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Simon Phipps's personal commentary

Swimming at last [PhotoTravel]

Finally got out to the lagoon today and swam in the wonderfully warm water at sunrise (OK, so now you all hate me...). There were plenty of interesting fish, but the highlight for me was swimming along with a huge sea turtle as it headed towards the ocean. Stately and elegant, it didn't care at all that I was trying to follow it.

Later in the day I spotted another turtle sleeping on the beach and, taking great care not to break the local laws about disturbing sea turtles, I was able to take a closer look. They are huge, probably 3'6" long and 3' wide, very leathery in appearance and clearly most at home in the water. The one I saw was soaking up the sun, recharging its batteries for a long night in the water. Lovely! There may be captive dolphins at the hotel but the pleasure of swimming freely with wild turtles is something I prefer.

posted at 11:59 PM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |

IPR offensive due? [WebTech]

Had you been wondering why Microsoft has been so keen recently to promote neutrality in the software ecosystem (I'd love to tell you where I most recently encountered this but I'm afraid it's a secret...)? Well, Dan Gillmor believes that it's because they are getting ready to switch from defensive use of patents to offensive use of patents.

Microsoft is going after open source. Make no mistake about this. I believe the primary method will be to launch patent lawsuits, and that this war will start fairly soon. Microsoft has explicitly threatened to do this, and I don't know how the open-source community can respond.

I hope that the fact the open source community is composed in no small part from the employees of large corporations (joining the community so their customers don't have to) will mean that such an offensive would be strenuously repelled.

posted at 9:47 PM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |

Open Source is great for corporations... [WebTech]

I vaguely remember the discussion with John Zipperer that led to his item in Internet World this month. Sadly, I think the way the quotes are assembled there doesn't do justice to my views. When I said

"When it comes to corporate end users, I generally believe they don't need to be getting into open source; they need stuff that works. To the corporate executive, open source has all the same connotations as a free kitten: it sounds great, but it has high maintenance."

I was referring to use of the source code, not the resulting software. As people tend to forget to make the distinction, it sounds like I am not in favour of the corporate use of open source software. The opposite is true. I think the benefits of open source software - better code, better functionality, fewer bugs, greater security, lower costs - are ones every company needs but they don't want to have to hack code to get them. What they need is someone to join the open source community on their behalf, represent and support them, so they can gain the benefits without having to touch the code.

posted at 9:15 PM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |

Now in Hawai'i with intermittent connections - attending the OMA meeting. Expecting lots of heavy duty corporate politics and not much time swimming in the lagoon...

posted at 8:59 PM (UK) | Comment? (0 so far) | links to this post | |