23 March 2008
So this coming week, we will find out whether Microsoft's ballot stuffing has been successful, i.e. whether ISO will OOXML as a document standard for all of the world.
India and China alone represent almost half of humanity, and both voted no. So if ISO go ahead and approve OOXML anyway, ISO just will just make themselves irrelevant.
I saw this cartoon on NOOOXML and just had to reproduce it, I think it sums up the process nicely:
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September 8, 2008
hey all, i just wanted to check the other stuf if nay1 can help me what i want is i have to convert the line starting with my function name ...
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Email Syntax Check in Python
September 3, 2008
Hey, sounds good already. There's another Python script for command-line 140-character-messaging (won't call it "tweeting" for obvious reasons), Tweety Py, that's currently languishing. Not, I think, because the developer's disinterested, ...
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Using new social networking service Identi.ca from the command line
September 2, 2008
Dear friends, has anyone built debian packages of db xml 2.4.13? Best regards Antonio
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Native XML storage with Berkeley DB XML - part one
September 1, 2008
Thanks everyone for your different solutions, absolutely fantastic. I have tried them all. The one from Ciaran McCreesh was the one I was subconsciously groping for.
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Sisu and typing unicode in GNOME
September 1, 2008
In ubuntu, I do ctrl, and the functions to the right of my keyboard for extra characters. Such as: alt gr + ; + e for é I'll post more ...
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Sisu and typing unicode in GNOME
September 1, 2008
I am from Germany but i use an US-layout keyboard since that's a lot easier for most my programming needs. Now, having to also write the occassional german letter or ...
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Sisu and typing unicode in GNOME
September 1, 2008
Hi, You might want to add an xkb keymap. Make backups before you begin ;) And sorry about formatting. in /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/gb, after "intl", add this: partial alphanumeric_keys xkb_symbols "intl_fi" { ...
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Sisu and typing unicode in GNOME
September 1, 2008
On a UK keyboard you do alt-gr+[ followed by a to get ä. You don't need the control key at all.
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Sisu and typing unicode in GNOME
September 1, 2008
Hi!,
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List files recursively by modified time
September 1, 2008
Hello!,
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List files recursively by modified time
September 1, 2008
On my Norwegian keyboard, the diaeresis is easily accessible, like on Jani's Finnish one. It's one of the few keys that doesn't advance the cursor, along with the tilde, circumflex ...
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Sisu and typing unicode in GNOME
September 1, 2008
ä <= compose, ", a ö <= compose, ", o å <= compose, o, a Ä <= compose, ", A Ö <= compose, ", O Å <= compose, o, A ...
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Sisu and typing unicode in GNOME
September 1, 2008
Good day!,
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1 txwikinger says...
I like this cartoon! It's market dominance v. democracy. Stuffing ballots is usually associated with dictatorial juntas desperately trying to give an appearance of a democracy. It is interesting that M$ allows themself to be compared with authoritarian and dictatorial systems in this issue.
It will also be interesting if there will be another complaint to the EU commission for anti-competitive behaviour should the standard be approved.
I have the feeling this controversy has just begun.
Posted at 11:15 a.m. on March 23, 2008
2 AJS says...
The cartoon has it spot on.
Pretty much the same kind of thing was happening in the USA and Canada a century or so back, with the "war of the currents" between AC and DC electricity companies. The established DC camp tried to make out that the new AC was much more dangerous than DC, and arranged public demonstrations where stray dogs and cats would be electrocuted using high-voltage AC. (AC is technically superior for power distribution because it can flow through a transformer; if you step up the voltage to a several thousand volts, then it doesn't matter so much if you lose a few along the length of the cables. Then you can transform it back down to a safer voltage for the last few hundred metres. With DC, which can't flow through a transformer, you have to use thicker distribution cables to avoid the effects of voltage drop.)
Fortunately, common sense won out in the end that time -- otherwise, we probably wouldn't have an electronics industry today. Maybe someone needs to remind ISO of that.
Posted at 3:02 p.m. on March 24, 2008