By ashvil on 4/25/2001 8:18 AM

Simputer is a very low-cost computer built around a design licensed under terms similar to that of the GPL. The intent behind Simputer is to provide low-cost (<$200) machines to people living in rural India. The interview here is with various members of the Simputer team and they discuss the reasoning behind the licensing scheme they chose, the design decisions they made, and more.

By ashvil on 4/17/2001 7:59 PM

Joel says : Your typical architecture astronaut will take a fact like \"Napster is a peer-to-peer service for downloading music\" and ignore everything but the architecture, thinking it\'s interesting because it\'s peer to peer, completely missing the point that it\'s interesting because you can type the name of a song and listen to it right away.

By ashvil on 4/5/2001 2:02 PM

Dan says - Rather than make interacting with the computer act like a conversation with an assistant, make it like a tool you use yourself.

Dan invents the term transparent UI.

MS Word and Excel are both examples of transparent UI. If you bold face a character, it shows you that. It does not try to do anything wierd when you put a formula to calculate the sum of 4 cells in Excel. You have a comfortable feeling that you are in control and not the tool. (OK - the paper clip changed that, but that got shot down).

By ashvil on 3/31/2001 11:58 PM

RFC1149

From the RFC -
Avian carriers can provide high delay, low throughput, and low altitude service. The connection topology is limited to a single point-to-point path for each carrier, used with standard carriers, but many carriers can be used without significant interference with each other, outside of early spring. This is because of the 3D ether space available to the carriers, in contrast to the 1D ether used by IEEE802.3. The carriers have an intrinsic collision avoidance system, which increases availability. Unlike some network technologies, such as packet radio, communication is not limited to line-of-sight distance. Connection oriented service is available in some cities, usually based upon a central hub topology.

Implementation
http://www.blug.linux.no/rfc1149/writeup.html
http://www.blug.linux.no/rfc1149/bilder/

Should MS support this in the next version of Windows?

By ashvil on 3/23/2001 10:03 PM

Ellen Kampinsky presented a great article at E&P Interactive Newspaper Conference //Online Content.It talks about telling a story on the web and about how Amazon got it right.

By ashvil on 3/22/2001 12:04 AM

Codenamed HailStorm, this suite of user-centric XML Web services turns things inside out, said its architect and distinguished engineer Mark Lucovsky. Instead of having an application be your gateway to the data, in HailStorm, the user is the gateway to the data.

By ashvil on 3/11/2001 5:52 PM

Ray Ozzie , the inventor of Lotus Notes, has come up with something for the web.
Groove is Internet communications software that allows people with shared interests to make direct connections for real-time interaction

Ray Ozzie Interview
http://www.devx.com/free/newsletters/ent/ented102400/ednote102400-1.asp
http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2000/10/24/ozzie_interview.html

I think in terms of architecture, Groove is the most advanced architecture right now. Ray Ozzie is also an inventor ot Notes - and his solution carries a great deal of respect in the industry.

But, I feel Ray is making a few mistakes here -
1. He is making IT an enemy by focusing on an architecture - that does not allow any control of where data is replication and how. IT is a friend and they want to do the right thing.

2. His focus on P2P as a sole model is an issue. You need to be flexible.

3. Focus on the groove platform is not very well understood. Ray and Lotus/IBM messed up targeting developers for Notes.

4. Productivity in collaboration work happens when integration occurs at a vertical level. So, far no talk about Biz templates integration.

5. Collaboration has never worked before even through Notes showed it value. Groove marketing message tied to collaboration is in my view a kiss of death.

6. Groove UI is oriented around tasks and discrete components like calendar, contacts, etc. This is Groove\'s problem. It is still stuck in the groove of the past.

What they should do
1. Make IT a friend
2. Focus on the right architecture. Computer networks are very complex and different. The architecture should recognize this diversity.
3. Target third party developers and develop solutions on our platform using solution providers and OEMs.
4. Add workflow, Biz rules and Biz templates.
5. Focus on Communication and leverage Instant Messenger popularity.
6. Focus on User Goals and aggregate information like Information at a glance screens that integrate information from various sources.

By ashvil on 3/8/2001 1:51 PM

None of the companies I saw so far have a strong biz model to cover the \'tragedy of commons\' situation.

What we need to do is Cornucopia of the Commons: Use brings overflowing abundance.

Please read this article and presentation very well

In other words, How do we build a system that each user coming on board increases the value of the system, instead of pulling it down.

By ashvil on 3/7/2001 9:51 PM

Alan Cooper\'s Goal directed design

By ashvil on 3/4/2001 10:48 PM

Bruce Schneier cannot says this any better: Security Is Not a Product; It\'s a Process