Memex 1.1

This morning’s Observer column…

Of late, however, Dell has hit a bad patch. Senior executives have been fired, opted to spend more time with their families or departed to take up promising new careers in the fast-food industry. Michael Dell, the company’s flamboyant founder, has returned to take command of the listing ship. And as part of his attempts to revitalise the company, Mr Dell and his team had a Big Idea: why not ask customers for their ideas about what should be done?

Thus was born IdeaStorm, Dell’s effort to harness the collective intelligence of its actual and potential customers. It was launched on 16 February and has turned out to be very popular. Hordes of people signed up to volunteer their ideas. And that, of course, is where the trouble started…

This morning’s Observer column…

Next Thursday, 30 November, is the feast day of St Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. Pity he’s not also the patron saint of computer users, because soon they are going to need all the divine help they can get.

How come? Well, 30 November is also the day that Microsoft releases Vista, the new version of Windows, to its corporate customers. Because companies don’t squeal, we may expect the occasion to pass off reasonably peacefully. The screaming proper will only start on 30 January next year, when the system is released to consumers.

Vista, you see, is a new kind of beast. It’s not enough just to install it on your computer; you must also ‘activate’ it…

One of the most irritating things about the PC market is how difficult it is to buy laptops which do not have Windows pre-installed. When Ndiyo needed a machine to act as a mobile server for demos, we had to buy a Windows-crippled Vaio and then install Ubuntu on it. So despite wanting a machine that would run only open source software, we still had to pay the Windows tax.

It’s always seemed to me, therefore, that there was a market opportunity for a slick operation offering Linux-powered hardware. And lo and behold! — here’s one: :: system76. Looks pretty slick. Pity it only operates in the US.

Interesting comment by ex-Oracle insider, Dave Dargo, on Larry Ellison’s bluster about stealing Red hat’s business. Excerpt:

But what about the other part of [Ellison’s] quote, that [Oracle’s] support has to be better. There’s a survey from CIOInsight that shows Red Hat is the number one vendor for value as rated by CIO’s in 2004 and 2005. Where does Oracle fit on that chart? Glad you asked, they ranked 39 out of 41.

The other thing I’m most curious about is the concept of Oracle’s Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN). The claim is that it takes less than a minute to switch from Red Hat’s Network (RHN) to ULN. It’s going to take more than a minute, and a fair amount of cost, to get through the legal agreements and process of switching over. But even with that aside, I’m mostly curious as to why Oracle’s first real support network is for someone else’s product. Where’s the Oracle Database Network and Applications Network and PeopleSoft Network and Siebel Network? Where are the support infrastructure networks for Oracle’s own products to automatically distribute fixes, patches and alerts? It’s amazing that they can provide all that for a mere $399 for a competitor’s products, but not for their own $200,000 product…

Steve Bell’s cartoon in the Guardian of September 28. Note top right-hand corner. What can this mean?

Later… Mystery solved. James M, from whom nothing is hidden, writes:

In his speech to the Labour Party BrownNoseFest [Clinton] introduced the word Ubuntu as expressive the interelationships of people and their circumstances in South Africa. He also mentioned the software connection.

Hot on the heels of the news that the Indian government has rejected the ‘One Laptop per Child’ idea comes an Engadget story that Microsoft, stung by the OLPC team’s decision to adopt Linux rather than Windows CE, is going to release a ‘foneplus’ — i.e. a mobile phone with port for connecting a TV screen and a keyboard. No pics, and maybe it’s just a rumour, but…

This morning’s Observer column — about virtualisation…

At this point, dear reader, I know what you’re thinking. However fascinating this ‘virtual machine’ nonsense may be to geeks, it’s of no interest to normal human beings. You may feel as Mrs Dave Barry did when her husband, the Miami Herald humorist, took her for a spin in a Humvee and proudly explained that the vehicle could inflate and deflate its tyres while in motion. Why, she asked, would anyone want to do that?

So what’s the point of virtualisation? Simply that it provides a vivid illustration of the most disruptive attribute of digital technology - its capability to break the link between an application and a physical platform. Once upon a time, if you bought a PC it ran Windows, and if you bought a Mac it ran Apple’s operating system. But now Macs run Windows, and IBM ThinkPads - which have the same processor - can run OS X (though of course Apple is doing its best to head off that possibility). And Linux runs on everything.

This disconnection of application/ service from hardware is happening all over the place…

I was offline yesterday because I was giving the Beishon Memorial Lecture at the OU and needed to focus on important matters like logistics and car parking for guests. The title of the lecture was “The Social Life of Networks” and there’s a pdf here if you’re having trouble sleeping. There will also be a webcast, but it hasn’t emerged from editing yet.

Thanks to James Miller, eagle-eyed as ever, who spotted several typos and a glaring error in a calculation!

This is an illustration from today’s New York Times showing how Chris diBona, Google’s Manager of Open Source Programs, uses a fancy little micro-PC when he’s on the road. Er, just one problem: the cool little gizmo — according to the picture caption — runs Windows XP. What kind of Open Source advocacy is that?

Here they are!

Thanks to Seb for the link.