I made it three days without really thinking about my work. Pretty impressive for me to be able to pull that off. Unfortunately it ended with the kind of dreams you get when you put a project aside when there is an outstanding bug in the process. I am going to try to figure out the logical issues further this weekend when I am surrounded with peace and quiet at the lake. Can't wait! Hopefully I will be able to take some nice walks and get some thinking done.

Today is the day to switch out the server box. I really wish the SME Server v. 5.6 was out. Thanks all you guys at Mitel! Your work just gets better and better (and that is saying nothing about the business model and the bigger picture coming from Mitel). Can't believe I have been running this thing since E-Smith v. 4.0. It was my very first introduction to linux. What a good introduction it was - and remains. Keep up the good work.

Why didn't I back up my mozilla bookmarks? Why Why Why!!!What a pain in the ass!!! Maybe I just didn't apply my backup correctly. One of these days I will get a good system down. In fact the box I am moving the server to has a second HD that I was going to use for backup purposes or RAID. I think backup would be a good move. It will be nice to have all that power back on the server.

I have been reading up on building antennas and broadcasting some wireless love downtown. I am so glad there is something that fulfills my geek needs and that can utilize my construction skills. I just love building things. The hardest part is getting the nic in my laptop to run in monitor mode. Getting the hostap driver to work has been nothing but hell, but wlan-ng works fine. I dunno. I gave up for a few days. Oh yeah.. That reminds me to get with the apradar guy. I like his idea. Too bad his project ranks below such questionable efforts on the linuxfund site. Something like user friendly wireless support for linux would be an amazing advancement for mankind - not to mention linux users like me ;-)

I think I am going to fork/shave the DDF business plan. Blame it on Peter Drucker. Primarily it was his advice to GE some time ago that made a difference in my mind. He told them to drop every operation that they were not the first of second best in the world at. Those dreams last night really cleared things up. I worry a lot as far as governance is concerned. I keep thinking that the high level vision is too focused on small level stuff I think. Maybe it is that I don't have a diverse enough group at the executive level. Not quite sure. Will think on that topic this weekend. It will probably end up being a large essay on the functionality of open source projects.

Well, that's enough for this morning. Time to get my groove on for the day.

"All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me ... You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you."
-Walt Disney

Lorri just sent me that great quote. I think that just about says it all.

Coolio! Greg Allan is listed in the LWM Linux Timeline!! Whoever is responsible for that, I can't thank you enough. It means the world to me. Thank you! You can see for yourself here.

lkcl I like what you have to say. We really should chat one of these days.

Open source business models are a bitch when you have to address that ugly point where voluntary community involvement and revenue generation collide. **blammo**

Lawrence: The Uncrowned King Of Arabia is the name of the book I just started reading. Great book. Great man. Should do me a bit of good to relax and read for a couple of days. Thanks go out to Lorri's family for that one.

The Rant Room: Enough Already! Looks like I am going to have to rant on how marketing positively affects the consumer one of these days. People don't get it, do they? I need to add to that rant the definition of marketing as well. Seems some folks can't quite seperate it from merchandising. And while I am in the rant room here, why can't people figure out that Microsoft is providing their customers with the UTILITY? Quality user experience is relative to what you know, and if you pay for it and it does the job and you get to go home to your wife and kids all happy at the end of the day then it is what you are going to use next year when you get the honor of paying for the upgrade. And NO!. Did someone really think that the business user of linux desktop OS was going to be happy when they couldn't cut and paste between applications? Well, obviously some of us are more stubborn than others, but damn! Is that how you want your attorney dealing with your case file when your ex-wife is about to milk you for $160,000 AND your beer fridge?

Groovy! I decided I should list myself as helper on the Project Xaraya CMS. Helper is fitting, at least most of the time. The rest of my roles are just going to have to be top secret. :-D

The Beast I was beginning to lose touch with the business plan over the last two days due to the size and detail of it, so I translated the whole thing into a big mean, smelly Gantt chart. Finally I am unstoppable again! Yippee! Now I just need to print that bad boy out and break out the red marker. Time to embark on r5. I really would like it solid by the end of the weekend, but I am not so sure how realistic that is. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

The Eye on the Guy When niceguyeddie said he couldn't seem to get out of a class without an aurgument, it reminded me of something my old Rabbi had taught me: If you don't argue, something is really wrong with your head. C'est La Vie!

"Mozilla Sucks" and Open Source Modivations On 27 November, 2002 glyph wrote: "All we know is "mozilla sucks", which is unhelpful to anything but preventing people from wanting to work on mozilla." And... "It saps the motivation of existing Mozilla developers to do future work, by making them feel that their work is unappreciated. User appreciation is a huge reason for working on open source projects, and it's much rarer to get people who rave about how cool something is than who complain about it."

I need to look further into the nature of these open source motivations. I haven't quite got them all properly classified yet. And no, I'm not going to take anyone's word for it. I am too subborn for that kind of stuff. Naturally, im troubled by the fact that I can't easily throw them into sub-categories of "profit motive". I suppose I could, but it would be a little unfair. Interesting stuff, those open source motivations. I suppose I should figure out my own motivations first, but they are so complex. It is good to hear someone set the record straight from time to time. I suppose I will be following this up after a gazillion revisions of that derned business plan, and the other essays that are in some odd semi-completed state. Anyways, this led me to the link to LinuxQuality which seems like a phenomenal idea. I will definately be watching that project a little more, as we have some similar ideas.

The Dragon's Cage Johnny and Dracos tried to get me to explain my position on the DOJ vs. MS case, but I refused. They finally gave up. What a relief. I don't mind getting the odd anvil dropped on my head, but public lynchings are never any fun. :-D

maxmin (happiness) Now that is funny :-) Thanks ladypine! Happy thesis hacking!

My conscience is about ready to break out the jackhammer, as I I have spent long enough avoiding my work. Thanksgiving was great, and many thanks to Lorri's family for the great feast and the lazy day. I really needed that break! -sm

Grape: "Nobody wears salmon colored suits any more." Jeff: "That's because it's WRONG!"

Well folks, that's the quote of the day. Enjoy!