In-the-Clouds-with-SO... Bookmarks
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New Diigo group with overlapping subject matter, more focused on the web.
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Glide 3.0 has been released and it is excellent! Does not yet run on a Treo, but htings are looking great. The sync program is very intriguing, and they seem to have a well thought out hosting model. Way beyond Google Docs and Zoho. Not much information on the file format side of things. Glide is written in Flex with native OS adaptations written in C-C++. Optimized for Firefox. I'm still ocnfused about the browser vs. Flex runtime (VM).
more from www.transmediacorp.com
Adobe's Erik Larson introduces Acrobat.com. His blog comments echo his post in response to an article at ComputerWorld: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9091678 In the CW article, Guy Creese of the Burton Group holds the line, defending, as expected, the Microsoft alighnment of MSOffice, Exchange and SharePoint.
more from blogs.adobe.com
The developer site for OpenSolaris High Performance Computing project. Site contains major clues about things to come with OpenSolaris, e.g., the Projects index page includes entries for KDE and Gnome porting projects.
more from www.opensolaris.org
good interview with Kevin Lynch about the future of the Web. Covers AIR, Flex, Flash, Silverlight and how the Web is moving from universal access and exchange of documents to that of applications. Lynch places Adboe products into a larger context of which problems these inventions solved. The new problem is that of expanding the Web to the desktop through these emerging universal applications.
more from knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu
The IOWA Comes vs. Microsoft antitrust suit evidence is now publicly available. This ZDNet Talkback posts an extraordinary eMail from Bill Gates concerning the need to control MSOffice formats and protocols as Microsoft pushes onto the Web. The key point is that Chairman Bill understands that the real threat to Microsoft is that of Open Web formats and protocols outside of Microsoft's control. It's 1998, and the effort to "embrace and eXtend" W3C HTML, XHTML, SVG and CSS isn't working well. The good Chairman notifies the troops that MSOffice must come up with another plan. Interestingly, it's not until 2001, when OpenOffice releases an XML encoding of the OpenOffice/StarOffice imbr that Microsoft finally sees a solution! (imbr = in-memory-binary-representation) The MSOffice crew immediately sets to work creating a similar XML encoding of the MSOffice binary (imbr) dump. The first result is released in the MSOffice 2003 beta as "WordprocessingML and SpreadsheetML". XML was designed as a structured language for creating specific structured languages. OpenOffice saw the potential of using XML to create an OpenOffice specific XML language. MSOffice seized the innovation and the rest is history. Problem solved! So what was the "problem" the good Chairman identified in this secret eMail? It's that the Web is the future, and Microsoft needed to find a way of leveraging their existing desktop document "editor" monopoly share into owning and controlling the Web formats produced by Microsoft applications. MSOffice OOXML is the result. ISO approval of MSOffice OOXML is beyond important to Microsoft. It establishes MSOffice "editors" as standards compliant. It also establishes the application, platform and vendor specific MSOffice OOXML as an international "open" standard. Many will ask why this isn't a case of Microsoft actually opening up the MSOffice formats in compliance with government antitrust demands. It is "compliance", but not in the sense of what the world expects and needs. It's compliance with what the world demanded back in 1995: full documentation of the application specific MSOffice binary (and xml encoded) format representation. The thing is, the web is the future. What matters is the conversion of MSOffice OOXML to a web ready format. In December of 2007, when much of the world was focused on the 1995 battle between OpenOffice ODF and MSOffice OOXML at ISO, Microsoft released the MSOffice 2007 SDK beta. In this beta was a nifty two way conversion component for converting OOXML <> XAML "fixed/flow". Uh