A Developer's View

Anonymity and the Internet

John Carroll — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:57:06 +0000

A case winding its way through a court in Pennsylvania attempts to pierce the veil of anonymity that protects web forum participants' ability to say whatever they want about public figures. Though I don't agree with the conclusions of the judge, I am not fan of anonymity of the Internet, as it tends to turn civil discourse into a "flame war."

Mono 2.0…why not Microsoft?

John Carroll — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:06:20 +0000

The release of Mono version 2.0, the open source implementation of .NET that is available for use on Mac, Linux and Windows platforms, is an achievement in itself. I often wonder, however, why Microsoft has no interest in releasing a cross-platform, fully-supported version of the .NET framework themselves.

Stallman vs. the cloud computing tidal wave

John Carroll — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:31:22 +0000

Stallman’s recent statements regarding his dislike of “cloud computing” didn’t surprise me in the least, given what I understand about his software preferences. In fact, I think this is less about Stallman’s worry about the security implications of cloud computing, and more about his desire for a software ecosystems that adheres to the principles embodied in [...]

Jackson Browne and Copyright

John Carroll — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:14:07 +0000

Jackson Browne's decision to sue the McCain campaign over the use of one of his songs in a TV ad in Ohio raises serious "fair use" issues. Why can authors (such as myself) lift whole paragraphs from copyrighted works by way of citation, but we can't lift portions of songs for use in audiovisual creations? What is so special about audiovisual media?

Thoughts on Microsoft Response Point

John Carroll — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:17:48 +0000

One of the products that stood out at last week's Internet Telephony EXPO was Microsoft Response Point. Built as an easy way to bring SIP-based digital telephony to small organizations, it's ease of use is a step on the path towards pulling customers away from traditional, TDM-based telephony infrastructures...as well as a very different product than the kind Microsoft traditionally develops.

SIP is the future of telecommunications

John Carroll — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:40:20 +0000

As was clear from last week's ITEXPO in Los Angeles, SIP is shaping up to be the standard replacement protocol for the traditional TDM / SS7 network. SIP trunking starts to make it possible to offer an end-to-end digital communications solution that can call any number in the world...without a traditional phone line anywhere in your organization.

The LHC and the importance of pure research

John Carroll — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:37:50 +0000

America often has difficulties funding pure research because, as a society that sees itself as market-oriented, there is a misperception that such funding smacks of socialist central planning. The reality, however, is that pure research is often one of the places where government money can add the most value.

The moral hazard of Microsoft-branded PCs

John Carroll — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:15:25 +0000

Ed Bott asked a few days ago whether Microsoft should get into the PC hardware business. The question is clearly driven by the recent success of Apple computer. Because Apple makes both the hardware and most of the software that runs on it (at least, out of the box), they can ensure a certain level [...]

Google’s Chrome, competition, and old pants

John Carroll — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:18:28 +0000

Part of the appeal of Google's Chrome browser for this blogger was the simple user interface. Difference is good from a user interface standpoint, but Google also wants to shore up the aging HTML / CSS / Javascript stack, a realm where they only have so much scope to be different as they try to compete with the growth of more modern "Rich Internet Application" (RIA) frameworks.

The power of standard protocols

John Carroll — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:53:51 +0000

I’ve spent the past few months as the primary developer at a very small company. An important technology to this company is Instant Messaging, as it plays an essential part in our approach to unified messaging. This has meant that I have had to build, in-house, our own implementation of an XMPP / Jabber IM stack. [...]