Entries for archive: 2007-06

Found 13 entries.

I Won the First Ever SoCNoC

Yep, I hit my word tally tonight. A nice 50101 words in total.

I'm still not yet finished on the story, so I might do a few more tomorrow to finish it off.

And for all to see, here's my winner's certificate to prove it:

Happy days.

Kerryn and I were doing 10 minute word wars all night and I was slowly catching up. As it turned out, we decided to do a 15 minute one at the end so we'd both make it before midnight. It was so much fun and we'd been pretty close to each other for at least the past 2 weeks or so.

Labels: soc-noc, kiwi-writers, winner

Inserted: 2007-06-30 00:35 (3 years, 2 months ago)

One Billion Words

Over at KiwiWriters, we're aiming for a very large number of words to be written this month. Oh alright, it's not one billion, but we are going for a million!

Between all of the participants in the SoCNoC challenge over at KiwiWriters we've done a massive number of words. At the moment, we're on a fabulous total of 949,389 words, just a few short of 950 thousand words.

...but our aim is to get to a total of one million words!

It's so close it is rather scary and yet we only have two more days to do it. Also, the problem is, a number of people have already finished and therefore won't necessarily contribute any more words. Contrary to that though, there are a few other people who have finished and are still going!

It's amazing to think that our little group has made so many people write so many words.

So, we're looking for about 15 winners and I think and I shall cross the line either tomorrow night or sometime on Satuday. Currently, I stand on 47252. I'll try and get something just over that to help getting towards the one million mark :-)

Wish us luck.

Update: 2007-06-28 23:59:00 - As I wrote this, someone updated and we're now on 951,392 - wahoo!

Labels: soc-noc, kiwi-writers, one-million-words

Inserted: 2007-06-28 23:56 (3 years, 2 months ago)

If Google Ever Does Linux

For ages and ages, people have said that Google will do 'their own' Linux. But the question is, why will they do it and will it work?

As far as I'm concerned, if Google ever does their own Linux, then I don't think it will make as big a splash as everyone makes out it will. Let's look at some history of Linux distros I think are applicable here and we'll see why it won't work.

A few years ago, Sun announced the Java Desktop. Yes, it was aimed at big multinational corporations but really, how much of a dint did it make. Sun's reason for making it - push Java onto everyone, no matter what they said back then, that was the plan. In reality, no-one at home wanted it and let's face it, the geeks rule this nest and that's why it didn't catch on.

Lindows, then renamed to Linspire, have had some success but their message was - "Let's make Linux like Windows". Again, the geeks don't want it even though it's not aimed at them, so it will eventually fail.

SuSe (under Novell) now seem directed at the "let's work with Windows" thing. Yes, this will fail to, for the same reasons as above and the fact that they dumped a whole pile of sh*t on themselves. Oh, and the geeks don't trust Novell anymore.

Linux distros don't succeed if they aim at the corporate world, especially the corporate desktop, at least not yet anyway.

But then, neither do they succeed if they aim at the non-technical home user, as Linspire shows.

However, what does work are the general purpose Linux distros that can be put to a multitude of tasks and don't force you to go in one direction. Debian, Ubuntu and Redhat all fall into this category and they are the most successful of all (to varying degrees of whatever your successful means). Any of these distros can be put to use on the corporate desktop, the corporate server, the slightly technical home user and all kinds of uses for the most important, the geeks. Ubuntu claims the crown of the most diverse uses with it's certified server editions, LTS editions and it's desktop editions and it is this distro which looks most likely to succeed on the corporate desktop too.

So let's get back to what will Google do with 'their' Linux?

That's easy - they want you to use the internet.

For searching, for email, for storing your documents, your bookmarks and notes, your diary, your contacts and pretty soon, almost everything you ever wished for, including word processing, spreadsheet and presentation documents.

And this applies to both home users and the corporate world, as their apps prove - already being used for large universities and other organisations.

So to have all of this internet stuff going on, what will they do?

They will make the browser the number one application in the distro, that's what. I would even think that they will build in a remote data store and remote backup (to their servers of course) to get into the realm of your personal documents too. For example, what about storing your photos (they've already done that) or your music collection (what this space). How about your videos (a variation of YouTube anyone)?

So what does this mean for the rest of the imaginary 'Google Linux'?

Well, it means that it'll be cut down. Or at least it'll cut things out. I mean, why would they put a native email client on there when they want you to use Gmail? Why would they install OpenOffice if you can use their online docs? And why would you even put your bookmarks in your browser if they can do that for you too!

Maybe they will let you do these things but my guess is that they won't be installed by default and of course, only the more experienced bods will be able to install them anyway. This leaves everyone else using the Google OS as a proxy to the Google services and it'll be like AOL taking over your computer all over again.