Oh. XAML is the "Web ready" format aspect of the entirely proprietary Windows Presentation Foundation layer (WPF). XAML joins Silverlight, XPS, Smart Tags and LINQ as core components of WPF. These core components can be seen as proprietary alternatives to Open Web and Adobe standards such as the W3C's XHTML, CSS, SVG, XForms, CDF, RDF, RDFa, SPARQL, Mozilla's XUL, JavaScript, and Adobe's Flash, Flex, AIR, PDF and ePUB. And there you go. The IE 8.0 beta limits support to HTML-5 bits and CSS 2.1. Forget about JavaScript, SVG, RDF, and XHTML. What i see here is that Microsoft is preparing a complete Web-Stack of business oriented applications and services capable of speaking both "low level" Web and "high level" WPF (XAML-Silverlight). Look at the connection between MSOffice and the Exchange/SharePoint/SQL Server Web-Stack. It's filled with proprietary protocols and format conversions. Microsoft owns the "client" in client/server. The OBA (Office Business Architecture) binds many a client/server business process and more than a few workgroup-workflow activities. It was the OBA phenomenon that stopped ODF in Massachusetts! Stopped it so cold that the phrase "ODF is impossible to implement" found it's way into the general lexicon. So imagine that the world is really thirsting to migrate these client/server business processes to the newly emerging model known as client/Web-Stack/server. Microsoft has been busy putting in the pieces to facilitate this, but, as the 1998 eMail reads, seeks to control the transition. They needed their own "web ready" formats and protocols; including the collaboration protocols! They also needed a Web-Stack capable of speaking both Open Web and MS Web. My feeling is that ISO approval of MSOffice OOXML was the final piece to the MS puzzle. It solved the antitrust problem while protecting the proprietary WPF alternative to Open Web formats and protocols. In the aftermath of ISO approval, Live-Mesh and Silverlight development efforts were thrown into high gear. The Exchange/SharePoint/SQL-S3erver juggernaut looks unstoppable. And MSOffice is now an open standards compliant "editor" producing formats that have only one useful future direction; a XAML "fixed/flow" web ready direction. In light of these developments, it makes sense that Microsoft would comply with as many antitrust related ISO NB concerns as possible. Supporting ODF in MSOffice and joining the OASIS ODF TC are a small price to pay for the opportunity ISO approval of MSOffice-OOXML creates. ODF is not an interoperable format anyway, so data loss on conversion happens to everyone. Who can blame Microsoft for lousy conversions when, after over five years as a member of the OASIS ODF TC, KOffice will have even worse conversion fidelity! It's important to note that the greatest threat to Microsoft's Web push is that of antitrust. If they can corral antitrust concerns and focus them on 1995 issues, they can push MSOffice client/server to the MS Web without notice. Thus achieving exactly what antitrust was designed to prevent; the leveraging of an existing monopoly into control and dominance of emerging markets. At the end of the day, Google may well own the "consumer" side of the Web. With Microsoft owning the "business" side of the Web. Such is the power of controlling that transition from client/server to client/Web-Stack/server and the Mesh of SOA, SaaS and Web RIA 3.0 that follows. Hope this helps, ~ge~
more from talkback.zdnet.com
list of email evidence presented in the antitrust action Microsoft rushed to settle.
more from iowa.gotthefacts.org
Another JavaSript library concept, but this time secure. Not as robust as jQuery, but Yahoo is off to a great start. wikiWORD could use this for dynamic page generation.
more from browserplus.yahoo.com
Aaron Miller writes about the limitations and difficulties with ePUB. He suggests a new format, "BOOK" based on ePUB but web ready. BOOK is an AJAX format in that it includes (X)HTML, CSS and JavaScript! Excellent stuff! The discussion on this page is one of the best on the Web. ePUB gets thrashed, but with arguments very difficult to contest. The web is everything, and Aaron's friends fully understand this. Sadly, the ePUB crowd does not. I found this site looking to solve the problem of numbered lists in ePUB.
