I mentioned in my last post that I am a big user of org-mode in Emacs. This is a full-featured mode which allows for easy note-taking, document writing, publishing, sharing, etc etc etc. It totally changed the way I work once I started using it. Like all things emacs it takes a bit of time to learn the keystrokes and capabilities but once you get about 1/3 of them down it becomes nearly impossible to replace. That’s largely due to the fact that there really is nothing else like it in the rest of softwaredom.
When it comes to note-taking, I must put them on paper first. Its essential to me if I am to remember anything that is being said. Its the two-step process which seals something in my memory. First, on paper – then into org-mode. If I follow that, I can remember just about anything that is said or displayed. If I don’t do it… its forgotten. Once its in org-mode it then becomes even easier for me to *use* (big difference between remembering something and actually doing something with it) if I also tag the idea with some useful tag. This is accomplished with the help of remember-mode, which I’ve wired into my org-mode workflow. Then when I am writing a spec or other such document and want to review things I’ve learned within a particular area, I check all entries in all org documents in a certain tag, and copy the ones I like.
What I am describing is a workflow which fits my particular deficiencies well (memory being the biggest). That, to me, is what smart computing should be about. Finding the right applications to aid your particular personality and manner of working.
My history with operating systems is fairly simple. When home computers
were new I started out with an Epson computer(!!) that had its own
operating system which was quirky by today’s standards but was quite
nice in its simplicity. I then moved to an intel-driven DOS machine and
had a love-hate relationship with it. I moved to UNIX/Linux in work and
home life sometime later and obviously concentrated fairly heavily on
that until OS X came along.
I got my first Apple mainly to accommodate my photography obsession
because (even still) using a linux machine with photos absolutely
blows. I enjoy OS X but I also enjoy linux/gnome. However, I have
noticed in the last few years that I have slowly moved away from
OS-dependence. Call it what you will – the Cloud, SAAS, whatev. All I
know is that it is incredibly convenient to be able to sit at any
computer and do all the things I would normally do at my home
computer. In fact, about the only apps I use that aren’t cloud-centric
are emacs and my photo-software. Even still, with emacs I mostly use
org-mode for my work and I keep all my org files online. As long as I
have emacs on a machine, I can do my work. But in a pinch, I could use
another editor on those files since they are simply text-files.
That still leaves photos. The only non-standard,
not-practical-in-the-cloud thing I do. I’ve seen the attempts at photo
editors online, I know that one can use online tools to store and
categorize their photos – but none of those services come close to how I
can do it at home with old-fashioned, closed-source, non-standard,
key-on-the-back-of-the package software. Maybe this means there is an
opportunity in the market or maybe it means that camera manufacturers
are behind-the-times… or maybe it means I am particular with my
photos – I’m not really sure.
I’m not sure what this means for Operating Systems – at least, OSes that
aren’t powering “the Cloud” – but it does feel like a trend that would
lend itself to devices that start quickly and get me online. I see this
progress in the direction the iPad has taken us. Whatever your opinion
is on the particular of that one device – the idea that I can have
a small, “instant-on” device that can get me online is incredibly
appealing. I think the future of such devices in grand.
When the idea of web-based apps first started to look more viable there was an interesting debate within the open source community. The debate came down to the question of whether it mattered if you had the source-code of web hosted software. For the most part I think it does – especially if the developer wants faster development and more eyes looking at bugs/holes.
Having said that, freedom for a web-app means something completely different when it comes to the users data. This could not be more evident than with the recent news of hapless Microsoft destroying all data on T-Mobile Sidekick phones. After this news broke the tech-blogs were awash with damnation of “the cloud”. How could we ever trust anyone to store our data elsewhere? What were we thinking?
Well, we were thinking that its nice to always have our apps and our data available no matter where we are or what device we are using. We thought, its nice to have someone else provide storage for our ever-growing bits. But they are right in questioning our reliance on others to always get it right when it comes to protecting that data from rookie mistakes, changes in the direction of the app, or becoming evil.
