permalink.gif 2003-11-11

permalink.gif Sure I'd trust Microsoft with my data again...

Tue Nov 11 17:20:31 GMT 2003  Permalink 

Good grief I can't even start Outlook now. It opens then immediately runs up to 100% CPU and sits there unresponsive. I'm not even sure it will work to the extent that other clients importers will be able to get the data out. What do I do then?

One thing you can be certain of. I will never buy into a world of Microsoft controlled DRM. They don't build the kind of software that I would trust not to lose my licenses, invalidate my data or lock me out of my system. If this was Outlook + Palladium then doubtless the PST files on my backup CD wouldn't be readable by now either.

I can't wait to say "Good riddance Outlook."

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20.30 Update

Sure enough I tried to use Bloomba to import my Outlook mail and no go.  It spent 2 hrs twiddling it's thumbs while Outlook just looked on and laughed it's fiendish laugh.  My next step will be to do a final backup and then attempt to re-install Outlook so that I can export my mail archives into another application.

What a drag.
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permalink.gif Blair be damned!

Tue Nov 11 12:19:45 GMT 2003  Permalink 

Blair wants rift with US healed. Europe and America must heal their divisions over Iraq and work together on winning the peace, says Tony Blair. [BBC News | World | UK Edition]

Blairs suggests that the divisions between Europe and the US are simply the result of anti-Americanism. In this he not only ignores America's absurb lurch to the right but also the truth - at least as I have observed it - that what is growing is a sense of resentment about the Blair and Bush administrations and how they behave, rather than about European views on the general population.

I for one have no interest in healing the rift between Europe and the Bush administration.  Nor do I think this will have any impact on the situation in Iraq since it will just signal more of the same.  Blairs original argument, that getting our feet under the table on Gulf War II would give us some influence, has been proved a hollow mistake.  Let's not give Bush any more authority to make things worse.

When a future US administration re-instates a respect for the rule of law, as it applies to itself rather than as they would apply it to others, then I think there will be less need to heal divisions and more willingness to resolve the issues that we have collectively brought upon ourselves.
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permalink.gif The document triangle

Tue Nov 11 12:02:27 GMT 2003  Permalink 

The interdependence of the structure, information and presentation dimensions. Peter J. Bogaards has written an article on the three aspects of documents: structure, information and presentation. To quote: Every paper and digital document shares three basic dimensions: structure, information and presentation. Although these dimensions are always interwoven, some people... [Column Two]

An interesting overview of the relationships between different aspects of documents and the data presented within them.
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permalink.gif Liberating civil liberties

Tue Nov 11 10:08:06 GMT 2003  Permalink 

I think this is a good speech by Al Gore on the subject of civil liberties in times of trouble.  I wanted post a summary but I've just realised I didn't re-install Copernic Summarizer after the last rebuild of this machine.  Must do that.

permalink.gif Before you give away all our freedoms

Tue Nov 11 09:58:22 GMT 2003  Permalink 

"This is the destiny of democracy, as not all means are acceptable to it, and not all practices employed by its enemies are open before it. Although a democracy must often fight with one hand tied behind its back, it nonetheless has the upper hand. Preserving the Rule of Law and recognition of an individual's liberty constitutes an important component in its understanding of security. At the end of the day they (add to) its strength."

permalink.gif War is hell

Tue Nov 11 09:18:05 GMT 2003  Permalink 


This Modern World. Chicken hawk down! [Salon.com]

[Reproduced with the kind permission of Tom Tomorrow]

permalink.gif Reigning in on patents

Tue Nov 11 06:32:27 GMT 2003  Permalink 

Patents on progress. Surfing tonight I've seen a couple of patents on what folk regard as obvious - Jon comments on XML pull parsers, and Gadgetopia

I've commented before on this subject but I'd like to reiterate my personal position: on streaming media (and at least one other I can't find). How can we possibly carry on like this? Patents protecting innovation are one thing, and I can find space in my thoughts for them. Patents taxing standardisation are another. They are surely anathema in a fast-paced, techno-centric culture?
Once a technology has, through an open process, been incorporated into a ratified standard from a recognised body like W3C, it should be impossible to assert patent rights over it unless they were asserted during the standardisation process.
I think that provides a reasonable compromise, and though I can at this point only speak for me, I'd love to see a body of us articulating that position and getting it into the law in some places that matter like the EU. If we don't patents will have become a tax by the unethical on progress. [WebMink]

I think this is certainly a good starting point.  Does anyone have a list of MP's & MEP's who are savvy to patent issuses?
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