Monday, April 29, 2002

The success of first IBM, then Microsoft has had this aweful affect on the software industry - it's convinced most everyone that the one way to win as a software company is lock your customers in to your product with proprietary features.    It's lead to a bunch of cheap immitators -- most software companies seem to wish they were Microsoft and seek to become them by emulating them.   The thing is lock-in is actually bad for your customers and they know it:  markets abhor inefficiencies, so you shouldn't expect to be able to replay this strategy over and over again.   You either have to be very crafty about hiding the source of lock-in or you have to make the features so compelling your customers don't care.    The point is, you can't always expect to get away with lock in.    The sooner you get over it, the better for you and your business. Sustainable competitive advantage is still something to be sought -- but there are other places to find it than lock-in. 9:50:00 PM

I saw this campstove from snowpeak for the first time over the weekend.  amazingly small, no matches required.   the downside is that the fuel cartridge is not re-usable (but is recyclable).   very cool when combined with snowpeak cookware, specifically designed to accomodate the fuel container and the stove. 9:20:50 PM

"Evil Plan Generator" [Daypop Top 40] 9:02:17 PM

.NET for the enterprise. Whether or not Microsoft's .NET and Web services initiatives find near-term traction in the enterprise, the elements of the strategy -- componentization, access to the middle tier, XML representation of business data and protocols -- are universal and will matter to everyone. Even if you don't use Microsoft's products, you'll likely need to interoperate with them. As .NET starts to roll out, you'll find that you can. Full story at Enterprise Systems Journal. [Jon's Radio] 8:59:54 PM

Network Forensics: Tapping the Internet. Simson Garfinkel examines the current crop of network monitoring tools and the ethical issues invloved in scanning network traffic. [O'Reilly Network Articles] 8:55:42 PM

Eric A. Brewer. Lessons from Giant-Scale Services. (PDF) IEEE Internet Computing, July/August 2001. [Hack the Planet] 8:52:51 PM

XPath digital signature working draft released (E-Business Standards Today) [IBM DeveloperWorks: XML News] 8:52:21 PM

More musings on XML based data exchange: Ztuff, KeithBa, Deem. More of my thoughts on the subject in a bit. [Sam Ruby] 8:49:57 PM

Web Services Framework. I read on a mailing list today that Apple’s planning to release a Web Services framework as part of the Core Foundation framework. It would be accessible to both Cocoa and Carbon apps, of course. There’s a WWDC session named Client Web Services Frameworks that appears to confirm this. From the description: “An explanation of important concepts and terminology is followed by an in-depth exploration of Apple’s WebServices.framework, a client-side framework for accessing Web Services from Mac OS X. Tools and techniques for writing Web Services glue and adding it to Cocoa, Carbon and AppleScript applications are demonstrated.” [inessential.com] 8:48:34 PM

Jon Udell: The Google API is a Two-Way Street. "So don't ask only what Google can do for you. Ask also what you can do for Google, and for the Web, by making the most of the metadata you publish."  [Scripting News] 8:45:02 PM

Scott Johnson: Marketing Software When You Are a Small Company.  [Scripting News] 8:40:11 PM

XYZFind Acquired by Interwoven - Interwoven has acquired native XML database maker XYZFind. It appears they're going to simply integrate their technology into existing Interwoven products rather then offer a stand alone database. I suspect we'll be seeing a bit more of this in the coming months. [Inspirational Technology] 8:31:43 PM