Friday, January 27, 2006

Emoticons Patent? :(

I agree with Rick - This is just plain scary or is it crazy?

It's only crazy if untrue so I would say scary.

By the way, Tom and Molly from BuzzOutloud were about to patent the word "the" but someone told them it was already done. Darn - let the lawsuits fly.

Someone needs to clean up the patent office.

Shedding Some Light: Emoticons Patent? :(

Thursday, January 26, 2006

So how do I get involved with SednaX?

The SednaX project has been filled so far with lots of talk and ideas but not a lot of direct output (this led Craig Berntsonto keep it off his 2005 highlights) but that's about to change.

I interviewed Craig, Rick and Doug on what the plan is and how the 400+ developers who have signed up can start getting involved with this open Visual FoxPro community project.

As noted in the interview, it's important to note that SednaX doesn't have to rely on Dotnet components (although there may be some benefits there) and that each project will have its own timeline. It's not a "packaged" solution - but more of a organization of several related projects.

We touch on the commercial vs. open aspect of the project as well - so commercial developers (such as Doug and Rick) can know what to expect from such a project.

What also struck me was Craig's comment about "tricks up their sleeves" from the Fox team themselves - as things like source control are still being worked out, one can only imagine (at least my thought would be) what a great coup this would be if MS allowed the entire project to be driven from the Visual Studio Team system approach. It might give MS more credibility and visibility and it would benefit the Fox community as extra add-ons would be built to help integrate the two environments as Scott and Craig have talked about before.

As Craig has noted, we live in exciting times...

The Fox Show podcast: News, reviews and training on Visual FoxPro

Monday, January 23, 2006

Non-VFP: Canada's day of reckoning

As Captain's Quarters puts it, it's our day of reckoning.

Our local paper put up funny cartoon ideas of what to do (everything from listening to the radio with Peakfreans, to live blogging and waking up with drool on the keyboard) - as it stands, we don't even get to find out how the far East coast voted until 9:30 pm which means we'll be waiting for a while.

However, unlike our neighbours to the south, the networks will likely "successfully" call the election by about 10:30-11 after Maritimes, Quebec and Ontario have voted.

Why? Because the biggest voting block (Toronto - a big city) actually outvotes most provinces (er, states ) in Canada.

Regardless of which way your political stripes may run, I'm proud to say "I Stood up and I voted!" - especially in a time when so many are dying to do the same. I hope all Canadians do the same.