It’s time for these companies to do what’s right for the users and fully adopt OpenID as relying parties. That doesn’t fit in with their strategy of owning the identity of as many Internet users as possible, but it certainly fits in with the Internet’s very serious need for an open, distributed and secure single log in system (OpenID is all three).
With “these companies” referring to AOL, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo!. I couldn’t agree more.
When Martijn Faassen introduced me to Zope3 in December 2004, something happened. I fell for her logic, her view on the future. Her looks were promising. We quickly partnered in a small project I was working on.
Then things started to get messy. Evenings of joy turned into evenings of long, frustrating conversations. She just wouldn’t dance with me anymore. She complained about my lack of understanding.
Last week I received Philipp’s updated Zope counseling guide. A fresh impulse to give our relation a second chance. Hopefully Philipp will assist me in understanding her better.
On first sight things seem promising. Zope3 let go some of her complexness and grew a bit more mature. Let’s see if we can get to dancing again!
The semantic web has been above my radar for some time now. Still I find it hard to grasp the available standards. My focus has been primarily on XTM (XML Topic Maps). Sure, I’ve read the TAO and played around with online examples. I even presented the concepts of the semantic web to 20 non-tech colleagues.
But… crafting a nifty simple XTM document myself? Not yet. It’s verbose. It’s hard.
Tonight, I found an apprehensive introduction: The Topic Maps Handbook (pdf). Pages 12 to 15 will get you up to speed with your first XTM. I chose ATC definitions as a domain for my topic map (see below). It’s a start.
Next step is visualization. I’m considering XSLT => dot => PNG. More on that later, if I succeed. (more…)
“Ever notice how much easier it is to hack at home than at work? So why not make work more like home?”
“I think hiring people is the worst thing a company can do. To start with, people are a recurring expense, which is the worst kind. [...] worst of all, they slow you down: instead of sticking your head in someone’s office and checking out an idea with them, eight people have to have a meeting about it.”
