Via CNN
Latest Updates RSS
-
Doug
-
Doug
Dear Senator Lugar/Bayh,
As a citizen concerned with individual liberties and the preservation of our Constitution, I would like to direct your attention to a situation I find highly alarming. To quote from the web site of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (www.efn.org):
“Dmitry was arrested in Las Vegas on July 16 by the FBI, at the behest of software giant Adobe Systems Inc., after presenting a paper on cryptography software he developed in Russia. A US District Attorney (Dept. of Justice) has filed criminal charges against Dmitry in Calif., under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) for providing software that decrypts Adobe eBook files so that their content can be accessed in ways that Adobe’s own software does not provide (e.g. text-to-speech translation for the blind).”
Dmitry Sklyarov is a Russian national who was in the United States attending a conference of computer programmers. In essence, Adobe, through the auspices of the United States government, has caused a foreign national to be arrested and imprisoned for delivering what amounts to a scientific paper. While it may be true that Mr. Sklyarov’s actions have the potential to cause commercial harm to Adobe, it is without precedent in the history of our nation that scientific speech, protected under the First Amendment, is punished with imprisonment and criminal charges solely in the interest of protecting a commercial organization from economic harm. Frankly, this is the equivalent of Henry Ford being arrested for presenting a paper on the assembly line at the behest of carriage manufacturers. The fact that this injustice has been perpetrated on a foreign national visiting our country, regarding work that was performed outside of our borders is a further indignity that can only reinforce the growing negative perception of the United States abroad.
Senator, the DMCA has already exercised a chilling effect on free speech within the Information Technology community. The effects of this legislation, as well as the manner in which it has been enforced, have the net impact of seriously limiting the speech of individuals in favor of corporate entities as well as eliminating the doctrine of “Fair Use.” While I am a strong believer in copyright protection for the creators of original work, I believe the DMCA to be the culmination of a series of legislative acts that have undermined the original intent of copyright legislation and have deprived American citizens of rights and perogatives that we have enjoyed for over two hundred years.
The DMCA is clearly un-Constitutional and a significant threat to individual liberty. It is simply wrong for government power to be co-opted in this manner by corporations to the detriment of our citizens. I urge you to take approriate action to address the immediate situation of Mr. Sklyarov and the broader, even more important effects of this legislation.
Sincerely,
Doug Miller
-
Doug
Somehow I missed it, but ~fletk is back!
Thanks to Ken and wood s lot for linking here.
-
Doug
I’m sitting outside in my backyard, listening to the water flow into the basin in my Japanese garden as I write this on my Macintosh Powerbook G3. I picked up this system used about three weeks ago for an excellent price, specifically so I could do things like this. My son is watching “Scobby Doo,” and it isn’t the most conducive writing environment. It’s a lot easier to keep my thoughts together out here next to the tea garden.
A lot of my colleagues at work were pretty surprised the first day I showed up with the Mac. We’re primarily an engineering firm, and while they’ve somewhat come to accept the presence of *nix systems in roles like IT and high-end CAD work, most of them have never seen a Mac and can’t understand why anyone would want one (particularly one that’s a four year old model). Most of them, I suspect, simply chalked it up to my well-known disdain for Microsoft and left it at that.
I had deeper reasons, however, than a simple, though abiding disdain for software and operating systems developed in Redmond. I’ve always had a sneaking admiration for the Mac and the culture that surrounds it. I’ve always wanted one to play with, and this seemed like an excellent opportunity. I needed a notebook, both for backyard writing and for the traveling I’ll be doing over the next few months. I’ve wrestled with enough Windows notebooks to know what a huge pain they can be when you’re changing localities and need to swap settings, etc. More importantly, every Windows notebook I looked at that had the features I wanted was out of the budget I was willing to spend, by a long shot. The new Vaios and Toshibas are nice machines, but I object to taking out a second mortgage on the house to pay for one.
