A useful tip

So, we all agree that Python is The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread(tm), right? To add several levels of pleasure to your interactive Python experience (ribbed or studded), please try IPython. This is so flexible that one could even consider using it as full-time shell, instead of your bash, (t)csh, zsh or whatever. Hmmm….

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Good UI != Graphics?

I tried out Ximian Evolution today. It’s an email client, actually more a personal information manager, that looks a lot like Outlook, except that Ximian is free, runs on *ix and will probably not get your computer infected with 298374987 different interesting yet unfriendly viruses.

Hey, interestingly, it seems the correct plural is “viruses” and NOT “viri”. If you’re a pedant, dodge this.

In anycase, usually I use mutt which, unlike Evolution, is exclusively text-based and 100% hot-key (shortcut) driven. For example, to compose a mail, I would go “m”, type the address, the subject and the body of the mail, then ctrl-x-s-x-c and finally “y”. The mail is sent in record-time.

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All operating systems suck

At least, all operating systems that I’ve worked with suck in some way or another. These are not minor quibbles, but major problems. It seems these fundamental problems are present in both open and closed source OSen.

You’ve probably read The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric Raymond, so you know the difference between the two methodologies. Most of the open source development that I’ve come into contact with adheres to the Bazaar philosophy. The problem with the Bazaar philosophy is that almost anyone is allowed to contribute to the code (of Linux for instance). A few of these contributers are very clever people, but in a maverick kind of way. Whatever the case may be, they do not work together in the close-knit coordinated groups that you find in good software houses with effective leadership, but rather in a hackish manner. This wouldn’t have been such a problem, were it not for the fact that the rest (and the majority) of the contributers are not sufficiently experienced, inept or just plain stupid. Partly due to these phenomena, open source software seems to suffer from a total lack of consistency (in form, function and quality). In addition, one finds hundreds of half-assed software efforts on the web that will NEVER be completed. Compare this image to what you read here for instance.

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Happy me

As I was downloading OpenOffice for the wif last night, I couldn’t help noticing that it was coming down at a very respectable 110KByte/s via my home ADSL link. This of course means that my bandwidth upgrade is complete. Rejoice!

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Death to censorship

Yahoo reports that a group of record labels (UMG, Sony, RCA and Warner Brothers Records) are suing American back-bone providers because they allow end-users to download illegal music from Listen4ever.com.

The preposterousness of this aside, should they succeed, a precedent for backbone-level censorship on the internet will be created. Personally, I don’t condone the illegal download of music (and I also don’t care if you do download your music like that), but I do feel very strongly about the current freedom of information flow.

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