IMO

This posting has an extremely political slant, so if that's going to bother you, don't read it. In fact, I wonder if I should even be writing it, since it will be soooo easy for people to misinterpret what I say... Today the Bush administration has officially stopped its search for the alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) supposedly stockpiled by Saddam and hanging over our heads ("our" == The USA's) like the sword of Damocles. More than anything else, the possible existence of these WMD was the factor that allowed the invasion of Iraq to obtain as much support as it did. Of course, the fact that none were found comes as no surprise to anyone; it was becoming increasingly clear that they did not exist. Even the administration itself was declaring that even if no WMD were found, the invasion was still justified. In the comic book world this is known as a "ret-con", or retroactive continuity. Here's an example: it's well known that Superman is from the planet Krypton. One writer decides that this whole Krypton thing is stupid and writes a story where Superman is really a genetically altered human being; the whole Krypton thing was implanted memories or a dream or something like that. Basically, history is rewritten and continuity has been retroactively changed. The about-face regarding the WMD is real-life ret-con. Of course, the administration claims that the world is safer without Saddam. Well, not if you're a US solder in Iraq it ain't. In fact, I think it's a much more dangerous world for them then it was a few years ago. Now don't get me wrong, imo Saddam was a supremely Bad Guy and I am not sad in the least that he is no longer in power. No way. But there are lots of other Bad Guys out there, and I don't think it's a wise decision for any country to unilaterally decide who should and who should not be in power in other sovereign states. I also think that in addition to the major advantages of having Saddam no longer in power, and the people of Iraq finally having an opportunity for Life and Liberty, there is also the disadvantage that the current disorder provides additional breeding grounds for terrorist activities. If a large percentage of Americans feel that the administration was less than honest, what does that say about the rest of the world, especially those who didn't trust us in the first place? Is the world better without Saddam in power? You betcha! Is it safer? Umm, I'll have to get back to you about that one... I wholeheartedly support our troups. I have friends and family serving over there. No matter how I or anyone else feel about this war, the men and women over there, doing their jobs even at the cost of their own lives have my respect, admiration and appreciation. So the search is over, and in some way the very fact that a search actually happened is good news, since it implies that maybe the administration really did think that there were WMD. No, that doesn't make everything OK, but sometimes you'll take what you can get.

The death of Will Eisner on the 3rd got me thinking about how unappreciated, still, "comics" artists are. In my opinion, today's comics and graphic novels represent a truly exceptional art form. I've been a longtime comicbook reader and collector, in that order. I store away my comics not so that there will be worth something someday, but so I can pull out a set of comics one rainy day and reread the Galactus Trilogy, or Crisis On Infinite Earths. When Spider-Man 2 came out, I found my copy of "Spider-Man No More" and shared it with my sons (who are also getting into comics), who thought it was the coolest thing in the world that some scenes from the movie were almost exact homages to that issue. Over the last decades, we've been lucky to see a rebirth in the enjoyment of comics, mostly, I think, due to such seminal efforts as "Watchmen", "The Dark Knight Returns", "Ronin" and "Kingdom Come." I admit that one of my prized possessions is a copy of the "Kingdom Come" hardcover signed by Alek Ross and Mark Waid. Many of today's masters openly admit the debt they owe to such incredible talents as Mr. Eisner. Yet to the public at large, these masters of the craft are relative unknowns. I recall once when Johnny Carson joked about "who the heck" was this Jack Kirby who described himself as "King of the Comics." Johnny had never heard of him, and certainly the host of the Tonight Show would be expected to know all "comics." But Jack "King" Kirby wasn't king of the (stand-up) comics, but king of the comics (as in comic books). Yet even this genius of an artist and supreme creative force was, outside of the world of comic books, unknown. There's also an effort underway in many places to encourage the youth of today to "get into" comics, an effort I support whole-heartedly. Reading for enjoyment is almost a dying hobby, but reading comics help turn that around. I've seen it lots of times, when a boy hates reading yet devours comic books and/or manga ("Ghost In The Shell" is a favorite, of course). "All he reads are comic books," his parents complain, but my point of view is different: at least he is reading. He's learning that reading can be fun and exciting. Isn't that useful? I think it is. One of the best places I've found to get good graphic novels and other comic art is Bud Plant Comic Art. Highly recommended. If you are interested in back-issues of comics, or subscriptions, use the place where I order my comic books from: The NICE Club at Mile High Comics.