Besides, I was interested in a Mac. The new Titanium Powerbook is certainly a nice system, but suffers from the same problem that the Windows machines suffer from: too rich for my blood. I seriously considered the new iBook, which will do everything I need it to, and is relatively inexpensive at $1200. Then I ran across Escher, the aging G3 Powerbook, sitting in a used computer store I’d gone into on a whim.
It was pretty much lust at first sight, and the price was right. Ten minutes later I was on the way out of the store, Powerbook in tow. Based on the specs, I was certain Escher could do everything I needed him to do, and he’d saved me a chunk of money in the bargain.
Sure, a G3 Powerbook isn’t exactly cutting-edge hardware. By the way, I’m not talking a Wallstreet G3 series Powerbook here, but rather the original model G3 250, with the 5Gb drive and the 20x CD-ROM. A screamer this system isn’t, and if I was going to be using it as my main system or doing a lot of presentations and the like, I might be in a bind. This is a “geek’s machine” though, and hopefully, his RAM will never be sullied by the likes of PowerPoint. Rather, I plan on using this system to write, both prose and code, to do e-mail and browse the Web, and to perform remote system administration on the Linux boxes I’m shepherding these days. For those tasks I don’t need the fastest processor or the hottest video card; I need solid, easy connectivity from wherever I am and a solid editor.
Now that I had the system, my next task was to get it set up the way I work. As I said, this is a geek’s system, and most of my work these days involves either coding for web applications or administering Linux boxes. I was peripherally aware that some excellent Mac coding tools, like BBEdit were available, so that was where I started. I wasn’t real familiar with all the varieties of Mac software, but I figured there had to be something that would meet my needs.
So, I downloaded the free version of BBEdit and took it for a spin. No mistake, it’s a nice editor, but to my Emacs trained fingers, it felt odd and foreign. The free version doesn’t do syntax highlighting, either; at least not that I could see, and certainly not for php code. I’m told the commercial version does, and I can certainly see how Mac aficionados swear by it. It has pretty much everything you need in a good editor, at least in the commercial version.
I’m a free (as in speech) software kind of guy, though, and BBEdit, for all its virtues, isn’t Emacs. Besides, I needed to be able to do remote, secure logins to my Linux boxes, and I wanted some way, if possible, to interact with CVS servers to checkout and check in code as I worked on it. In short, I needed a *nix like environment, on the Mac. I could always run LinuxPPC, I supposed, but I wasn’t that familiar with it and wasn’t sure I wanted to wrestle with the issues of Linux on notebook hardware (and four year old hardware, at that). It was time to do some research.
Now, as far as I know, a version of Emacs exists for virtually every operating system ever made, and probably for some that weren’t ever made. It’s hard to get more ubiquitous than Emacs, and I reasoned that there must be a Mac port somewhere, made by someone. To my great joy, a few minutes searching on Google yielded not only a link to a port of Emacs, but one to a port of XEmacs, as well, both designed to run on the classic Mac OS.
After I few minutes of downloading and unstuffing I was giving them a spin. While both have some problems and issues, they’re certainly good enough for any moderately seasoned Emacs user to work with. Both are a bit dated; the Emacs port, known as Emacs CW, is a couple of point releases behind the current main Emacs release, and hasn’t had much work done on it for about a year. From reading over the web site, it looks like the author is concentrating his efforts on an OS X port these days, so it seems likely that Emacs CW is stuck where it is. All of the Emacs key commands seem to work, and the additional lisp files I use with my Linux systems load up fine, though niceties like the menus and scollbars seem to be missing. Still, it’s Emacs, and it works.
The XEmacs port is both better integrated into the Mac UI, and less advanced in terms of Emacs versions than the regular Emacs port. Mac XEmacs is a port of version 19 of XEmacs, but the author has done the work to make things like menus and file choosers operate according to the standard Mac way of doing things. If you’re primarily a Mac type but either want of need to use a version of Emacs for some editing, this port of XEmacs will definitely feel more comfortable to you than the spartan, keyboard-driven Emacs CW.
