Open SaaS. AllMyData is an online backup/storage solution that, at $5/month for unmetered storage sounds like a pretty good deal. That’s not what I want to talk about. Check out Tahoe, their open source secure distributed filesystem. You can grab the sources (lots of Python code, no surprise) and run your own storage grid, or share the backup load with friends, P2P. The part that interests me: you can rent the storage from AllMyData, but know exactly how they’re handling your data, security, availability and all.
This is an interesting marriage of SaaS of open source. Provide the service, and source code as a form of open disclosure. Hoping we’ll see more open disclosure SaaS in the future.
Pockets of resistance. As you know Microsoft is at odds with its customers regarding the future of XP. Come August you will no longer be able to purchase XP, except for this work around. If you purchase a computer running Vista Business/Premium, you can request a pre-installed downgrade to XP. Customers that want a working machine get XP installed at the factory, while Microsoft gets another “sale” of the pricey Vista Business/Premium edition, proving once and for all that there’s no demand for XP.
Never mind the smell, this is one clever business tactic of using customer’s best interest against them. Except for this nagging little quote: ”there are some pockets”. I’ve heard that once before, usually when a dictatorship runs at odds with its populace and has to fight those damn nagging pockets of resistance.
The thing about numbers. Part of the problem is “that software piracy had grown in April, impacting revenue.” I’m sure Microsoft has more accurate numbers to prove than my little, unscientific, baseless research. A quick torrent research finds 3093 results for Windows XP, and only 2071 results for Windows Vista. And of those Vista search results, second from the top is actually a torrent of Windows XP SP3. You can blame it on piracy, but when piracy is lukewarm, who do you blame it on then?
The cure for your PHP blues. I’m quoting out of context, but it’s more fun this way. Sun, once again, promises the JDK will be open sourced. This time, for real. After all, you can’t keep people waiting forever:
We’re trying to get Java into places it’s never been before … Linux developers, absent of an open-source Java, have been building applications with languages like C, C++, and PHP … What we can do is create Java programs and then run them on Linux.
Truly cool helmet. This one is for bike riders. When I last went shopping for a motorcycle helmet, all the good (and expensive) helmets came equipped with an ambient-sensitive setting that automatically switches between two modes: foggy and steamy. Now comes this marvel from Givi. A replaceable chinbar and vents for warm-day comfort, probably as close as you can get to an AC. And, not a first but still damn cool, a drop-down tinted visor for that jet fighter look and cure to the common sun blindness. No bulky D-ring either. WANT!
Picture, the ultimate iPhone unboxing.
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