http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh Dave Neary's view of the world Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:52:49 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Reading this blog entry on Linux Magazine, the thought occurred to me that Ubuntu is making its way nicely along the path that new projects have travelled for many years. It is around the same place that Red Hat used to be around the time of Red Hat 7. The Hype ... http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2009/11/05/the-trough-of-disillusionment-for-ubuntu/ I recently came across Code:Free, a webzine (made with Scribus) which showcases some great examples of art created with free software tools, and tutorials on how to achieve some nice effects - it's kind of a compilation of the best of Deviantart made with Free tools. After seeing Ton Roosendaal ... http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2009/10/15/codefree-a-reminder-that-our-software-is-for-doing-stuff/ Earlier today I gave a lightning talk on giving great presentations at the Maemo Summit. The response has been great, and here are the notes I wrote for the presentation, so that people can refer back tol the advice when the time comes. Giving Great Presentations It was said that when Cicero ... http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2009/10/10/giving-great-presentations-speaker-notes/ Anyone anywhere know anyone working for Garmin who might be able to put me in touch with someone who can tell me what the ANT+ communication protocol is, so that I can give it to the good people developing gant, so that they can fix their driver to not crash ... http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2009/10/06/garmin-forerunner-405-ant-protocol/ After commenting on Mal Minhas's "cost of non-participation" paper (PDF), I've been thinking about the cost of performing a merge back to a baseline, and I think I have something to work with. First, this might be obvious, but worth stating: Merging a branch which has changed and a branch which ... http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2009/09/28/estimating-merge-costs/ (Reposted from Neary Consulting) Mal Minhas of the LiMo Foundation announced and presented a white paper at OSiM World called "Mobile Open Source Economic Analysis" (PDF link). Mal argues that by forking off a version of a free software component to adjust it to your needs, run intensive QA, and ship ... http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2009/09/17/the-value-of-engagement/ I wonder if it was a mistake to adopt the "evaluate as they come in" method for Maemo Summit presentations. As we received proposals, for each proposal on its merits we said yes, no or maybe. If you were a yes, you were added to the schedule. A no got ... http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2009/09/10/frustration/ [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="Ton Roosendaal (on the left)"][/caption] I'm very pleased to share that the opening keynote for the community days during the Maemo Summit will be Ton Roosendaal of the Blender Foundation. It's been my pleasure to know Ton, mostly from afar, for the past few years, and he ... http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2009/09/08/ton-roosendaal-to-keynote-the-summit-community-days/ The nomination period for candidatures for the Q3 2009 Maemo community council election is now open. Candidates eligible for election according to the rules of the council can be nominated by anyone in the community. If a maemo.org community member nominates someone other than themselves, the nomination must be accepted by ... http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2009/09/08/maemo-community-council-elections-q3-09-nominations-open/ I happened on a Wired article about the 6 word novel this morning, in a link from a newsletter I'm subscribed to. Like Haiku and other very formulaic structures, the six word novel gives the author enormous freedom while constraining them in a fish-bowl. My favourite examples: "For sale: Baby shoes. Never worn." ... http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2009/08/04/six-word-novels/