Done yesterday (20100430 Fr)

[mdlbear]

0430 Fr
  * up 6:40; W=197.2; drugs, nose, teeth
  @ ebooks: Ebook readers: Things to consider before buying
  * ask for vacation for Mom's visit (0514 Fr, 0517 Mo)
  * ask for vacation for Baycon (0528 Fr)
  * ask for vacation for Westercon (0701 Th, 0702 Fr)
  * travel request for OSCon (0720 Tu - 0723 Fr)
  @ Thoughts on Flash  (Steve Jobs on why Apple doesn't use flash on iPad)
    some good reasons, some ironic (not open), and some just plain evil
    (Apple thinks cross-platform tools are bad.  Bad for _them_, yeah.)
  @ Cows with names make more milk
  * walk: 4x around pond.
  * Colleen got to Chase; took check to broker.
  * looked up Fry's $90 CPU/MB combo.  Looks more than sufficient for YD
  * take-home pay understandably lower after increasing deductions 
  % drifting.  losing ground on disthymia, self-care, diet, exercise, phone
    calls to friends, etc.  Financial situation doesn't help.
  * buy: coffee 
  @ patent 7703002
  * Colleen needs a squid on her side of the bed.  Wouldn't hurt for me to
    have one, either.  Could get rid of the power strip on the top shelf.
  * talk with Colleen about (person interested in a room)
    Big problem is the fact that YD wants $BF to move in 
    -> no, can't do it.  Not now, anyway.
  & spent a frustrating hour on the FSA website.  And they seem to have
    defaulted to sending email (which I don't receive) instead of paper.
  ? FSA 2009 final claims due by April 30 (May 30?  Can't find on website!)
  * bed 11ish; S=8914 - better.

A pretty good day. Productive both at work and at home, and I took a good walk, put in vacation and travel requests, and bought coffee.

And, in spite of my feelings about software patents, an issuance bonus will be nice. I found out about 7703002 in the usual way, by getting mail from a company that wants to sell me a plaque. Where would I put it?

Still, by evening I was feeling rather down, which is getting to be the usual thing lately. I feel as though I'm drifting. Losing ground on disthymia, self-care, diet, exercise, phone calls to friends, etc. The financial situation doesn't help -- it's one more thing for me to beat myself up about.

Enough of that. I got a lot done; the eve of Beltane is, I think, conducive to a little reflection, though not as much so as Samhain.

The usual collection of links, including Steve Jobs' Thoughts on Flash. The main reason he doesn't like it is that it's cross-platform, and he doesn't want cross-platform apps -- he wants developers as well as customers to be locked-in. To which I say, PTHPTT.

And here's a (highly NSFW) freebie -- Jonathan Coulton's The First of May.

Comments

[solarbird]

Yay bonus! (Even if I feel the same as you about software patents.)

The main reason he doesn't like it is that it's cross-platform, and he doesn't want cross-platform apps -- he wants developers as well as customers to be locked-in. To which I say, PTHPTT.
That's unfair; he's against cross-platform application environments which are controlled by a single company. HTML5 et al are cross-platform, but a multiparty standard, and he's for that.

[mdlbear]

Apparently the developer's license agreement also prohibits cross-platform interpreted languages including perl, python, and I think even java.

HTML5 is sandboxed -- there are things you can't do.

[idea-fairy.livejournal.com]

The stated reason for objecting to cross-platoform apps is that they pretty much have to be Lowest-Common-Denominator. If Platform X has a feature that's not available on Platform Y or Z, a truly cross-platform app won't be able to use that feature and still remain cross-platform.

There may be ways around this problem, but it does need to be addressed, even if you think it's a red herring.

[mdlbear]

But most apps -- especially games, but also interactive books and so on -- don't need more than the LCD. And the features supported by HTML5, which they _do_ allow, are LCD by construction.

And the techniques for detecting and using available platform-specific features are well-known and widely used, and have been for decades.

[montemplar.livejournal.com]

The way I see it, Apple and Adobe (and Microsoft, for that matter) are all for HTML5 - but at the same time, they're angling to try and get their technology and/or patents incorporated into it, as a means of ensuring future revenue streams. A pox on all their houses, I say!