What am I doing here?

I [had cause](http://www.ctrl-a.org/viewtopic.php?p=936#936&sid=5f310184fd9e61410cacc42c8735e1ea) to go flipping through the archives of my [old blog](http://www.flyingsquirrel.ca/). It kinda got me thinking about what I’m trying to do with the new one.

With this blog, I’d wanted to start producing what I’d hoped would be my public face to the world. This would (theoretically) be the first thing people would find when they put my name in Google. Reading it, they might get a sliver of insight into who I am. Maybe, just maybe, people would read something I wrote and think it worth linking and commenting on. Not that I’m interested in going out of my way to get links, just that it’s kinda gratifying when somebody else thinks I’ve written something noteworthy.

Astute readers (if I have any) might notice, however, that posting frequency has been decidedly low.

Well, lower than I wanted it to be (not that even astute readers would know how frequent that would be).

There are a couple reasons for this. The most important being that I haven’t actually been home very much lately. This presents a problem for blog composition. I don’t think I need to spell it out for you.

The second is that I think I might have set the bar a bit high for myself. Reading through the old blog posts, sure, I wasn’t posting that frequently, but there was a lot of good stuff there. A lot of pointless stuff too, but it’s a blog. These things can’t be helped.

I’m still not entirely sure what I want to do with this thing, but one thing I think I do want to do is post more for myself. I want to post little observations about the world around me. I want to post things that will remind me of who I was, what I was doing and what I was thinking about when I look back from some unknowable vantage point in the future.

If other people want to read over my shoulder, they’re welcome to.

Otakon, in summary

I’d planned posting more from Otakon, but technical issues conspired against me. That, and the con really wore me out. And posting seemed a little too much like work.

I am, however, back, and if I have time to collect my thoughts, I’ll probably post bits and pieces about the con.

It was a good trip, and I enjoyed myself. I gather the gang isn’t too likely to do this again next year. And, as much as I like Otakon, I think I might like to try something else next year. I’m not really in it for the convention, anyway. For me, this is just an excuse to go on an adventure with a bunch of friends. I want to meet up with people, hang out, and have a good time.

I’m sitting on my parents’ front veranda, typing this out. (My dad does a really nice job on the garden. I have no idea where he finds the time). I’ll be back in Waterloo Thursday night after a stop-over in Toronto.

Otakon 2007, Day 0

*Introductory note: we just sorted out Internet connections in the hotel. Day 1 is now pretty much finished, but I’m going to go ahead and chronicle Day 0 first. It’s that good.*

And so it begins.

I’m still sitting in the passenger seat of Bill’s VW Golf in Ottawa. In a few minutes we will embark on our grand journey to Baltimore and onwards to Otakon. To infamy!

We have snacks and water and ice and we’re headed for the border. Ah, road trip.

I fear for my life.
Continue reading Otakon 2007, Day 0

Freeing the software

I’m still thinking about starting a little shareware company some day. A [microISV](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_ISV), as it were. It’s pretty much a back-of-mind thing, but it’s there. The seed of an idea sittting around waiting for the right soil conditions or water or temperature or whatever else seeds in extended metaphors wait for.

Tangentially, we went to see Richard Stallman give a talk at the CSC a while ago. RMS is an interesting guy. He believes, of course, that no-one should be in the business of *selling* software. He goes as far as to consider it practically criminal.

The RMS talk I went to wasn’t a free software talk, incidentally. Maybe I’ll talk about what it was actually about at some point. He started off, though, with his four fundamental freedoms of [free software](http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html):

* The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
* The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
* The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbour (freedom 2).
* The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

And, you know, on a fundamental level, I totally agree with him. On another level, I’d like to build a software product and be able to sell it. Hell, I work for a company that does exactly that.

I’m trying to figure out how I reconcile those levels.

Having followed the ideas of people like Cory Doctorow for a while, I’ll happily talk about how musicians and artists and other people really should start to let go of the idea that they can make a living selling bits. There’s no scarcity in bits. If it can be copied, it will be. I guess to some extent that’s because software “piracy”‘s been around so long that it’s just something I accept as given. I expect musicians and filmmakers and artists have to catch up.

The response to how a musician will make money if they give their music away for free (or it’s taken from them, either way, it’s inevitible) is they’ve got to change the model to making money off concerts and merchandise. From what I hear, that’s pretty much how any small to midsized artist with a label makes any money anyway. The music is marketing. It gets people in the bars or stadium seats.

RMS says something similar about programmers. 95% of programmers, he says, make their money from custom development. So it’s no great loss if no-one can make money selling software. Software developers still have jobs, because custom development will always need to be done somewhere.

But people *do* make money from selling software. Just like people will keep on making money from selling music even after record companies give up suing their fans. The question is, should they? Is it really in their best interest? Giving the content away for free might be, counter-intuitively, profit maximizing. There are lots of musicians out there. Your greatest challenge as a musician isn’t stopping kids from pirating; it’s actually getting an audience. People won’t pay any attention to you if they don’t know who you are.

Taking the music marketing analogy, the open source software you write and projects you contribute to becomes marketing for your skills as a developer. There are lots of shareware companies out there. People won’t use your software if they can’t see the value in it. I want to make software; I don’t want to be a salesman.

However, I also don’t particularly want to work commission for some bank writing crappy database entry forms all day (not that there’s anything wrong with that…).

I’m not a free software zealot by any stretch, but I do very much see the value of a rich ecosystem of free software out there. And personally, I’d rather use free software than stuff I’d have to pay for, even if I was able to get it for free (not that I would, of course).

I know there’s a way to make this it all work, just like I know the whole thing with music and movies will work itself out in the end. We’ll all be richer for it when it does.

Slacking off

I’m slacking off on the blog again.

There’s a bunch of stuff I want to write about. Programming, project management, copyright reform, podcasts, books, raspberries, cedar hedges, yard maintenance, video games, music, Doctor Who, anime, food, urban planning, alternative energy, politics (ugh!), home decorating… Lots! My brain’s just not finding one digestably-sized chunk of a thing that I can chew on for a bit and regurgitate as a blog post.

Maybe I’ll get my act together and pick something to write about this weekend. Or not. I’m debating whether I should make myself a blogging schedule and then guilt myself into following it. That could work. This blog is supposed to be a fun hobby thing. I enjoy it when I’m doing it, but I’d hate for it to become a chore.

I’m also a bit torn as to what I want to do with this thing. My blog was originally meant to be a place to vent and a means for keeping in touch with people. Sticking my name up top and unleashing Google on it changes the dynamic a little. It’s now my public face on the world. That’s an intimidating thing to think about, and it makes me question whether I really want to talk about things like anime or what my cat coughed up. Or work. Even though those might be what’s on my mind. That’s probably just something I have to get over.

I will be going to Otakon in Baltimore next week. Expect to see posts about that.