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On Identity in Blogs

Posted by daniel on October 8, 2004 at 10:52 AM EDT

It matters who you are and where you post

It has been a great three days at the Web 2.0 conference. Yesterday featured presentations from Google labs on some aspects of search that they are playing with including using statistical methods, lots of data, and lots of machines to translate from one language to another. This enables you to enter a search in your language and return possible results that include sources in other languages that are returned to you after being translated back into your own. The also showed some of the work they are doing with mining texts for relationships among entities. Larry Lessig received a standing ovation for his moving presentation on the differences between our rights in quoting and using content captured in text and content that is digital.

Many of the web content providers and service providers talked about how they could better serve you if they could figure out where you are and what you like or what you tend to do. In other words, it matters who you are and where you are. I've been thinking about this a bit with respect to blogs.

Consider, for example, Ken Arnold's blog entry today Patentably Idiotic. In this essay he explains what is wrong the Kodak vs. Sun settlement. He is quick to point out that " One approach is to think that software patents are just plain wrong. Maybe so, but this isn't obvious to me. Patents have protected other technologies, and they might be able to handle software. Software patents as currently done are broken, [and] dangerous, [..] but maybe it's fixable." This is consistent with Lessig's view. Lessig has taken on the excessive and abusive use of copyright and yet he is clear that piracy is wrong and that the rights of a content creator should be reasonably protected. The feedback to Ken Arnold's blog shows that readers understand his points.

So what does that have to do with who you are or where you are? I would think that if Jonathan Schwartz had made these statements about a law suit that Sun had lost, the reaction to these same words may have been different. Even if he had done so in a blog where he specified the views expressed were his and not Sun Microsystem's.

Eitan Suez has blogged about A change of heart on the issue of open sourcing Java in today's featured Weblogs. He is reconsidering the position he took following Eric Raymond's open letter to Sun on this topic. Imagine how different we would feel about this post if it were instead authored by James Gosling. Blogging is a very personal medium and it matters a lot who said what and where.

Tim Bray tried to set out some sensible rules for bloggers. Although his advice is targetted at Sun bloggers, it is full of good advice such as "Think of the Consequences" and "Quality Matters". We've just passed out 350th issue of java.net and I'm really proud of the quality of most of our bloggers and feel honored that folks like Ken Arnold and Eitan Suez stop by now and then to share their thoughts.

The suggestions for Mustang are pouring in in today's Forums. Virtual Rob writes "Please implement the following which are found in most languages and will make java much more useful for numerical work;(1)JSR 83 - multiarray package (2)provide hardware speed trig functions (3)provide an optimized Complex number class (preferably with overloaded operators)."

Sourcer writes "One of the few concrete things which .Net has which Java does not is the concept and implementation of AppDomains where multiple applications can run in separate compartments inside a single VM process. I think this would go a long way to address problems of VM startup time and memory footprint. I have no idea how robust the .Net implementation is in the face of application failures but I sure like the idea in theory."

What about an area for Requests for Enhancements? ScoleBourne writes "Sun, please (1) start a fresh area (not the bug parade) that is dedicated to RFEs (2) have a suggestions area of free format threads/forums (3) common proposals (that have some chance of success, or are worth serious debate) should be extracted from the open discussion area to a fixed topic list area (closer to the bug parade) (4) have voting/discussion systems that indicate support for, and support against each serious proposal. (5) be clear how seriously Sun is taking a particular issue - if it has no chance be clear."

In Also in Java Today , David Astels is taunting you. He's telling you that your code sucks if you can't prove that it works. In Why Your Code Sucks, he writes that you need to make sure your code is testable, readable, understandable, values a trendy framework over solid practices, and has duplication.

Do you ever get hung up on the nit-picking of Java--a cast here, proper getters and setters there--and wish for something that was still as powerful as Java but maybe with a little more "whipupitude"? That would be, positively...Groovy. In Groovy, Java's New Scripting Language, "Java Cookbook" author Ian F. Darwin offers a whirlwind tour of Groovy, the Java-based scripting language, which offers everything from servlets to Swing, with a heavy dose of hassle-reducing "syntactic sugar."

In Projects and Communities , Java-savvy "hams" willing to develop and test new drivers should contact the Java Communications community's JHamTune which offers a Java-based system for controlling amateur radio stations.

There is a new front porch for ActiveXML. In addition to the project development areas on java.net, ActiveXML has created their own home page.

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It matters who you are and where you post
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