I should mention at this point that as luck would have it, Dori Smith of Backup Brain has compiled an excellent list of low- or no-cost web development software for the Mac. Contrary to popular belief, excellent web development and graphics tools for the Mac don’t have to cost a fortune. In fact, just working from this list it would be possible to put together an excellent toolbox of software for under $200. Emacs-CW and Mac XEmacs are both included on this list.
Now that I had a useful and functioning Emacs system on the Powerbook, it was time to take care of the rest of my shopping list. In short order I found Nifty Telnet SSH to provide SSH remote log in capabilities to my linux boxes. I also found MacCVS Pro, a nice CVS client. Like Emacs-CW and Mac XEmacs, both are free software.
So now I have a wonderfully useful, albeit aged Powerbook with versions of all the tools I use in my daily work. I can sit in the backyard, or in a cafe, or wherever I want and do the sorts of things I need to do, all for a substantially smaller investment than I thought I’d have to make. To my mind, this illustrates one of the most important aspects of free software: open and accessible source code allows easy portability to diverse operating systems. In turn, that can often allow older systems, which may no longer be useful as someones main system, to be recycled to perform other, still useful tasks. Finally, the use of standards-based file formats and protocols ensures that these systems can still effectively exchange information and data with other systems, regardless of vintage or operating system. Even if the political and social aspects of free software aren’t of interest to you, these practical considerations would seem to me to be difficult to resist.
-
Doug
-
Doug
The past month has not been fun.
Alright, to be fair, it hasn’t been all bad, but I’ve certainly had better months. It’s been a long time since I’ve been so mucked up mentally that I had no desire, indeed no ability to write, but during the past month that’s certainly been the case. I apologize to you, gentle readers (if any of you are even still out there), for the long absence. Unfortunately, during the past month, I’ve been feeling a bit “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Nothing really matters much to me…
In some respects that isn’t strictly accurate. The reality is that a number of things have mattered a very great deal. So much, in fact, that the only way to cope was to more or less shut down, mull things over, and to some extent, hide from the world. It hasn’t exactly been a mental state conducive to making any sort of coherent observations on the world.
At work, things are bad. My staff is gone. Not fired, not laid off, but rather departed for greener pastures. I lost two of the best programmer/IT guys, and two of my best friends within a day of each other. The constant “Forward march! About face!” directives of senior management finally proved to be too much for them at the same time some long sought after opportunities became possible for both of them. I can’t blame either of them for taking the opportunity to move on; they’ve been through hell and more with this organization, stayed loyal, did good work, and had to submit to constant attacks from some of our less than clued-in managers questioning why the organization would even spend money on IT people.
The whole situation started me questioning a lot of things about what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. I find myself in an uncomfortable quandary that I haven’t yet figured out a resolution for. Maybe because of how I was brought up, or maybe because of my background in Therapeutic Recreation, I’ve always believed it was very, very important to love what you’re doing, to be passionate about your work. I’ve always struggled to understand people who work at something they don’t enjoy, or who work simply to survive, and get no real fulfillment from their careers. Certainly, I understand people who, for reasons of either ability or lack of opportunity work at jobs that aren’t interesting to them and don’t contribute to their personal growth in any way other than to provide survival. I’m speaking more of people who have ability and opportunity, but don’t take advantage of them but rather just “put in their time.” It’s the difference between the European philosophy of “work to live” versus the American “live to work” approach in some ways, but more in the sense of work being an important, growth-producing facet of one’s life rather than mindless competition or drudgery. I’ve always worked hard because I was doing something I was intently interested in, something that gave me a lot of pleasure; where the important reward was the work itself, not the money.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the case these days. I’m spending a lot of time doing things I don’t enjoy. The job isn’t rewarding, in fact, it’s mostly frustrating. I’ve lost my social and intellectual peers, and while I still work with some really great people (we honestly do have some of the best people around), it just isn’t the same. The interaction is gone. I spend most of my days, eighth to five or six, in an empty office by myself. My interactions consist mostly with dealing with other people’s problems or making decisions for them they ought to be able to make themselves. With the exception of one colleague who pops in nearly every day around 4:45 to tell me “go the fuck home!” and then hangs out for a few minutes to talk about things of some deeper significance, I’m isolated.
