Cringely, the pseudonomous penname, not the registered trademark, pens a Christmas column, “You Can’t Get There From Here: Why No Single Networking Technology Is Adequate” with a mention of good techniques for journalistic research: ask a lot of people.
The content is worthwhile, too, of course, with the thesis that there are a lot of up-and-coming networking technologies, and one-size-fits-all is pretty unlikely.
Great article bemoaning the state of tech industry “journalism:”
http://macartisan.typepad.com/cupertino/2003/12/request_for_com.html
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03362/255283.stm
Here’s fishing you a better year next year! Happy New Years, folks!
Joi Ito posts: Wikipedia needs money. If you haven’t been there yet, check out http://www.wikipedia.org, the online encyclopedia written as a wiki. Add an entry, if you like. A very useful place. Some hardware troubles resulted in their need to post a plea for contributions, hoping to meet a proposed budget of $20,000 USD. As of this morning, the total tops $31k. Get your pledge in, while you can still claim it as a tax deduction – today!
KBAlertz is a very useful and free service for those who need to keep up with the Microsoft KnowledgeBase. Visit the site and you can sign up for free email notification when KnowledgeBase articles of interest are posted or update on the Microsoft site.
Today, I received notice that “How to Run a dBASE IV Report File in FoxPro” was updated. Most curious. My dealings with dBASE IV were few and decades ago. The article describes how various dBASE IV files can be manipulated by Microsoft FoxPro for DOS and Windows 2.5 and 2.6 as well as Visual FoxPro for Windows 3.0. I’m not convinced the Visual FoxPro reference is correct, as I thought the migration material was only available in the 2.x versions, but I no longer have VFP 3.0 installed to check.
It is curious as to why this article was flagged as updated. Wonder what changed…
‘Tis the season, for year-end wrap-ups and prognostications. Many of the columnists get to enjoy a down week with a column composed over the last month. There’s often a good amount of insight to be gained by reading these over. Here’s the first I’ve seen:
Looking Back: Highs and Lows of 2003. (Note: This is also my Sunday column in the Mercury News.) I’ve always tended to buy the muddle-through scenario. Human… [Dan Gillmor’s eJournal]
Andrew Coates posted to the FoxForum Wiki, asking for advice on his new role as Developer Evangelist at Microsoft Australia. Best of luck, Andrew!
Andrew linked to a similar post on the c2 website, revealing that Ward Cunningham, inventor of the wiki and master of many of the software arts, is also heading for Microsoft-Redmond, with a title of “Architect.” I hope this bodes well for Microsoft and Ward.
OSNews links to a FastCompany article on Steve Jobs and Apple, maintaining that perhaps innovation doesn’t equate with financial success. Perhaps not, but Apple is surely an innovation leader.
In an article in CIO Insight, Mike Perlowski maintains “The religious wars over open-source software÷especially Linux÷are over. What lies ahead is a steely-eyed pragmatism about the software’s pros and cons.”
It’s not too early to think about decorating for next year. After all, the decorations should be on clearance sale this week. See if you can top this: a cubicle turned into a house. Somebody’s got way too much time on their hands!