Red Hat usage up, Ubuntu usage up, openSUSE usage up) and I struggle to find (good) evidence that the patent FUD (as serious as the problem of software patents is) has any effect in the minds of developers or enterprise software managers. If you know of any, kindly speak up. If the deal has altered your interest in contributing code, please speak up. I see that it has made the debate louder and livelier, too.
In all this I have confidence not that I am necessarily right but that we have good measures and indicators to tell us when and where our assumptions and hypotheses need changing. I take heart that the market will provide the litmus test, that if the Novell compromises are not necessary or are in fact dangerous to GNU/Linux or the GPL, then Red Hat or Ubuntu will pull away from openSUSE, SLED & SLES. The market will tell us. (Eben Moglen will be talking about his concept, "Copyleft Capitalism," and I think that will be an interesting conversation that relates to my thoughts here.) I'm willing to have my views tested in the crucible of the market-place; and if they are tested in this soggy medium of the blogosphere, that's not bad either -- and might be a little entertaining.
At the conference, Goetze & I had one of those rare & spontaneous dinners with a few irrepressible characters: John Davies (Iona's Technical Head), Cameron Purdy (Tangosol|Oracle) and beers later with Tony Coates (co-editor of MDDL). John D. & I had struck up a conversation during Microsoft's happy hour about OLPC (of which I have one coming in the mail). Over sushi with saki to wash it down, John took us through a couple iPhone hacks (long procedural sequences from memory, making him seem like some kind of down-to-earth savant) and by the end we were not far from singing rugby songs. The hacks sound like howtos for turning a go-cart into an F-16, and the result is a client running serious Unix tools in your pocket that works as a phone on any network. I'm getting one.
According to John -- a kind and unassuming Londoner with an unbelievable travel schedule -- Europeans, Asians & any other race are coming to the US to purchase iPhones by the dozen (cheap dollar) and Apple has put a ceiling of 2 units per purchase (which maybe you've heard about). iPhone hacks probably outnumber AT&T iPhones -- and Apple makes another $600 from AT&T per phone. Apple changes the software every few weeks in a vain attempt to keep ahead of the hackers. I was totally oblivious to all this. (Wired, iPhone-hacks, Chris Pirillo, Jailbreak ...)
It was also great to see old & dear friends & O'Reilly editors, Andy Oram and Simon St Laurent -- we had a great meal at the Parish Cafe'. And it was nice to see ZiffDavis' Mary Jo Foley, who writes "All About Microsoft" and eWeek's app-dev guy, Darryl Taft, whom I have read but never met.
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