So for the cloud to work, user must always have access to their data. That doesn’t mean the user simply gets to see their data in the app, that means that the user is at all times able to retrieve their data, and in a format that is transferable to other applications. Period. End of story. Anything less than that is a failure due to the reasons the Microsoft case so aptly showcased. Of course this means that the user must also be proactive in retrieving their data from time to time if it is truly important to them, but that has always been the case.
Its important to note that the largest purveyor of apps “in the cloud”, Google, has had a somewhat quiet campaign to provide this type of data retrieval for a while now. Called “Data Liberation” (and tracked at the Data Liberation Blog) they have been slowly making sure all their apps have some way for users to retrieve their data. The newest tool comes to Google Dos which has just added the “Convert, Zip, and Download” feature which allows you to easily grab some or all of your documents as a zip file (converted to whichever available format you would like). This is the most powerful of Google’s data retrieval tools so far and I hope all of their apps make it this easy (including Gmail which can do better than simply offering POP downloads). Still, it is good to point out Google proactively “not being evil” when so many folks currently attempt to disprove their famous motto.
My friend Shannon has been making some great blog posts lately (unlike me) – but of particular interest is one she posted today in which she references an article which discusses “planning to share versus just sharing“. That article, and Shannon’s comments are quite interesting in my current employment context (same context as Shannon’s) but I also have the perspective of having worked at Red Hat where sharing was part of the culture… part of the business. At Red Hat it was second nature to just share – whatever it was – no questions asked. At other places I have worked, there was and is a real fear to sharing. That to me is the key – people are afraid to share. Afraid their ideas will be stolen, they will lose business, lose recognition.
But where does this fear come from? I am inclined to think that it is grown out of our society’s obsession with our brand of capitalism. We have 24 hour networks devoted to business and finance which talk endlessly about what people have to sell. We have commercials running day after day which use the word “proprietary” as a selling point. Still, that doesn’t explain why a non-profit would feel the same way until you factor in the academic setting into it as well. Our non-profit grew out of the University of North Carolina and in many ways it still runs like the University (I know, I worked there once too). There is a lot of talk about things such as getting into peer-reviewed journals not as a way of sharing information, but as a way of getting recognition and prestige (academic capital). I’m not putting down either capitalism or academic capital per se, but I do think we tend to forget to drop those mindsets when we need or want to share.
Being naive, I approached the non-profit world with a sense that they all shared… because… they are non-profit. I could not have been more wrong. Shannon is right to equate the article she found to non-profit work – the processes and planning that surround the idea of sharing generally kill the actual sharing. This is most evident to me in a couple of (unnamed) organizations designed to promote sharing of technology between non-profits. They like to use the phrase “open source” a great deal but in actuality they are organizations set up as large NDA’s who share conditionally and do not promote the continuation of that sharing. In reality, technology is now quite simple to share. Pick an open license which suits you and stick it on the web (preferably on a site designed for sharing) – see what happens. As Shannon says: “The key is not to plan to share; the key is to just start sharing and see what happens. The serendipity that occurs is something that cannot be planned.”
Well I must say that I have had my share of criticism over the years – most of it in the old flame-wars that revolved around GNOME or other free software projects – but this one really cuts to the core. Its not really a criticism as much as it is a total rejection of my being.
In responding to the claim that software patents were adverse to innovation and discourage competition, a South African Microsoft manager actually claimed that I do not exist!!
But Paulo Ferreira, the platform strategy manager at Microsoft South Africa, said: “There is no such thing as free software. Nobody develops software for charity.”
(It hurts even more that one of Chelsea FCs left backs is named “Paolo Ferreira”)
Its interesting (or perhaps infuriating) to me that lately Microsoft has been going on and on about interoperability whenever open source is brought up. Using Linux in a mostly Microsoft-based office environment, I can assure anyone that interoperability is non existent with their products.
mah points out a headline in today’s New Times here in Rwanda: Frw44b goes to consultancy each year. That’s $80 million in money asking other people (mostly Westerners) to provide answers. That’s $80 million going to countries other than Rwanda… the country that needs the economic stimulus.
This goes right back to what I mentioned the other day about being asked point-blank about developing in open source. The reasoning there is that someone locally can learn to continue developing the system if the code is available. Of course we are taking it that one step further by hiring a local developer to join the team. Still, you get the point I hope.
