TextDrive vs. Textpattern
Once upon a time, TextDrive was started with a certain idea in mind.
TextDrive was founded in 2004 by Dean Allen, and was originally conceived as a managed hosting service for users of his Textpattern content-management system. In an unusual move, Allen offered lifetime hosting accounts, at a one-time price of USD$199, to the first two hundred customers in lieu of seeking venture capital; this initial group was dubbed the “VC 200”. The scope of the company quickly moved beyond Textpattern hosting, however, and TextDrive has been a general-purpose hosting service for most of its history… Since early in its history, TextDrive has provided support to open source software projects; the company donates a portion of proceeds from each customer’s hosting services to an open source project of the customer’s choice, and has offered hosting services specifically tailored for developers of open source projects. – Wikipedia
Four years later, things have changed.
As a pragmatic result of our long-lasting struggle to tame the touchy Subversion host we finally gave in and moved our code repository. – Robert Wetzlmayr
I still have my second round VC lifetime account so this won’t affect me directly but I still think this sort of marks the end of an era. And not in a good way.
Safari for Windows
I certainly wasn’t expecting this.
Apple doubled its presence on the Windows platform Monday when it released a Windows-compatible version of its Safari Web browser. Released as a public beta, the final version of Safari 3 will run on both Windows and Mac OS X 10.5. – Philip Michaels
I have always loved how Safari renders pages when I am on my MacBook. I just thought we would have to wait for Swift to mature. But how is this going to effect Microsoft’s plans for Internet Explorer?
Although Microsoft may continue to provide security and performance updates, no major new releases are planned, Microsoft Product Manager Jessica Sommer told CNET News.com. Sommer said that, with the emergence of Apple’s Safari browser, Microsoft felt that customers were better served by using Apple’s browser, noting that Microsoft does not have the access to the Macintosh operating system that it would need to compete. – Ian Fried
Well, actually, that was IE for the Mac. But still…
Teen Tech Week
I just found about something new to mark on your calendar: March 4-10
The new Teen Tech Week ™ campaign focuses on attracting teens to the library to use the technology resources. Thankfully, there are no terribly cheesy posters, but more hip-looking, colorful posters that focus on creating, playing, and surfing at the library, along with branded CD case and Cordman, and your standard other fair (pens, pamphlets, etc.). Currently, the Teen Tech Week poster is number 2 in the top 5 online bestsellers for the ALA online store. Kudos to YALSA on such an excellent job with the new program. – Andrea Mercado
Is it just me, or have libraries really become technology oriented lately? I think this makes for a great companion to Teen Read Week.
Gaming at the Library Update
Remember my post about my grant application?
I just completed an application for a Community Library in Caring Grant. – Me
I knew unofficially it was approved a couple of weeks ago, but we received the official confirmation today. Our first event will be held November 17th, so if I don’t write much about it between now and then, you can be assured to hear more at that point.
Windows Genuine Disadvantage
While I was preparing to write this, I found an old post I wrote almost exactly 5 years ago.
I have been thinking a lot about Windows XP lately and my own thoughts on Product Activation. I was reading an article in the latest PC Gamer about how quick and easy it was, and I decided they just missed the point. Years from now, I can put together a new computer and load 95 or 98 or Linux or whatever I choose on it. But what happens when Microsoft decides to stop giving out the matching code numbers for XP. You are totally at their mercy and they can stop whenever they choose. And that is why XP is not for me. – Me
Of course, like a lot of people, I eventually gave in. I have a couple of notebooks and several desktops running XP at home these days. Dealing with product activation has always been a tremendous hassle, though. I had been leaning toward buying enough full retail copies of Windows Vista in January to cover all my needs. I am no longer considerating that now, though.
The computer enthusiasts who are most apt to run into problems with the Vista EULA are the people who funnel the most money into the PC industry — the ones who buy expensive gaming PCs and regularly upgrade their systems. These enthusiasts are most likely to gravitate toward the most expensive Vista version, Vista Ultimate. In short, one might argue that Microsoft’s new EULA will harm these people quite a bit, especially if their reactivation attempts are thwarted because of licensing problems. Koroush Ghazi, the owner of TweakGuides.com, argues that if even 5 percent of PC users are affected by this change, we’re talking about 50 to 65 million consumers. And again, these are the people spending money on the most expensive PCs and accessories they can get their hands on. – Paul Thurrott
And it very well could get worse.
The difference is that Microsoft wants to put yet another layer into the mix, and this layer—Windows Genuine Advantage—could become a problem if the layer itself is ever targeted by a virus or Trojan horse. In other words, what happens if Windows Genuine Advantage is itself corrupted? Windows Genuine Advantage is the layer we really do not need. There is no reason, as far as I can tell, to add a watchdog program to Windows to make sure users are not running bootleg versions of the OS. There has to be a better way. – John Dvorak
And there is another way.
I’m a nanometer away from switching my family over to OS X when Apple releases Leopard in Q1 of 2007. It looks clean and elegant. It comes with all the software and services the average user could ever want. It runs on the same hardware. A system will be able to dual-boot between OS X and Windows, and pricing is no longer astronomical. But most importantly? With its UI inconsistencies, Vista feels completely schizophrenic, and that’s enough of a reason for anybody to leave Windows in the dust—just like they left MSN Search and IE. – Chris Pirillo
I think all of three of them are exactly right. My expectation is that if Vista ships with this feature in place, a decade from now people will point to January of 2007 (assuming Vista actually ships on time) as the beginning of the end for Microsoft.
