Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Haiku Schedules First Test Release

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According to Thom Holwerda at OSNews.com, the developers of the Haiku operating system have tentatively scheduled their first formal release. I’ve written before about Haiku, which is one of my favorite open source products, and in February of this year I said I thought the developers should just call it an ‘alpha’ already. Well, assuming nothing goes horribly awry, Haiku will make its first ‘alpha’ testing release on September 9.

Haiku is a free, open source operating system inspired by BeOS—a commercial operating system that made technical waves in the late 1990s but never caught on in the marketplace. The doctrine behind the system was always one of beautiful minimalism. The system did what it needed to do, and little more. It was also technically cutting-edge, able to handle multitasking with a stable aplomb that neither Windows or Mac OS achieved for years to come. Haiku follows in these footsteps, targeting an audience that wants a lightweight, user-focused computer interface without a lot of unnecessary ‘features’ getting in the way.

Right now, the only viable open source operating systems are Linux and BSD Unix (and their various derivatives and distributions). Both are excellent systems for what they are, but they were not designed from the ground up as consumer, desktop operating systems. Haiku, on the other hand, is being built from scratch for the desktop and the user. I see Linux and BSD as solid server systems and passable desktop systems. Haiku, however, will be the other way around. Both have a place in the open source ecosystem.

The alpha release is a huge step toward Haiku earning its place in the operating system universe, and will be Haiku’s first opportunity to begin reaching beyond crazy enthusiasts (like me) who have been following its development for years. The alpha(s) will lead to betas, and finally a full, formal, official, 1.0 release.

‘Soviet Style’ Education System Not Cutting It

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It took me a few days to stumble upon this op-ed from Clark Howard that appeared Thursday on CNN.com, properly lambasting the state of the American education system as a dysfunctional monopoly. I have made no secret of my disdain for my public education. While punctuated by occasional points of light, most of my primary and secondary schooling was a giant blob of pointlessness. I spent most of my time in high school doing anything other than my assigned work. In my evenings, I was surfing the web, reading, writing, and working on my web site—experiences that have been extremely valuable in my life and career. I did these things when I should have been completing my repetitious, pointless, busywork homework assignments.

To this day, I’m glad I was a ‘mediocre student’ who didn’t do his homework. My after-school experiences made me who I am, and all-too-often my ‘schooling’ and its onerous after-school requirements just got in the way.

Having said that, I am a strong supporter of education. It doesn’t have to be this way. Our schools should be among our highest public priorities, and they can be world-class institutions that provide valuable experience for the vast majority of students. To do so, however, we can’t continue to operate our schools in a government-mandated, monopolistic, hyper-micromanaged, cookie-cutter way. We must give students and their parents options, and through the natural process of competition the whole system will steadily improve. Some schools will be more successful than others. Some will cater to specific types of learning and be better suited for certain individual students. Maybe teachers will be free to teach. Maybe students won’t have to have a committee approve their bathroom breaks or prescription medications.

Imagine that. . . .

A Nice, Slow Weekend

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It’s been a really busy few weeks, but I’m happy to report that things are settling back down. Last time I had a ‘slow day’ it was because I was sick, which is no fun. This time I can enjoy it! It’s good to have some relaxation time now and then. I took the day off from work yesterday since things are a little slow (we got an extension on a proposal that we were pulling our hair out over). Yesterday was St. Maximilian Kolbe’s (my patron saint) memorial day and today is the Feast of the Assumption, so it seems appropriate for me to take a couple days to pray, meditate, relax, and so on.

Yesterday I spent a good chunk of the day doing a 50 mile ride on the C&O Canal towpath in Maryland. It was a great ride, though 50 miles is pushing it a bit for me (especially on un-paved trails). I’m sore today! I’m hoping to ride the entire trail (in smaller chunks) before it cools down too much for winter, but I’m not too sure I’ll be able to do it. Worst-case I’ll pick it back up in the Spring. I’m trying to push up my distance-per-ride so, eventually, I can do a 2- or 3-day ride of the entire 185 mile long C&O Canal Towpath.

Today, I’m mostly cleaning up some stuff on my computers and on the web site back-end, but that’s about it for the day. I’m also working on a couple of writing projects in my spare minutes (and watching some TV too ;-)). Basically it’s just a nice, lazy weekend. I’m sure I won’t have another one of these for months to come!

The Nebulous Modern ‘Contract’

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One of the most annoying things I have seen on the road is those little signs on the back of dump trucks stating, simply, “Not responsible for damaged windshields.” These really get under my skin because the people who run these companies are claiming that somehow, by plastering a sign on the back of their truck, they have absolved themselves of any responsibility for securing their load. ‘Oh, yeah, we can scatter gravel all over the road without care and damage people’s property . . . we have a sign.’

I have been tempted on many occasions to put my own sign on my car: “Not responsible for sledge-hammer damage.” I could then pay an entertaining visit to these companies’ offices and show them what it is like to have valuable property damaged unjustly. Of course I can destroy their property, I have a sign!

The idea that a person or business can declare themselves above traditional traffic, civil, and contract law is pretty ludicrous, and yet we see it all the time. These truck companies, blithely declaring that they need not obey traffic safety laws, are a fine example. ‘Shrink wrap’ or ‘click through’ software licenses are another—a form of ‘contract’ that doesn’t require any signature or meaningful assent, and yet is declared by the manufacturer to be legally binding on your activities with a lawfully purchased product.

Read more . . .

Unfortunate Juxtapositions

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jux2jux1jux3WTOP, a Washington, DC, area all-news radio station, has a pretty good web site. It’s not the flashiest or fanciest news web site, and they occasionally have trouble with journalism fundamentals, but they’re usually pretty fast with local news and provide a good overview of relevant local stories (in addition to national and world news). Plus, the radio station can’t be beat (especially the ‘traffic and weather together on the eights’ filling you in on the these essentials every ten minutes).

One thing that I occasionally run into on the site though is that they have a featured photo section called ‘Picture This’ which appears on the right-hand side of almost any news story. This section usually features a humorous or random photo, but that photo is not related in any way to the story you’re reading. Usually this is harmless, but occasionally it results in unfortunate juxtapositions. Here are two I’ve run across recently that just didn’t seem right.

Update 8/12/2009: Just found a new one today! A story about a pit bull with an un-related (but somewhat inappropriate) photo.

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.