Now in almost completely separate news, today I read about a solar cell phone charger that only costs $20! That’s only 10,000frw. Not much at all. The other day when I met the volunteer health workers who are going to use our systems to collect data I asked specifically where they charged their phones (all three had phones already) when they don’t have power. They told me they go to friends houses who have power. Sometimes they would charge them there at the health center too since they were affiliated with it now. Hell, for $20 we could hook them up!
I spent the morning talking with the folks who have developed the system and all of the paper forms we are trying to replace with ‘lectronics. It was amazingly useful and made me think about what I have to do a bit differently. No reason to go into the details of that here of course.
One thing that really surprised me in the meeting was that I was very directly asked if we would develop our software in open source. They asked because two other systems they have had to deal with are proprietary and they are tired of having to fly in “experts” to fix or change the code. Brilliant. Of course, I proudly said it would be free/open and that we’d also hire a local developer. Smiles all around.
After a lunch at the “Bourbon St. Cafe” (I shit you not) we headed out to a health center about 30 – 40 minutes outside of Kigali. That’s 30 – 40 minutes on a dirt road with giant potholes. If one were to stay in the center of Kigali too long they might assume that Rwanda is a wealthy country and wonder why so many aid agencies are here. Once you drive a few hundred meters past the airport you immediately know the real story. This is a poor country – monetarily, not poor of spirit.
We went to the health center to meet with the “community health workers” who are volunteers from the villages who go door to door to collect health data from the people. They tend to be more than data collectors as the people in the village will come to them when they are ill and ask what they should do (visit the health center, of course!) One thing I learned which really impressed me was that the program allows the villages to “elect” the people who will be going door to door. In this way, the volunteers want to participate because it is a position of honor and the villagers might trust them more. In fact, their peers trust them enough to give them their personal health information. The workers we met did point out that most folks are reluctant to give HIV information though – perhaps we can make the system so that the workers can hand a phone to the people who can more privately enter that information?
I truly enjoyed sitting with these folks despite the three-way translation (Kinyarwandan to French to English for me – ugh). Still, the folks we met were wonderful (including Pascal who is a fellow-fan of Chelsea – Go you Blues!). I want so much now to make the system easy for these three people to use. Its going to be difficult… but doable.
On Friday I am off to Rwanda. Finally. This trip was supposed to happen… um… back in September I think. Then contracts weren’t signed, paperwork got complicated – other work came up. So the trip was rescheduled for the 15th of Feb. But Dave… its the 20th today! Very true. After all the months of postponement, after we scheduled the 15th and booked hotel rooms, we were informed that we have been kicked out of those rooms to make way for Dubya and his enormous entourage (we’re talking thousands of people here). So great, the President has just been in Rwanda and I’ve got to follow up behind him?? Did he piss them off? Did he say anything untoward to their President? Am I going to have to hear about it?
For the curious. I will be starting work on a project in which we will be building a system that allows health workers to collect public health information door to door via cell phone/pda. They collect this data already on paper and we want to take advantage of Rwanda’s very strong mobile phone network to make the process easier and quicker. I’d tell you more if the funders would only approve an announcement (red tape – mumble mumble). Oh, like everything else we do, this will be open source and the Rwanda Ministry of Health’s to own.
To put it very succinctly – internet access going out of Africa is bad. Very bad. Don’t believe all the hype of all the cool new ways of opening up Africa with the Internet. Its not here yet, and won’t be without some major investment. At any rate, I’ll try to post some while I am there but I doubt I’ll have the patience to put any photos up. Hmmm… maybe I will reacquaint myself with text browsers!
So a friend writes me and says – “Hey Dave – is that you in that one photo…”
And the answer is yes. Zabbo put up a load of photos from the Ottawa Linux Symposium of 2000. Wow – what an amazingly fun time that was. One of those perfect storms of super smart folks, really good friends, shared interests, and many many parties. It has to be about my most favorite few days from the Red Hat era – that and the first GUADEC in Paris.
So yeah – here is me, me, me and them, and oh there I am.
Wow – I’m vain… look at the set instead – such good folks.
Oh.. and zab – 7 years is just long enough for nostalgia to trump embarrassment.
