Matt Croydon::Postneo

Month: December 2002

  • Open Source and Proprietary Licensing Problems

    More licensing questions, this time from Alan James Salmoni at Advogato:

    Will MS and the FSF allow me to mix GPL’d Python code with an instance of MS’s Internet Explorer? Help!!!

    • Is it “safe” for me to release the program (whether under an open source or proprietary license) to the unsuspecting public, when the program will need to embed IE into it, but doesn’t include IE at all?
    • Would the GPL allow me to embed an instance of IE within my program?

    Don’t flame the messenger, and your best bet is probably to comment on the article.

  • New .NET Bloggers On the Block

    Sam Gentile points to a few new bloggers that he is keeping track of:

    I found two more new .NET Bloggers in my Referal logs to welcome to our community: Badre Narayanan and Jesse Ezell.  Welcome and RSS-subscribed!

    Clemens Vasters is keeping track of another blogger:

    Welcome a new blogger on the block: Morten Abrahamsen! (Blog, RSS). Morten is a friend of mine who I met at one of my many visits to Norway last year.

     

  • The R Project for Statistical Computing

    Somehow I missed it yesterday, but Kenneth Hunt pointed to the R Project for Statistical Computing.  It looks like a damn powerful little package. The R Project for Statistical Computing

  • SimPy

    David Mertz at IBM DeveloperWorks covers SimPy, a Python simulation package:

    The stochastic behavior of real-world systems is often difficult to understand or predict. Sometimes it is possible rigorously to demonstrate statistical properties of systems, such as average, worst-case, and best-case performance features. But at other times, pitfalls of concrete designs only become evident when you actually run (or simulate) a system. In this article, David takes a look at SimPy, a Python package that allows you to very easily create models of discrete event systems.

    [via NewsForge]

  • Autoreplies

    That’s two autoreplies to two emails this evening: Richard Stallman and Dan Gillmor.  I wonder how much spam they recieve in a day.  Goodnight all.

  • Russell ‘Bluetooth’ Beattie

    Russ is dreaming about wireless again, this time about Bluetooth.  I so need to check out BluetoothUnplugged.com when I get a chance

  • Variable Variables

    Scott Johnson plays around with variable variables in PHP.  Also, you can now buy inbox buddy through digibuy.

  • CC/GPL

    Phillip sheds some light on my Creative Commons as software licensing question:

    IMHO the GPL is “attribution + share alike”, and the BSD/MIT licenses are “attribution”. They’re just somewhat better understood for software. Any combination of “attribution” and “share alike” should be GPL-compatible.

    Cool.  I was thinking that the creative commons licenses should be GPL comptible at least in theory, but I was curious about what other people thought.  More speculations are welcome, of course.

    Sam Ruby has some insight this morning:

    The key difference between by-sa and GPL is one of marketing genious.

    Had Jon merely copyrighted his work, you could have copied it had you asked for and obtained Jon’s permission.  All Jon has done is let you know in advance under what conditions you are not even required to ask.

    …When you skip the intermediaries.

  • Slackware Review

    OSNews:

    CRM wrote in to tell us that the folks at Distrowatch have tried Slackware on for size. The review can be found in its entirety here. Conclusions are not surprising: impressive, stable distro, but if you like bells and whistles, stay away.

    Slackware.  Lots of floppy disks.  I miss those days.

  • SkipHours

    As I blog around the clock, I disabled Radio’s SkipHours feature for RSS, which is enabled by default.  I wonder if this is why java.blogs hasn’t hit my RSS file since a few days ago.

  • Creative Commons and Open Source Implications

    What kind of effect are the new Creative Commons licenses going to have on open source software?  I just released some code (which was just a little hack on Jon Udell’s code) under the attribution-share alike license.  I’m bound to do so, since Jon released his code under that license.

    How do the Creative Commons licenses interact with open source licenses such as the GPL, BSD, MIT, etc?  I know that the creative commons licenses are more for content and creative stuff, but it’s just been applied to code.  What are the consequences?

