Andrew Vogel - All Comments

re: Another Star Trek Movie?

admin — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 00:04:54 GMT

Ahh, Star Trek. Have you finished the first season with Miriam yet?

re: Operating Systems

admin — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 02:29:08 GMT

The other option which is becoming more available is the utilizing of server based applications (e.g. web 2.0) where no longer is an application physically on an operating system (other than the browser). Rather these applications reside on the internet - allowing the developer of the software to use whatever operating system he sees fit and at the same time allowing the client to (generally speaking) access the software using any operating system.

This could become even stronger if there was a common programming framework that was cross-platform and would allow one to design in one language and deploy anywhere. I think a good example of this is the .NET framework (I personally prefer it to the other alternatives - such as Java). Novell has already taken some steps in this direction by designing Mono.

Still, the obstacles facing any sort of common framework are tremendous and I do not expect them to be surmounted anytime soon. So, the best thing may be for developers to create web applications that can act in a disconnected state using simple mechanism (e.g. xml) and that also have their own program icons that can be easily recreated on different OS's.

re: Eschatology of Culture

admin — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 03:55:03 GMT

Hmmm...That's an interesting thought that all worldwide conflict would find its source in the Middle East. I can think of past conflicts however that did not arise from such a source - e.g. World War I, Napoleonic Wars. However I must agree that a large number of conflicts can be tied back to the Middle East in some way, but perhaps this is because of the central place the Middle East plays in the religious background of the world.

re: Sugar, Sweetness, and UI's

admin — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 03:47:56 GMT

That wasn't a very big picture. :-( I think its a nifty idea. I was listening to NPR recently and they were talking about the open source movement and how it embraces a philosophy of "helping others benefits oneself" as opposed to a common philosophy that "helping oneself involves oneself to the exclusion of others". While I doubt there are many people who would state that they embrace this philosophy, I still thought it was interesting, and perhaps belies the underlying philosophical decisions that drove the $100 laptop decision.

re: Sugar, Sweetness, and UI's

DoctorDoo — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 04:44:32 GMT

It's good to know that the children getting computers already have food. "What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a laptop."