Therefore, in conclusion, I think if Google ever do an OS of their own it will go two ways depending on how they push it. If they push it like above, then it will fail. The geeks won't like it (and let's face it, they're already divided about Google anyway). If they make it generic, add some niceties and maybe even with lots of goodies to interact with their services, then I think it will succeed. If the geeks like it (which Google does aim to please), then it will work.

I do hope they don't push their own services too far at the expense of the rest, that's all I'm saying. Personally, I like Google and their services but I just hope they don't try to become both the computer AND the internet, otherwise people will move on. We're very fickle you know :-)

Labels: google, linux

Inserted: 2007-06-26 23:17 (3 years, 2 months ago)

Why I'll Never Use Windows Again

On my last laptop, I decided to dual boot the Windows install and Linux. After 2 hours of trying to download stuff, I installed over the whole thing.

On this, my newer laptop, I loaded XP up only to backup the Windows thing onto 7 CDs. I'm not sure why I did that but I decided that was after that rigmarole, I'd had enough. I installed over it within the hour.

This guy decided to take Windows Vista for a spin for 14 days. What a brave man he was. Read this, it's funny: Vista: They took five years for this?

It only goes to prove to me that I am better off in the world where you have choice and all of it free. Choice of what programs to use and choice of freedom.

Labels: windows, linux, freedom

Inserted: 2007-06-24 21:25 (3 years, 2 months ago)

Need to Re-write Kapiti.Geek.NZ using Zaapt

This website was a precursor to Zaapt. It laid the foundations for what Zaapt would be based on but with a many more nicer features.

It's about this stage now that I need to re-write this site, kapiti.geek.nz using Zaapt and that means three things:

  • I'll get a nicer interface, more functionality and a better framework (one that is updated, this one is just static now since I'm not developing it further)
  • I have to migrate all the data across. I guess I'll just write a quick script to import all the blog entries and the few content managed pages I have
  • I'll use this opportunity to do a re-design (or should I say re-skin) of the site

As always though, the main problem I have is time. Maybe one day someone will invent a way to make more time to use in each and every day...

...or is that called retirement. :-)

Labels: zaapt, planet-geek, kapiti-geek-nz

Inserted: 2007-06-23 17:33 (3 years, 2 months ago)

Back On Target

After a few days where I was behind the daily projected average, I'm now back on target for getting the novel completed.

This week, I've managed to pull off quite a few words. So I reckon about 10,000 in about 6 days. Funny thing is, while that sounds like it'd on track, I had a few days where I was behind.

Anyway, after a number of 2k's and a 4k one day, I'm back on track.

In other news, the collective word count for the whole of KiwiWriters is now over three quarters of a millions words!!! I find it amazing that something a small group of us started can get so big!

Go take a look at the SoCNoC challenge page. We already have 3 winners and I think a good number of other people are still in with a chance to complete it too.

Labels: soc-noc, kiwi-writers, novel

Inserted: 2007-06-23 00:51 (3 years, 2 months ago)

Octal Numbers in Code

I always thought putting a single zero in front of Octal numbers in code was pretty bad, or at least, pretty error-prone. But someone is doing something about it.

In this article, Python 3000 Status Update, Guido van Rossum is putting a new syntax in for Octal numbers and Binary numbers too (see 'Other Significant Changes' towards the bottom).

Not that I ever use them much, but I think it will help. In fact, I said to someone at least a few years ago that '0o....' should be used for Octal numbers :-)

Labels: python, code

Inserted: 2007-06-22 11:52 (3 years, 2 months ago)

It's Official, I'm heading back to Catalyst

I've been waiting until the end of my current contract until I make the news official - though I've hardly been hiding it.

Some of you (and now \l{Jason|/random/openid-presentation.html#comments}) already know that I shall be returning to Catalyst to work, some of you don't know and besides, it's already \l{out there|http://she.geek.nz/archives/432-complete-failure-to-update.html} anyway - hi pennypants, you beat me by a day :-)

So yep, today was my last day contracting but to be honest, I'm not going to talk about it much, except to say that I now know where I am meant to be.

When I left Catalyst before Christmas, it was because of the pull of the new place rather than because I wanted to leave. Maybe it was a rash decision (hindsight eh!) but these things happen. Yes, there were a few other factors but nothing in this life is simple. So instead of seeing out my current contract, I decided to make a decision and go with it - I'm fairly headstrong when I make a decision. I spoke to one of the Catalyst directors a few weeks ago and I said "I'd love to come back, I miss the place and the people too much." He replied "We'd love to have you back" and that was that, decision made.