    IANAL, (I am not a Lawyer for those people that end up here via google six months from now), so I don’t know, but I’d love to hear about it.  I know that the Creative Commons licenses have all kinds of other implications, I just can’t think of them right now.

  • AmazonLookup and BNLookup Update

    Updated AmazonLookup and BNLookup to include a redirect option instead of a popup window.  This feature was at Dan Gillmor’s request.  I’ve also released the code under the same creative commons attribution-sharealike license that Jon used for the original code.

  • PHPLog 0.3

    PHPLog is not a weblog app like I thought it was when I first clicked on it.  It is, however, a cool looking log monitor:

    PHPLog is intended to become a lightweight log monitoring solution for home users, as well as a candidate for being distributed on larger networks and report to a central console.

    It is currently in an alpha stage, though the author states that the parts that are implemented should be beta-level stable.  Here’s the freshmeat page if you want to keep tabs on it.

  • Tiki 1.4 (Mira) Released

    Tiki 1.4 (Mira) has been released.  Changes:

    Lot of new features added like quizzes, HTML pages with a dynamic option, a Shoutbox, improved spellchecking content templates, integrated search feature and many minor enhancements and additions.

    There’s also an impressive bulleted list of other major and minor changes and tweaks.

  • The Name’s Gump. Andy Gump

    Andy Oliver makes the case for Gump:

    So now you fix the nags as they happen, you know when major dependency breaks happen… Whoa…what are you going to do durring that integration phase? Buy Sam Ruby a beer and thank him.

    The last time I messed with Gump was before I read Erik and Steve’s awesome Java Development with Ant.  I need to play with Gump again in my “spare time,” as it would definately help me keep up with bleeding edge stuff in a fairly easy way.  I love how the entire java-based apache universe builds in just over an hour.

  • PyCon DC 2003 Buzz

    Lots of buzz at the PyCon DC 2003 wiki.  There’s also quite a bit going across the wire on the mailing list, but all the major info is migrating quite nicely to the wiki.

    This is shaping up to be an awesome conference.  It will hopefully cost less than $200 to register (great idea, keep it cheap!)  I’m doing my best to spread the word.  If you have any suggestions for specific tracks that you’d like to see at the con, or specific topics covered, email me or the pycon list or feel free to contribute to the wiki.

    I live just outside of DC, so attending this con is a no-brainer for me.  I know that there are lots of Python bloggers out there (you know who you are), and I’m sure that I can organize some kind of blogger-related extracurricular activities.  If you’re reading this and are planning to attend, get in touch with me so that we can start to get things together.  Steve and the guys plan to make sure the place is lit up with 802.11b, so don’t be shy.

    If you’re looking to keep hotel prices low, you can stay at a hotel out in the ‘burbs and take advantage of the metro system.  If you’re flying, Regan National Airport (DCA) is on the metro system.  If you’re taking the train, Union Station is on the metro system.

  • SOAP 1.2

    Clemens Vasters is on top of it as always:

    One step closer. SOAP 1.2 has reached W3C candidate recommendation status. Primer, Part 1, Part 2.

  • Virtual PC

    Greg Reinacker likes what he sees in the Virtual PC specs:

    Among other things, what an awesome tool to test application installations.  I can create an image with, say, Windows .NET Server, and save it.  I can then start this OS, run my installation package, see how it went, and undo the whole thing automatically to restore the previous image.  Instantly.

  • Eclipse Microkernel Discussion

    Carlos Perez discusses the Eclipse microkernel used in other projects, particularly JLense.

  • ‘Blogs’ Article at The Washington Post

    The Washington Post Business section this morning has a fairly large article “above the fold” on weblogging, titled, “Free Speech- Virtually: Legal Constraints on Web Jounrlas Suprise Many ‘Bloggers’”.  I’m out the door, so I’ll let you discuss it amongst yourselves.