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User: mdubinko

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Comments · 33

  1. Why Gates is Wrong on Information Overload Overblown, Says Gates · · Score: 1

    Having started a company with the tagline "Information overload solutions", I have a bit to say about this.

    Full entry on my blog -m

  2. XForms is backwards-compatible, including IE on Trouble Brewing at the W3C? · · Score: 2, Informative

    I happen to have recently surveyed XForms engines, and at least two of them under development run entirely within the client, in the style of gmail, Google Maps, Flickr, etc.

    Modern browsers are up to this, it just takes a (one-time) engineering effort, treating JavaScript as a full programming language.

    Of course, if browsers like Mozilla natively support XForms, all the better. -m

  3. To put it in gaming terms... on 2004 MN4, Even Higher Probability · · Score: 1

    Roll a d20, if you get 1 ,2, or 3, go to the next step.

    Next step: roll d20 again. If you get a 1, 2, or 3, the earth just got hit. -m

  4. That's 'XForms', not 'X Forms' on Time to Kill Microsoft Word? · · Score: 1

    Not to be picky or anything.

    FWIW, XForms is more aiming at the level of capturing the intent of a data collection form, not writing full-blown office suites.

    Follow the link for an interactive in-browser tutorial, and judge for yourself. -m

  5. XForms tutorial online on Mozilla Starts Work On XForms · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you want to see XForms in action, point your browser to XForms Institute

    This uses the Flash-based DENG engine, so it should work on any Flash-enabled browser.

    The site includes an interactive tutorial, a validator, and the full text of O'Reillly's _XForms Essentials_

    .micah

  6. Nonliteral goes both ways on SCO Changes Tune, Again: Linux Now Just a Riff on Unix · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The kicker is that if Linux is a "nonliteral" derivative of SysV, then SCO's Linux Kernel Personality must be "nonliterally" infringing on Linux and the GPL.

    -m

  7. Creative Commons/GFDL helps on Doctorow: Ebooks Neither E Nor Books · · Score: 2, Informative

    I wrote the O'Reilly book XForms Essentials and released it under the GFDL. I can say from experience that freeing the text has helped promote the book to audiences that would not have otherwise heard of it.

    In order to deal with the rapidly changing technology, I launched a companion web site XForms Institute.

    Particularly with technical books, "multimodal" publishing is smart. I'm glad to see Cory try it with fiction. -m

  8. Open standards for XML forms on Fulfilling the Promise of XML-based Office Suites? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One thing the Open Source office suites don't (yet) have much of an answer for is an XML data collection/management system along the lines of Microsoft Office InfoPath. A natural standard for such applications is W3C XForms.

    Read all about it--fullly GFDL and online now--from the O'Reilly book at my site.

    .micah

  9. For Technical Books the GFDL makes sense on Are We About To Enter The Age of Book Piracy? · · Score: 1

    I'm writing a book for O'Reilly, to be released under the Gnu Free Documentation License. Will people copy the book instead of buying it? Oh, surely. But even more people will hear about it and eventually buy it.

    For new authors, obscurity is a bigger enemy than "piracy".

    -m

    Disclaimer: Clicking on the above link will show your support for O'Reilly and Free Documentation, but also amazon.com. Moral dilemma, huh? If you just want to read it, use the free link in my sig. And stop calling me Shirley.

  10. Could be an advertisement for MSFT scalability on Gates Provides Windows Crash Statistic · · Score: 5, Funny

    Think about it. 100 million Windows users. 5% is 5 mil. At 2 crashes a day, that's 10 million transactions. Daily. Not even counting all the less frequent crashers.

    That's 416,666 transactions per hour, 6944 transactions per minute, or about 116 transactions per second.

    If each report is 50K (don't have an exact figure, and I don't want to wait the .5 day to measure it), the throughput is 500 gigabytes per day, averaging 46.4 Megabits/second.

    *That's* the kind of data processing system I'd like to buy!
    -m

  11. Why are electrons not black holes on Investigating Artificial Black Holes · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Something I've wondered about: Electrons definately have mass, and seem to have a zero physical size.

    So, why are they not black hole singularities with infinite mass? Why don't they evaporate in a puff of Hawking radiation?

  12. O'Reilly XForms book to be under GFDL on Prentice Hall To Publish Open Content Licensed Books · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Also of note, the XForms book I'm writing for O'Reilly will be published under the GFDL.

    Before publication, the text-in-progress is also available, but under a somewhat more restrictive license, at http://dubinko.info/writing/xforms/.

    This policy at O'Reilly dates back to at least May 2002, when I signed the contract.

