Why do birds suddenly appear

Tue Jun 26

Get SongbirdIt’s nice to see one of my new favourite pieces of software getting a bit of attention as it really is a fine tool. Part web browser, part media player, it helps me keep up to date with the massive amount of music available - legally! - for free online.

And when you can do this to an application, you know the developers care. Mmmm, tasty skinning.

Eric Sink on Requirements

Wed Jun 6

I often read Eric Sink’s blog for down-to-earth discussion of technology. You won’t find many fuzzy marketing phrases there, let me tell you. One of his recent articles about requirements struck a chord with me because of the ridiculous escapade I’ve just started.

Planning is great, as long as the plans are going to be useful as the project progresses. Paperwork for paperwork’s sake is useless. Specifications should be detailed enough so everyone knows what’s expected, but not so detailed that everyone loses any creativity. And, of course, you should only require the things that really are required.

It’s a tough ethos to stick to, but one that every modern web entreprenuer needs to get sorted. I am, as you may have guessed, just beginning.

Genius

Mon May 14

The projectGenie website has had a little makeover using the estimable Wordpress system. While not much has changed on the surface, underneath the bonnet it’s an entirely different animal which means it’s a whole lot easier to update. So, hopefully, that will mean no more 5 month gaps between announcements.

And speaking of announcements, there’s good news. I’ve started (albeit slowly) to rewrite the projectGenie software for the forthcoming Brookmeyer version. As well as using my JavaScript library based on Prototype for click-candy purposes, it also has a few neat new features. For example user flags for items, sortable lists, finance management and time management.

projectGenie (yes the ‘p’ is meant to be lower case, don’t ask me why) is a completely free project management system written in PHP and using a MySQL database. Designed for website development teams it could also be used by pretty much anyone else wanting something better than a stack of scribbled notes on the back of envelopes, but without the budget for something all-singing, all-dancing.

Ubuntu for the masses

Wed May 2

Hot on the heels of my lament that the media doesn’t do Linux justice comes the news that Dell are to start shipping computers with Ubuntu. This is severn shades of greatness, and will hopefully lead to a dramatic rise in interest of Ubuntu (and free software in general) by people previously unaware of the beauty that is Linux.

But even more than that, what do I see on the Dell website? Only that Michael Dell, chairman and head honcho, uses Ubuntu and Evolution at home. Fantastic. This guy has more than enough money, business and common sense to choose anything he wants (nice set of computers, Mike), and he chooses Ubuntu.

Linux as a viable business desktop platform

Tue May 1

While no-one can doubt the widespread use of Linux as a server platform - the latest figures still show a clear lead for Apache, Linux’s flagship web server software - it’s take-up on the desktop has been slow. OK, let’s be honest, it’s take-up on the desktop has been virtually non-existent. For example, ask any of your non-techy friends if they’ve ever used Linux and you’ll probably hear most of them say “no”. Or possibly even “what’s Linux?”.

It’s an unfortunate situation to be in, as trying to rock the monopoly of Microsoft isn’t an easy thing - I would guess just their marketing budget alone is bigger than the combined budgets of most Open Source software development companies. Still, Microsoft has brought the computer to the masses and without that there’s no chance anyone would use anything - whether it’s proprietary or free.

So it’s a bit disappointing to see that a respectable online magazine misses a trick in an otherwise excellent piece when talking about the new Microsoft OS Vista compared to Linux. The trick they’ve missed is this:

Alternatives? Desktop Linux is the obvious choice but there remain gotchas. For example, while the bases are pretty much covered in terms of basic applications such as OpenOffice, there’s still no credible open source replacement for the Outlook client, in which many workers live from day to day.

True, most workers do live in Outlook day by day, and they need to know they wont lose that functionality if they move to a non-Microsoft system. So it’s good that there is such software freely available.

Evolution, sponsored by Novell, is the free software world’s answer to Outlook. And it’s good, with features that would look respectable on anyone’s desktop. It even integrates with Exchange, Microsofts email server system.

I don’t pretend to believe that Linux is the be-all-and-end-all of computing, the world needs commercial software just as it needs commercial everything else. However the gap between Microsoft and the free software world is narrowing, and I’d love to see more businesses take on Linux for their desktops.

Me? I’m waiting for Ubuntu Studio. Once that is released, it’s been unfortunately delayed (see? it even happens to the good guys!) I see no reason to use Windows at home. Fantastic.