Jun 2004

Sun, 27 Jun 2004

Tim O'Reilly On Custom Linux Distributions

In an article titled Open Source Paradigm Shift, Tim O'Reilly says:

Following this logic, I believe that the process of building custom distributions will emerge as one of the key competitive differentiators among Linux vendors. Much as a Dell must be an arbitrageur of the various contract manufacturers vying to produce fungible components at the lowest price, a Linux vendor will need to manage the ever changing constellation of software suppliers whose asynchronous product releases provide the raw materials for Linux distributions. Companies like Debian founder Ian Murdock's Progeny Systems already see this as the heart of their business, but even old-line Linux vendors like SuSe and new entrants like Sun tout their release engineering expertise as a competitive advantage.
Fancy that? Fancy this.

Posted at: 23:09 | permalink

Cobind Desktop 0.2 beta released

We released Cobind Desktop 0.2 beta this week. Read all about the new desktop linux.

Posted at: 23:04 | permalink

Fri, 11 Jun 2004

Cobind Releases YUMGUI Beta

We put the first release of Cobind Software Manager (YUMGUI) that Bryan Mills coded up on the web today. Check it out.

Many thanks to Benedikt Meurer, of the Xfce team, who pointed me in the right direction as to how to get flash recorded on Linux without going bankrupt.

Posted at: 02:13 | permalink

Mon, 07 Jun 2004

Thanks to WPLUG

Here's a picture of yours truly pontificating to the Western Pennsylvania Linux User's Group at Carnegie Mellon's esteemed School of Computer Science about Linux Desktop Usability. Thanks to Vance Kochenderfer for taking the shot.

Posted at: 02:03 | permalink

Sun, 06 Jun 2004

It's not about the protocol. It's all about the protocol.

Dave Winer says:

First, we're waiting for a breakthrough idea.

and points to a commentary where Susan Mernit quotes Amy Campbell:

RSS needs a PR campaign. It's not going to be mainstream, until it's simply a button that people can push.

While I agree with the latter part of this statement (and Amy's commentary in general), I strongly disagree with the former.

RSS does not need a PR campaign. It's not about the protocol. Outside of the technorati, how may people say, "I'm going to SMTP my friend in Chicago?" Nope. More like, "I'm going to email my friend in Chicago."

When blogging crosses the chasm, the protocols are going to sink into the background.

I do agree that Yahoo's move is a step in the right direction. It's one that really needs to be taken to the level of a blogto anchor along the lines of mailto, but invoking subscription. And that has to be supported ubiquitously. Speaking of ubiquity...

Protocols are not going to define the mainstream, unless said protocols enable network effects for the client.

Rich client aggregators such as my personal favorite, pulp fiction would get there a lot faster if they approached the problem with a simple question: "How do I build network effects (DSIR) into my client?"

I'll put money on Microsoft already asking this question in it's design forays into blogging clients, protocols, and aggregators. The answer? Add search to the client ala Gnutella network and clients like Limewire.

So, I design an aggregator that participates in a Gnutella type network transparently in which searching is distributed to all similar clients around the internet and searches have access to feeds, and items just as the client does. In this way, discovery of semantically relevant posts is automatic and context-specific to the blog protocols.

In the end, the paradox remains: it's not about the protocols, it's all about the protocols. The trick is that it's indeed about the protocols, but the winner in the blogging chasm crossing will be the one who realizes that each user participating in such a network does not need to be aware of the protocol.

Posted at: 13:28 | permalink