The Zeitgeist

Is software development all about putting together lots of other people’s code? Is there any real engineering and invention left to be done in mainstream applications?
That seems to be the debate at the world’s first Conference on Postmodern Programming recently held at the end of this past November in London sponsored by the Software [...]

What’s the Value of Privacy? Everything.
“A future in which privacy would face constant assault was so alien to the framers of the Constitution that it never occurred to them to call out privacy as an explicit right. Privacy was inherent to the nobility of their being and their cause. Of course being watched in your [...]

It’s time for a new meme. I’ve been thinking about the all-too-pervasive acronym-cum-interjection “WTF?!”
In case you’ve been off-planet for a while, “WTF” is often applied where its situationally incorrect to actually say “What the Fuck?” I think is got its origin in a line from the (when Tom Cruise was still interesting) film [...]

I am glad to see that Doc Searls was interested enough in my recent blog entry to revisit an old topic of Internet access and corporate control. At the end of his commentary he wonders if with all the depressing news he’s insane to be be optimistic. I don’t think so, at [...]

In next week’s issue (available online now) of <a href=”http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060213/chester”> The Nation</a>, Jeff Chester has a peice on the upcoming Balkanization plans for the Internet, courtesy of the phone/media companies.
According to Chester, “<em>Industry planners are mulling new subscription plans that would further limit the online experience, establishing “platinum,” “gold” and “silver” levels of Internet access [...]

Back in the late June of 2003, I wrote the following piece in response to one of Doc Searls’ weblog entries on the robustness of the Internet called “World of Ends” …
I took a lot of heat back then for what some called “baiting” Doc and David (which I wasn’t doing, I was just pointing [...]