Obviously, I’m not doing what I should be doing, at least if I subscribe to a philosophy that says to do what you’re passionate about. Clearly, I’m not doing the sort of work I’m passionate about, and the opportunities to do so seem pretty limited. I’m not working with people I can connect with, who help create an environment where we challenge and excite each other to do bigger, better things. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that I’d be better off doing something else somewhere else.
Therein, you see, is the quandary. To begin with, I’m not entirely certain what else I should be doing. Even worse, I’m not sure, at least right now, that there’s another place for me to be doing it. The economy is in the toilet. There aren’t a lot of jobs to be found, particularly in IT. I know that the pundits keep prattling on about how truly qualified IT people are still in demand, and there are lots of IT jobs still waiting to be filled, but my experience says that isn’t necessarily the case. Three weeks ago, I advertised an IT manager position, specifically limiting it to local candidates who didn’t require visa sponsorship and who had Linux experience. I set the salary low, really below what’s industry standard in this area. To date, I have over 100 applicants. Over half of them are grossly over-qualified for the position. That tells me more about the reality of the market than any pundit’s pronouncement.
Of course, the same ninnies who were key players in driving away the excellent staff we had are pretty effectively blocking the addition of anyone new.
I haven’t been idle in the past month. Once it became obvious I wasn’t doing something I enjoyed, I grabbed the bull by the horns to try and make something different happen. I read books like Is it too Late to Run Away and Join the Circus?, Whistle While You Work: Heeding Your Life’s Calling, and the ever-famous What Color is your Parachute?. I’ve taken aptitude and skills tests. I’ve networked. I’ve even gone to the boss and made the pitch that I hate what I’m doing and need to be doing other things, things I’m interested in.
The only thing that the books told me was that pretty much everyone else hates what they do too, that the job-hunting system in today’s world pretty much guarantees you’ll end up with a job you hate, and that my philosophy of doing what you love is an ideal shared by writers of career books. The tests tell me I should be doing work with computers. The networking has led to a lot of people keeping their eyes out for new opportunities, but no leads as of yet. The pitch to the boss brought hearty agreement, but no transition plan to get there and more of the sort of work I’m loathing.
So, I’ve thought a lot about the situation. I’ve garnered some deep (and disquieting) insight about the people I work for, and further confirmed my belief that the modern American corporation is one of the most soul-destroying, ineffective, and just plain wrong institutions ever created. I’ve found I can totally sympathize when Ron Livingston in the movie Office Space says “Every day since I started working has been worse than the day before. So, any day you see me is the worst day of my life!” Mostly, I’ve thought about the fact that I just shouldn’t be working where I’m working.
The truth is, I just suck at the eight-to-five routine. Hell, my boss agrees with me, even if he isn’t actually willing to do anything about it. I’m far more productive in an unstructured environment, not in a cube, not in a corporation. I can get far more, far better quality work done here, at my desk at home, than I can in an office building. For that matter, I can do more and better work with a notebook sitting in a cafe. I know, because I did it, for years. The inescapable conclusion is that I should go out on my own again.
Problem solved, right? Unfortunately, no. To begin with, I’m still not certain what I should do if I go back out on my own. Worse, however, is the entire economic thing. I make good money where I am. Excellent money, in fact. My family is living a life-style we were never able to live when I was independent. We have hopes and plans for the future that are based on my continued income at these levels. I want things I wouldn’t be able to get if my income dropped. You know, trivial things like quality education for my kids. Given today’s economic environment, it’d be foolish not to be concerned about these risks.
So there you have it - I’m firmly in the grips of the Golden Handcuffs. I’ve turned into the sort of person who will do work that I don’t like, in an environment I don’t like, with people I don’t share values with, in order to lead a lifestyle I want.
Welcome to your mid-thirties, Doug. How’s it feel to be a sellout?
