Ben’s Blog

Simple. Watch Seth Godin’s presentation to Google last year.

I read a very interesting article published by a member of the Tokyo Linux Users Group titled, Windows Is Free. Basically, the author is saying that because Microsoft Windows can be pirated, it can be compared to Linux at the same price level. Since most Linux distributions are free, as in free beer, and Windows can be stolen at no cost, the two should be compared as equally valuable.

In respect to the entire article, which goes into much length, I will highlight two points:

1. Windows doesn’t appear to have been pirated on the magnitude needed to sustain this argument. Look at the breakdown in this chart from a ZDNet article. You can see that they are showing about 32% of Windows installations as either not reporting, invalid, or other. Even if there wasn’t a single false-positive in the mix, if you take 32% off the top of the retail of Microsoft Windows they still don’t come off as giving their software away.
2. Don’t assume that we like Linux more simply because it is free. For me, it’s just a bonus. I prefer Open-Source software because I can trust it. It has just as many quirks and bugs as For-Profit software does, but I can rest assured that it’s only doing what I expect under the hood of my computer.

In other words, having the ability to get something for free doesn’t equate to the product as actually being free.

[tags]linux, open-source, windows, free software[/tags]

I’ve seen many discussions about whether abiding by W3C standards or not shows a better return on search engine placement and targeted keywords. There’s obviously going to be varied responses across the Internet on this, but my short answer is: Yes.

While search engines will pick you up regardless of content, by following standards and semantic HTML styles, your pages are going to be regarded as they are intended, not by a search engines best guess. Many websites don’t take full advantage of the power of the <title> and <h1> tags to explicitly tell engines what to expect within the page. The layout can certainly be pretty, but it should also follow a clean logic under the hood. A great way to test your site is to view it in a text only browser such as Lynx. See how well it degrades and you can quickly determine if a search engine will be able to make sense of your code.

There’s no silver bullet. No right answer. But, you’ll certainly set yourself up for success if you can at least validate on some level of HTML or XHTML (not to mention make changing styles a heck of a lot easier!).

[tags]w3c, seo, web standards[/tags]

As I gear up for new feature requests at work and begin digging into more obscure code on my screen, I often get asked by co-workers if what I’m doing is any different than when a software company writes applications for Windows. My short answer is typically: No, it’s not.

An even better answer can be found by reading A Great Web Developer is a Great Application Developer. Both styles of development have their benefits and drawbacks, but having a well-rounded background is what’s best when designing new projects. I’d highly recommend reading through that entire post if you’re interested in development of any kind. In the least, it will move you to asking the right questions.

[tags]software development[/tags]

I’m encouraged by Red Hat’s move to not just assume direct and blind competition with Microsoft and their Windows Server line. Paul Cormier, executive vice president of engineering, told eWeek that he wants to work with them and, being a large purveyor of enterprise level server software, I think they’re a great player for Microsoft to work with.

“I want to talk to the folks at Microsoft about our two operating systems and how we can work together to solve real customer problems without attaching any unrelated strings, such as intellectual property,” he said.

Wouldn’t it just be wonderful if Microsoft realized that for them to succeed Linux doesn’t have to fail? It’s not such a simple binary situation. Linux is making a huge emergence in the desktop market and they have always been strong contenders with servers. It’s time to recognize that partnership.