Linux Desktop Adoption

July 30th, 2007 • 3 comments General

Appealing to the larger, less geeky audience is a difficult task. Linux is trying to penetrate the desktop, and the most noticeable success was convincing Dell to offer pre-installed Ubuntu.

The second key to success would be to make mass deployment easier. Windows has always had the tools for complicated, enterprise-wide deployments; Linux wasn’t paying as much attention. And it’s not just about package management, it’s more about centralized configuration and monitoring. That’s what Canonical is trying to do with Landscape.

Landscape isn’t Webmin for a simple reason: It manages more boxes. So instead of having to login to each one’s Webmin interface, changes can be propagated easily across multiple Ubuntu desktops.

I think the third step to tip Linux would be distributed package management. I love how software is easier to install on Ubuntu as opposed to OSX and Windows. But there comes a time where third-party developers and ISVs just have to publish they’re software without having to use ten different package formats, then run through each distro’s maintainers. Little’s been in this area, but it’s a step forward.

Some claimed 2007 could be the year of the Linux desktop. Feel free to comment on that.

Mercy Killing PHP4

July 27th, 2007 • General

Matt runs one of the largest PHP4 projects, and he’s pissed.

It isn’t always appropriate to kill an old, successful product to boost a newer, failing one. The PHP team seems desperate. PHP4 is so sticky that it seems it will haunt our hosts for another decade.

But I still support the killing project. I want them to pull the plug, even if in desperation.

I feel like the PHP team is concentrating on the wrong things. I’ve stressed compatibility oh so many times. It’s unreasonable to trash applications every few minor releases, and we can’t expect different outcomes when we ask our users and supporters for too much.

Nothing could have saved PHP5 from such a fate, not even the brightest ideas. Because when it comes to coding PHP, the hard part usually has little to do with the underlying server-side language.

During the days of beta PHP5, everyone on the mailing list was for the backward compatibility breakage. Everyone wanted some cool new features. OOP handling needed to be Java’ized. It doesn’t matter whether you agree with the argument or not. What does matter is why on earth wasn’t compatibility broken enough? If you’re going to break it anyway, why not do it for all the right reasons? Why not make a case compelling enough to drive adoption?

The truth is, PHP5 is mediocre. It’s a fine language, strongly backed by thousands of libraries and extensions. But it’s still mediocre in comparison to its older brother.

I’m for killing PHP4. If anything, it will clear the core developers’ heads, and could reward PHP’ers back their confidence.

Facebook Tries Ads

July 22nd, 2007 • General

Facebook is throwing ugly ads in my face. If I recall correctly, they had the worst conversion rate; 0.4% or so, wasn’t it? Why not try to be subtle, or just sell platform licenses already?

Facebook needs to make money to support a extraordinary number of members, but they can’t do it with ads. Facebook’s members are of a different class, who are trained to filter ads. They are those who like Facebook because it connects them to others, not just boasts their ego. Their usage pattern is different than that of mere “profile pages”.

Being a social platform causes pressure that Facebook might face difficulty coping with. Some think Facebook is becoming “MySpacesified”, and that if MySpace opens up, they have a chance to crush Facebook.

To be honest, I’ve tried social network sites. I was one of the early Orkut members, until it became a nuclear waste site. I couldn’t see the point behind it all. Now I have a Facebook page, and I have a positive feeling about it, it has already connected me to 4 of my childhood friends.

Facebook can’t sell me ads. They can sell me service.

Dubai City Delays

July 18th, 2007 • 2 comments General

For the past four days, I’ve been going back and forth between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, spending a minimum total of 3 hours a day on the road. Nothing too serious, just paperwork. On the side, I finally got to meet this guy and this guy, the only bloggers I know in UAE. Ended up twitchy after consuming irresponsible amounts of caffeine.

The city is like a hungry zombie from a cheesy ’60s film. Not only does it manage to kill your time, but it brings it back from the dead, and have it roam the pickle-packed streets. I arrived in Dubai on Sunday the 15th, and it wasn’t until next day that I was able to connect to the internet, barely having the time the keep up with my email and news feeds.

WordPress future posts failed on me. I’m still to figure out why it didn’t publish the post I scheduled. Now I’m glad it didn’t. I read Jakob Nielsen article the day it was published, and knew it will influence strong reactions. My scheduled post was a commentary on that article, as most knee-jerk reactions are. At least now, I’ll be able to revise it, and could extend it a little.

Please bear with me if I delay my next post in the next few days. Interbits are scarce here. Many sites are blocked. Google Reader says I have 100+ new items.

Widgets Are The New GeoCities

July 13th, 2007 • General

Originally, this post was supposed to be about W3C’s widget specifications draft. “Good luck with that!”, I was about to say, appreciatively. But then I decided to scan the widget scene, perhaps learn a thing or two about each API before I take a stab at W3C’s work.

It didn’t turn out very well. These Ajax start pages made my eyes sore, and turned this post from an API overview to a rant.

Cautionary Note: The screenshots below are not for the meek of heart, GTD addicts, life hackers, or people suffering from excessive physical disorder disorder[sic].

Protopage

Protopage is what you end up with after trying to cause a seizure in every conceivable method, then fail. I have no idea how anyone, in a sane state, would use this.

The screenshot below is what happens when you click the gray, downward-facing double-arrow. I’ll leave what happens when you try to add widgets as a surprise.

Netvibes

What made me look at Netvibes in the first place was their UWA, the self-proclaimed “universal”, Widget API. Supposedly, you can develop a single widget that would work across Netvibes, iGoogle, Apple Dashboard and soon Opera. That’s all nice, and it should help W3C in their mission.

The start page of Netvibes is not as unforgivable as Protopage’s, just a little color-happy, especially with that 11×14 mini icon gallery.

Pageflakes

This is when things start to get better. Pageflakes is the only rich page that still looks good at 800×600. Others seem to deem this resolution as “soo last year”.

I was particularly impressed with how you add flakes. The gallery is clear, and more importantly, readable.

Windows Live

I was surprised too. At first glance, Live appears to be an abandoned project; except it’s obvious how Microsoft made an effort. Live looks minimal, and boasts a Finder-like panel to add “stuff”, which happens to be a good idea for 3-level, categorical browsing.

iGoogle

Compared to its competitors, iGoogle isn’t that special. Not until you take a deeper look at Google’s real work: Gadget API. Of all the APIs I scanned, Google’s seems to be cleanest, followed by Yahoo’s. But such comparison would be an article for another day.

iGoogle is almost mono-colored, with a slight hint of borders around gadgets. Makes it look all the less cluttered.

yourminis

I have to be honest. Everytime I see Flash, I mute my speakers and cover my eyes. Habits from the stone age, I know.

Not only refreshing, yourminis is also thoughtful. It’s clearly designed for at least 1024×768, but they still believe no one should be left out, especially not the poor 800×600 folks. yourminis hides the third column—the one with the default clock and calendar, which you won’t see in the screenshot below—and you’re left with a clean space displaying most important widgets.

Simple, yet effective.

Preemptive, Dismissive Conclusion

If the Web is going to be anything like the screens above, then I acknowledge it has earned its name.