more from www.teleread.org
More confusion about the MS announcement of native support for ODF, with delayed support for whatever ISO finally determines to be ISO 29500; "OOXML". Damn but these guys are all twisted up about this. The truth is, ISO National Bodies traded their vote in favor of OOXML for MSOffice support for ODF and Microsoft's joining the OASIS ODF TC. It's not complicated. MS wants ISO approval of OOXML because it established MSOffice as a "standards" editor. The rest of this kurfufull is all about anti trust concerns and Microsoft's need to put htose concerns to bed before the world figures out that they are leveraging the MS desktop monopoly into an MS Web monopoly. ISO approval of OOXML is the final piece of very complex puzzle. The harmonization of OOXML-ODF is impossible. MS knows this. So why not join OASIS ODF TC if it means putting aside the anti trust claims from ISO NB's and getting that all important standardization of OOXML? Both ODF and OOXML are both XML encodings of entirely application specific binary formats. There is no possible to way to reconcile the file formats without also reconciling the applications! Incuding feature sets and layout engines!!!! Impossible!! The real game is the transition from client/server to the emerging client/Web-Stack/server model. MS is the "client" in client/server. No way were they about to give that up without a plan to control the transition of MSOffice documents to the emerging client/Web-Stack/server model. They sought to fully control the formats, protocols and API's of this new model. ISO handed it to them. The thing to watch is the MSOffice SDK where one can find a very cool OOXML <> XAML converter. XAML is totally proprietary, but "web ready". Meaning, MSOffice is a "web ready" application. It's just that the web readiness is 100% MS .NET-Silverlight. The great transition to client/Web-Stack/server is now on. Thanks to ISO. All this ODF stuff is just background noise designed to quiet the anti trust crowd. Despicable, but well done. ~ge~
more from www.fool.com
great article walking through the history of HTML, XHTML, and browsers. Summary is that HTML5 is the future. Good thinking, great arguments.
more from www.digital-web.com
IBM's Arnaud La Hors on why Microsoft should be blamed for what is inevitable given that ODF is not designed for interoperability and is not application-neutral. One might rationally fault Microsoft for not having joined the ODF TC earlier, but the ODF TC studiously avoided enabling interoperability even among ODF implementations and ODF has almost no mandatory conformity requirements, with application-specific extensions classified as conformant. The real ODF standard is the OOo code base controlled by Sun Microsystems. IBM played along with that game and cloned the OOo code base instead of fighting on the TC to make the myth of ODF interoperability come true. I don't see a lot of moral high ground for IBM here.
more from lehors.wordpress.com
New version of the most advanced major W3C Compound Document Formats solution's basic edition. Licensed for non-profit and evaluation purposes only. If you are using the Blog Editor from earlier versions, note the warning.
more from https
Microsoft is leading the tech industry’s charge up Capitol Hill, according to statistics released Monday. The world's largest software company spent $9 million on lobbyists to make its case in issues including taxes and trade, according to statistics compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
more from www.redherring.com
Companies building websites should beware of proprietary rich-media technologies like Adobe's Flash and Microsoft's Silverlight, the founder of Mozilla Europe has warned. Speaking at the Internet World conference in London on Tuesday, Tristan Nitot claimed such applications threaten the open nature of the internet because the companies behind them could "have an agenda".
more from news.zdnet.com
2006 MSDN white paper that is the best overview I've found thus far of the bridges Microsoft is building between Office 2007 and the Microsoft cloud. 12 pp. Somewhat dated in the intervening two years. Describes the Microsoft "line of business" vision for vertical markets in some detail. "This white paper introduces Office Business Applications (OBAs), a new breed of easily customizable solutions that address real-world business problems through the 2007 Microsoft Office system. OBAs deliver people-centric, collaborative solutions to the enterprise through familiar Microsoft Office servers, clients, and tools. This document discusses today's business environment, identifies a "results gap" that contributes to reduced productivity, and shows that OBAs are an effective new approach that enables enterprises to achieve the "last mile of productivity." You will see that several key components of the 2007 Microsoft Office system can be used to develop Office Business Applications and that, when Line of Business Integration (LOBi) for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server is released, it will further simplify the development of OBAs. Finally, if you would like to develop a collaboration-planning scenario using the 2007 Office system, just follow the steps outlined in this paper."
more from msdn.microsoft.com
