December 18, 2002
Wed, 18 Dec 2002 22:47:47 GMT
Brett's latest plaintive cry struck a chord with me, so I figured I would troll Google for solutions while I was on a conference call (I was multitasking, not ignoring ;). Boy is this a mess. Here's an interesting link into the whole sordid tale over at Mediageek. Despicable.Wed, 18 Dec 2002 16:40:34 GMT
Doug forwarded me this gem. It looks like AOL has quietly secured a patent that gives them claim on having a network, monitoring it and allowing users to hook-up with one another over it. IM is annoying, but it would be a shame if this hindered SIP development and deployment - I wonder what the actual implications are. Of course, the answer lies with how AOL actually wields this patent. Definitely stay tuned to this one.Wed, 18 Dec 2002 16:40:32 GMT
Brett is still having problems with his MD. I fully expect that we will continue to be subjected to increasingly broken products from companies like Sony as they get increasingly "cute" with their digital rights management technology. Also, as I mentioned to Brett in Amsterdam, companies like Sony will continue to create broken technologies like this until they figure out what their real business is; transporting bits to consumers, creating applications that allow consumers to interact with bits, or simply creating the bits. Right now they think that they are in the business of all three when in fact I tend to view them more as being extremely capable with transport and moderately good (better than most) in the application space. And although they "capture" the bits that others like U2 or Brett create, U2 and Brett tends to be better at the creation of bits than Sony does.Speaking of the ALOC, it was interesting to see who actually turned out. As you may or may not know, ICANN is in the midst of choosing a replacement for Stuart Lynn. The Amsterdam meeting was used as an opportunity by the selection committee to interview a number of these candidates face to face. While this meeting didn't turn into a forum for presidential campaigns, it was an opportunity for these candidates to get in front of the community and hear exactly what is in the hearts and minds of those in attendance. There was much speculation as to who the committee had looked at, who they were still considering and who still had a chance, but it isn't clear who all the candidates currently are - understandable I suppose. Anyways, about the ALOC. If I was in the running (as one brief rumor had me ;) I certainly would have capitalized on the fact that there was a decent turn-out and tried to "get with" as many stakeholders as possible to ensure that they knew who I was and I knew what was important to them. So what does this have to do with the At-large Organizing Committee meeting? Only one of the candidates turn up to check things out - Keith Teare. I very much appreciated the fact that he took the time out to figure out where things are and where they are going. If this is any indication of how he might approach the job of ICANN CEO, then he's got my vote - if I had one ;)
Anyways, I still haven't summarized my notes from the meeting as I've threatened to do continuously for the past three days. I will get to them, I promise ;) In the last twenty four hours my temperature has gone from normal to 102.1 F. and back again. I wasn't really thinking about much coherently yesterday. Now, I'm simply going to worry about getting to work.
Lastly, if you haven't noticed, the DNSO is no more and along with it, the GA. The DNSO has been replaced by the GNSO, but there is no parallel structure that replaces the cross-constituency function of the GA. Thomas clarifies this in a post to the GA mailing list earlier today and formally steps down as chair of the GA.
And with that, I leave you with Mark Twain's thoughts on Reform.
"For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g j" anomali wonse and for all.
Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants. Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli.
Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld."
- Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), "A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling"