A friend asked me what was the single most important core attribute of open source software. Of course, as the name suggests, it is the open source code - making the source code available to everyone under a valid license. However, I think it is useless if the openness gets limited only to the source code. [Continue]
My answer for the weakest link in software development today is the estimation, and for various reasons. Most of the times the people who estimate and people who develop are different, their skillsets are different, and most importantly the business needs and constraints change at a higher frequency. Of course we know this, that is why agile development has flourished. [Continue]
You will be able to visit this blog at iface.thoughts, that is if ICANN lets me have the domain, and if I cam come up with all the money. Not much probable! But ICANN has approved expansion of the Top Level Domains (TLDs). [Continue]
The hype around open sourcing of Java has mostly died down after the announcement. Not many have followed it up. Red Hat had started the IcedTea project to remove the last obstacle in freeing Java. [Continue]
Finally! Adobe AIR is now available on Linux, though it is not a full-featured release yet. The good thing is that this release includes the SDK and Flex Builder 3 along with the runtime. [Continue]
A List Apart has an informative article by Aarron Walter on Findability. Findability leads to better usage, which can lead to benefits for businesses and individuals. It requires explicit attention and effort to incorporate it in not only during the development but also through all the changes that happen over years. [Continue]
We knew Acid3 was already cooking. It is now ready. The test can help the browser developer find bugs quickly and fix them, like the Webkit team has been doing. [Continue]
Copyrights and licenses are not the most interesting subjects in software development. Unfortunately they cannot be bypassed, they have to be confronted. The free and open source software movement has always had a legal side which is working on this. [Continue]
Ubuntu does a Dell, and wants you to brainstorm (via Slashdot)with it on what features you want in it. It is a good idea, but to be really effective it has to attract people who are not being heard, or who are not on Linux, or who feel that Ubuntu is too geeky to be used. Otherwise it will have votes from the same old already-vocal slashdotters, diggers and the existing geeks. [Continue]
Kevin Kelly has a brilliant piece about how, in the times of easy duplication and reproduction, can we perform better than free. He comes up with eight generatives better than free that provide value because they cannot be copied, which can very well be the founding aspects of many well-to-do businesses today. Maintaining the generatives will sustain the value, I think it provides a lot of insight into how ideas can succeed. [Continue]