Ignoring many (many) things that contribute towards work and a workplace, two things stuck out in my mind as being quite important to me. Yes there are other factors, but as I said, I'm ignoring those here.

The first is that, within Catalyst, it's the IT staff who make the decisions because first and foremost the company creates software. Unlike many other places of work the geeks come first - I obviously like that being a programmer and all. For example, in many other organisations (think banks et al) the geeks are just overhead trying to keep things ticking over so that other people can do their work.

Maybe I don't like being an overhead.

Secondly, one of the things I miss the most is the Open Source world. You knew that right? There is so much going on, things you can play with, learn, use open standards (which always comes in handy), new technologies spring up all the time and to top it all off it has some of the brightest people I have ever worked with. I feel it's a constant learning curve with so much to know and everyone is always willing to help.

It just creates a really nice atmosphere and Catalyst pretty much embodies the Open Source world to which I feel such an attachment.

Recently, I started a CMS called Zaapt and knew from the start that I would give it away freely as open source. I may never make any money off this thing and God knows I've put enough hours into it but that's missing the point. I have worked with and enjoyed using other people's software for many years, which they too also open sourced, and I feel that giving back to the community is the right thing to do. Hopefully Zaapt will get bigger so that many other people use it (fingers crossed) and only then I can feel my contribution back to the Open Source community has helped.

So, I have a week off to chill out and go see some family, and I'll be starting on the 25th June. Maybe by then I'll have finished my novel too.

Labels: open-source, planet-geek, planet-catalyst

Inserted: 2007-06-15 14:58 (3 years, 2 months ago)

OpenID Presentation

Last night I did an OpenID presentation to the Wellington PerlMongers.

I think it went okay. It had a fair bit of introduction to OpenID and a bit more Perl later on. There were lots of questions about it. I think it's one of those things that people have heard about but never really looked at it. So hopefully, it'll get people talking about it a bit more and maybe even have a play with it.

I think it's quite cool and my example (which I'll tart up one day and put here) works quite well.

There were some things I couldn't work out about it though so I'll have to try one of the other modules.

I'll add the link to the slides once I get them up and going.

Update: 2007-06-14 11:58 - Slides are now up - Consuming OpenIDs

Labels: planet-geek, open-id, perl-mongers

Inserted: 2007-06-13 23:37 (3 years, 2 months ago)

My Second Novel is 25% Complete

After just one week of SoCNoC, I'm already 25% done!

After one week of NaNoWriMo, I'd probably only does a few thousand words, but now I'm sitting pretty on over 12,500.

This year is so amazing so far. I've pretty much been living and breathing the KiwiWriters site for 6 months or so now and just having it all come together is fantastic. It's beyond all our expectations so far and I'm sure this is going to continue.

We now have:

  • 56 participants
  • average of 2,000 hits per day
  • collectively written almost 300,000 words - that million is definitely possible

So all in all, it's great so far and I hope it'll get better as the month wears on.

Labels: soc-noc, kiwi-writers, novel

Inserted: 2007-06-07 23:18 (3 years, 2 months ago)

KiwiWriters is getting 3,000 Hits per Day

Before SoCNoC started in June, our hit count was ramping up. Now it's gone off the scale.

Our progress over the last few months has been reasonably steady. In February we were hitting a couple of hundred hits a day. In Mar and April, it was more like a few hundred.

Then May really started taking off. We hit our record on about 6 different days, going from 300ish to well over 600 and hitting, 700, 800 and then 900 on the 31st May,

I expected June would take us over a thousand, say 1,500, but it's gone completely crazy. We're now getting almost 3,000 hits per day!!!

Of course, me being the optimist says that if we keep this up and do a few more, then we might even get 100,000 for the whole month. Now that would be something special.

:-) Happy :-) Happy :-) Joy :-) Joy :-)

Labels: kiwi-writers, planet-geek, google-analytics

Inserted: 2007-06-04 22:54 (3 years, 3 months ago)

An Oldie but so Very Cool

How about a crop circle with the Firefox Logo.

Here's a fantastic story of how they made a Firefox Crop Circle.

How great is that!

Labels: firefox, crop-circle

Inserted: 2007-06-02 19:46 (3 years, 3 months ago)

SoCNoC Underway and it's Already Mad

Just a short post to say hi and that SoCNoC is going mad.

In just two days we have had:

  • an explosion of people, now 80 people signed up to the site
  • 50 people signed up to the challenge
  • we have already passed a collective 50,000 words
  • a new blog on KiwiWriters.org, called the Klog

And last but not least:

It's going completely mad at the moment and I'm sure it'll get madder as the month goes on.

Labels: soc-noc, planet-geek, press-clippings

Inserted: 2007-06-02 19:09 (3 years, 3 months ago)