Author: Darcy Casselman

Anime North 2k7 Halftime Show

Anime North is a bit painful this year. I mean literally. My back kinda hurts. I don’t have my recliner to resort to.

I complain, but I actually think things are getting better. I can actually stand and walk around most of the day and end up tolerating it. More or less.

Anyway…

We spent most of the day sitting in the fountain in the basement of the Toronto Doubletree airport hotel running a photo scavenger hunt. That actually turned out to be pretty awesome. I don’t think we’ve managed to convey the true spirit of the photo scavenger hunt concept to our participants, but we’ve got a year to think about it before we try again. They did an okay job, though. I only fear they didn’t quite grasp how much you could get ahead with a little creativity and an eye for the less well-traveled paths of fandom. They will learn.

Walking again

So I had my second appointment with the athletic therapist guy yesterday and he recommended that I get out walking again. I tried walking around at lunch last week, but ended up in pain the rest of the afternoon. But he did stuff to my back and that helped last time, so I decided to give it a try. So I walked to work today.

And, while I’m in a little bit of pain, I seem to be mostly okay. I’m debating going out for another walk at lunch. There’s a [book](http://www.amazon.com/Pragmatic-Programmer-Journeyman-Master/dp/020161622X/) I’d like to pick up. (I just did the smart thing and checked online with Chapters and the UW bookstore and neither have it in stock. So I’m better off staying here and ordering it online anyway. I’ll probably just walk up the street a bit for lunch).

I’m *way* behind on podcasts. I think I’ll just delete a bunch and start fresh. There are a few that I’d like to catch up on, like CBC’s Ideas. I added a few while I was laid up, too. CBC [added a bunch](http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/), Paul Tevis has a new one that he’s doing about indie press games: [The Voice of the Revolution](http://www.thevoiceoftherevolution.com/), [Penny Arcade](http://www.penny-arcade.com/) started updating their “Downloadable Content” podcast again, which is hilarious, and I’m trying out a couple environmentalist things that may or may not stay in iTunes for long.

All in all, a good day so far. I feel like I’m finally getting things back on track.

Free Software!

A couple things appeared in my river of news this morning. I like to point out this sort of synchronicity when it happens.

First, Mike Gunderloy (who wrote [Coder to Developer](http://www.amazon.ca/Coder-Developer-Strategies-Delivering-Software/dp/078214327X/), which I liked despite it being somewhat Microsoft-centric), feels compelled to clarify his motivations for turning away from the Microsoft software ecosystem and start looking towards free and open software solutions for himself and his clients. He started a new blog ([A Fresh Cup](http://afreshcup.com/) to do just that after years of writing [The Daily Grind](http://www.larkware.com/)). I think I just made it sound boring, but honestly, it’s worth a read…

> But it basically boils down to this: Microsoft itself is built on open intellectual property from the first three or four decades of computer science. The folks who invented computer programming for the most part didn’t worry about who owned what; algorithms and ideas and languages and interface improvements were freely shared, and everyone built on everyone else’s work. Now, if the Microsofts of the world have their way, we’ll end up with everything in fenced-off gardens: every piece of user interface, every algorithm, every data structure, will belong to someone, and will not be available for use unless you pay for it somehow. It will become literally impossible to legally write software without entering into a web of commercial cross-licensing agreements.

As if to prove his point, [Steve Ballmer showed up on Boing Boing this morning](http://www.boingboing.net/2007/05/14/microsoft_says_gnuli.html) to declare (without going into specifics) that Free and Open Software was in violation of some 235 Microsoft patents.

Microsoft depends on [developers](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8913084255008000794) to, er, embrace and extend their platform. Microsoft may have thousands and thousands of developers working for them, but they can’t do everything. They need the goodwill of the people who are making the killer apps to do so on their platform. And these people aren’t stupid. They can see what’s coming.

> But I see Microsoft leading the charge into a world where the independent software developer ceases to exist, because it will not be possible to develop software without an intellectual property lawyer at your elbow. And I don’t want to live in that world. As a result, I choose to cut off what tiny bit I can of the fuel that keeps Microsoft going: the licensing dollars I pay for Microsoft software, and those that my clients pay for deploying the software that I write, as well as my own implied moral support for the company’s policies. It’s not a whole lot, probably not more than a few million bucks over the remaining course of my career, but it’s something. [[LINK](http://afreshcup.com/2007/5/14/the-rest-of-the-story)]