    .micah

  13. Not "Proposed" Recommendation anymore, it's final on W3C Releases Drafts For DOM L2 And More · · Score: 3, Informative

    >2 proposed recommendations: XML-Signature XPath Filter 2.0 and HTML DOM 2.

    XML-Signature XPath Filter 2.0 is a final W3C Recommendation, not proposed.

    -m

  14. What you can do about it on Fighting the Nigerian Money Scam · · Score: 2, Informative

    According to the U.S. Secret Service: """If you have been victimized by one of these schemes, please forward appropriate written documentation to the United States Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 950 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20223, or telephone (202) 406-5850, or contact by e-mail.

    If you have received a letter, but have not lost any monies to this scheme, please fax a copy of that letter to (202) 406-5031."""

    -m

  15. Short Attention-span Summary on Perpetual Motion Delorean? · · Score: 1

    The claim:

    For some unspecified reason, and only in a lead-acid battery, the ion-flow in the electrolyte is slower to change direction than the "lighter" electron flow in the main circuit. Thus, by cleverly and quickly reversing the flow, you can make an average ion flow in the 'charging' direction while still having an main circuit current in the 'discharging' direction, which they call "negative resistance". They claim the extra energy comes from the "vacuum".

    Debunking:

    Even if the electrolyte ions take longer (more energy) to reverse, that just means they take longer (yup, more energy) to get them moving in the first place. Do not pass Go, do not collect 200j. .micah

  16. Re:From DS9... on Geeky Child Names? · · Score: 1

    >We're stumped for good names for boys, though.

    Odo

    -m

  17. Mmmm, cookies on Just How Much Privacy Do We Have? · · Score: 2, Funny

    Upon clicking the link to the article, the Popular Science web server will set two cookies, instantly making you trackable on all future visits to that server or any other with which they share data... -m

  18. And don't miss General Zod's Web Site on Got Evil? Buy it Here! · · Score: 2, Funny

    Zod knew that his rightful place on this planet Houston (known to some as "Earth"), was to be ruler. Zod eventually made his way back to Superman's Crystal Palace and was able to restore his own super powers. And now that Superman is in a wheelchair (which Zod swears he had NOTHING to do with), there is no longer anyone on this planet left to oppose him.

    So Zod is now assuming his position as your rightful leader.
    You have two choices:

    1. Take his hand and swear eternal loyalty to Zod.
    2. Perish for your defiance.

    The choice is obvious. KNEEL BEFORE ZOD. Truth. Justice. Zod.

    http://www.generalzod.net/

  19. Not totally convinced... on Do Strangelets Pass Through Earth? · · Score: 1

    Based on the (skimpy) description, couldn't it just as easily have been a Neutron Star fragment or a primordial black hole?

    Oh yeah, there is also a cool poster -m

    ---
    http://dubinko.info/blog/

  20. Works great with voice recognition on Review of Hands Free Mouse · · Score: 1

    I have this device, as well as IBM ViaVoice. Excellent combination, especially when you get that carpal-tunnel-ish pain. As an added bonus, you can stick the silver dot on the front of the headset mic, which works quite well for tracking.

    If you insist on 100% hands-free, you can also use the "Voice Mouse" feature to kick in when you say "click", "double-click", etc.

    .micah

  21. Re:Mixed thoughts.. on Sites Wary of Adopting P3P · · Score: 1

    When a user goes to a site and wishes to sign up for registration, to purchase something, etc -- there should be a mechanism where that site is able to formulate a list of the fields that it wants + requires for registration. The site will send this (i.e. XML) to the Personal Information Widget.

    Hmmm sounds like W3C XForms would be a great way to tag individual 'fields' with the type of personal information requested...

  22. Not only Open Source, but also Open Standards on Advocating Open Source Within the Gov't · · Score: 5, Informative

    An article on XML.com outlines the US government's new mandate to support only open standards, specifically mentioning W3C. Even cooler, the guidelines expressly forbid competing (proprietary) standards.

    See the article

    .micah

  23. Good quote at the end of the article on Wired Talks Wine · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "I also find it intriguing that Microsoft has a Linux Competitive Manager if they don't see Linux as competition."
    -- from WINE contributor István Lebor

  24. IP issues on Custom OpenBSD 3.0 with IPFilter From Darren Reed · · Score: 1

    So, IPFilter was removed because of IP issues?

  25. How optimal is optimal? on Consequences of a Solution to NP Complete Problems? · · Score: 1

    What if I had an algo (or heuristic) that would produce, not necessarily the best answer, but one always within 1% of optimal, all in O(n)? Would that have the same practical effect as a true solution in O(n)?

    .micah