Cox Crow
Asking the Stupid Questions Since 1971
Thursday, June 20, 2002Fishwrap
I still haven't heard back from NPR.Old news isn't. Or as the phrase goes around the dinner table: You snooze; you lose.
6:25:33 PM # Google It!
categories: Media
Broad Enough for Texas?
SBC and Hughes Network Systems will offer DIRECWAY satellite Internet access in Texas.In general, satellite-based Internet access has two problems: 1) latency, and 2) weather. There used to be a third, not being able to upstream over the satellite, but now both synchronous and asynchronous systems are available. The latter assumes that usage patterns will be similar to television or POTS modem use: lots of downstream traffic, not much upstream traffic. While that may initially be the case, new uses will arise that will want a synchronous connection.
But the latency and the weather are still problematic.
6:23:24 PM # Google It!
categories: Industry
A Wall of Separation
My blog is at least semi-official, since I'm doing some of it at work and for primarily professional reasons. Is this where categories come in?
[Leah's Law Library Weblog]
Categories are part of the picture. Use categories to sort posts. The other part is the #upstream.xml file. This file controls where posts are sent for public display. If you have access to more than one server then you can make many distinct sites. Rory Perry, Clerk of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, does this.
4:59:48 PM # Google It!
categories: Writing Online
The Network is the Computer
John Dvorak is not seeing the forest for the Apple trees again. Apple has made no secret of their strategy. The elements, however, are playing out over time — and are not always apparent.While they're executing on that plan, they're incidentally gaining in other markets.
What bugs Mr. Dvorak the most, it seems, is that the industry has not built a new interface since the GUI. That's because we're working on another paradigm.
2:03:40 PM # Google It!
categories: Industry
Meeting the Budget
Leah's a law librarian at the University of Arizona. She points out a NewsForge article on the use of open source in libraries.She asks:
This is fascinating stuff, but I don't know how we can apply it in an academic law library. Any ideas, people?
The NewsForge article notes the cost-effectiveness of gratis software:
When public libraries need money from the city government for books, staff, and software, they often have to compete with the dogcatcher. Linux appeals to some librarians simply because they'd rather buy books than licenses.
For many companies, this is the reason they choose open source software. It is often easier to pay in time rather than in dollars. When the maintainance costs are still lower, then it becomes even more attractive. The learning curve looks steep, because of the jargon and the frightening blank screen of the $ prompt, but that can be remedied by reading the instructions.
But the nice thing about having the source is that the software often works with the computer you love, as well as the one you hate, so you're not stuck.
1:10:02 PM # Google It!
categories: Industry
Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer
I'm a caveman. These things are beyond me.
Under the Justice Department settlement, Microsoft would be required to let computer makers hide desktop icons for some features of its Windows operating system to allow the promotion of competing software by computer makers.
— "States ask judge to curb a vain Microsoft," Reuters [emphasis mine]
Still confusing the image of the thing with the thing itself, I see. Back in my day, we painted on the walls of the cave. But we could not eat the pictures of the beasts.
10:42:36 AM # Google It!
categories: Industry, Law
