philosophy (5)

Becoming a reference

Today I would like to describe two ways about how to define a standard in software. The main point is the size of the company which faces the challenge.

For a small company is usual to launch a good product and later spread it trying to define a de facto standard.

On the contrary, if a company has a predominant position it is common to release a specification and after, if necessary, an implementation of reference.

Both approches aim to lead a standard. Although the first one seems much more tedious, I consider it's a stronger way of controlling the specification since a good product is supporting the standard. Anyway, sometimes it is hard to fight against a settled brand.

2010-02-23 22:32 by pichulines (0 comments)

The money matters

A project can be a good solution for a problem but if it has no financial support it will disappear. This happens specially in the world of software.

I would like to talk about one of the most famous open source web browsers currently, Firefox.

It comes from a hard battle against Internet Explorer. After many years fighting it seems that FF is gaining more and more supporters. In deed, FF got money from Google for long time to remain in the battlefield.

But now Google has changed his mind launching his own browser, open source and crossplatform too. This implies that Chromium (or Chrome is the close version) is a direct competitor of FF.

The money now will go to improve Chromium instead of FF. I hope this won't stop FF from being the good alternative it is.

This week, after knowing some of the Oracle's plans about Sun's products, this situation could be spread to projects like Virtualbox or Netbeans. The game is the same, just the players change.

2010-01-30 16:10 by pichulines (0 comments)

Minimalist Trends

It seems as if the software was getting more and more complex. This means we need more and more powerful hardware. This has been a trend for many years till now, and mainly promoted by Microsoft. Windows Vista, his last operating system is the heaviest ever seen. So annoying that most of the brand new computers fail his performance test.

But people is getting fed up and now many choose light computers such as netbooks. For this hardware Vista is not suitable, that's one of the reasons why Microsoft has been working hard to release his new and thin operating system, Windows 7.

In Linux words, some distros like Ubuntu, Suse or Fedora have followed the Microsoft steps providing a huge set of features which slows down the system. Probably in an attempt to attract users to the Linux desktop.

Fortunately Linux world is not only popular distros and we have a wide range of possibilities. One of them is Arch Linux. A modern, constantly updated and simple distribution. Arch follows the KISS principle offering a reduced set of tools to start to build your customized system.

This is a list of my preferred light applications for Arch:

  • Openbox as window manager.
  • Conky to monitor the system.
  • Tint2 as a task panel.
  • iDesk to define shortcuts to most used apps.
  • Stalonetray as system tray.
  • Brasero as CD/DVD burner.
  • Of course Firefox as web browser.
  • Thunderbird for mail.
  • Gimp for image manipulation.
  • Inkscape for vector graphics.
  • Geany as advanced text editor.
  • PCmanFM for file management.
  • LxTerminal as terminal emulator.
  • Mplayer/SMplayer for media.
  • Transmission to download torrents.
  • Virtualbox for virtualization.
  • Gparted to manage partitions.
  • Openoffice for office stuff.
  • ePDFView, GPicViewer as file viewers.
  • Pidgin for instant messaging.
  • Asunder to rip CDs.

All these are components to have a minimalist destop, fast and reliable. Most of them are enough for a standard user.

2009-10-07 21:28 by pichulines (0 comments)

Watch your steps

Google patent

The last Google's movement is a bit surprising, or not. At least I'm not used to this kind of apparently empty actions. I'm talking about the last patent that Google has got: "his home page look".

Yes, it sounds crazy but they have been fighting for 5 years till now. And what's the meaning of this? Well, it's not clear but I guess they have strong reasons to do it.

It has no much sense, on one hand, to offer tons of books and other stuff for free, just to spread culture and on the other hand, get a patent of such a thing. It is a bad taste action.

Anyway, I'm not currently affected and I don't know the scope of this patent, but I'm sure many sites use similar search forms.

2009-09-03 20:09 by pichulines (0 comments)

KISS

Today I just want to express my agreement with the KISS principle, mainly in a software development context. The meaning is easy "Keep It Simple, Stupid", we also can find some variants like "Keep It Short and Simple" or "Keep It Safe and Simple". It is a serious principle although it sounds funny.

This concept is not new, but very easy to forget. That's why I want to dedicate a post, just not to forget it.

Nowadays there is a trend to complicate everything and reinvent. Software frameworks and tools are more and more complex including a lot of extra functionality and frequently forgetting the goals. This usually provokes to kill a flea with a sledgehammer.

In my opinion some projects of software folowing this principle are:

  • Archlinux: a great linux distro.
  • H2: a java SQL database.
  • And more like Cherokee (Web server), Jetty (Servlet container)...

Although some of these projects are growing faster and it's difficult to say if they keep the principle.

2009-08-18 20:16 by pichulines (0 comments)