The last few weeks have been quite busy, more busy than expected (Of course!). So it's been awhile since I blogged anything. I'll post a few topics, and follow up during the next few days. First of all, of course, is The Tsunami. I can't even begin to imagine the devastation and the overwhelming personal impact of such a disaster. There's an excellent blog available to provide news and updates, a somewhat centralized coordination site and, of course, external links and notes. Fellow ASF member Sanjiva Weerawarana's Blog also is a required one to check out. If you haven't already, please donate to help the relief effort; My own personal choice was using Catholic Charities, but the Red Cross is also an excellent choice. I found it somewhat ironic that The Tsunami hit during a time when a lot of people are absorbed in self-centered consumerism. It certainly drives home what's important in your life. Call your folks. Hug your kids. Appreciate every day. There's been a lot of virtual ink used regarding the increase in the number of open source "support" companies. The latest, in Information Week is typical of most of these articles. They mention the 2 newest players (SpikeSource and SourceLabs), yet ignore the ones, like Covalent, which have been in this space for years and really understand open source. Sure, I guess startups are newsworthy, and it does sort of imply that external interest in open source is picking up, so I shouldn't complain too much . And, of course, anything that increases the spread and acceptance of open source is Goodness. And yeah, I work for Covalent... so what? Previously I mentioned that I hoped to read the Subversion book over the holidays... Well, I was able to get though maybe a quarter of it. Not for lack of interest, but simple lack of time. One very cool present I received this Christmas was a 19 inch Samsung LCD monitor (the 912N). I'd been looking at getting a new monitor (leaving CRT behind) for a few months and Eileen thought to surprise me, which she did. It's a very nice unit, the only problem is that it is analog only and therefore lacks a DVI input, and I'd prefer to avoid using analog if possible and use the DVI port on my G4... So do I keep it, or return it for a different make and model? I haven't quite decided yet. Enough for now.

Sometimes it seems that you can't get away from the "debate" about the validity of Open Source. Just yesterday my wife and I were doing some last minute Christmas shopping and we stopped off at a TGI Fridays (a TGI Friday's!) for a quick bite to eat at the mall. As we were mulling over the menu, 2 people were seated at the table next to ours; a 30-something guy in a tie and a 20-something guy in jeans. As Eileen and I placed our order and enjoyed our 1st sip of some good beer, I could overhear the conversation going on next to us: "Yeah, but what happens if some guy over here makes a change and then some guy over there makes another change? You get chaos." "Nah," I thought to myself. "Can't be talking about distributed software development in a collaborative environment. Gotta be something else." "In 20 years," the guy in the tie says, "we'll see that the way Microsoft has been doing it has been the right way all along." Crap. Now I'm hooked. Despite my sincere intentions to have a nice lunch with my wife, I find myself straining to hear every word of this conversation. It's becoming obvious that what I am overhearing is just the latest phase of what has no doubt been a long discussion between the 2. I get the distinct impression that the guy in the tie is some middle manager, either directly or indirectly over the guy in the jeans. Mr Jeans is simply nodding, as one who knows that it's pointless to argue or debate. But this simply encourages Mr. Tie. "No, there is simply no control at all over the whole process. It's a game; an experiment," says Mr. Tie, as if simply making statements provides sufficient proof to their validity. Eileen holds my hand and smiles. She knows I'm chomping at the bit to get involved. Mr. Tie is one of the typical people for whom FUD works perfectly. They are concerned about making not the "right" or "correct" decision, but rather the "safe" one (with "safe" being how they define it). They can't be bothered to look into the facts, or do some research on their own, or even to trust those who they hire and who know the facts better than they do themselves. Instead, they get their information from the local newspapers and "business journals" which provide the depth of a dime. Our local newspaper, The Baltimore Sun, used to have a "technology reporter" whose articles seemed to always revolve about how (1) Microsoft, despite problems, was always the best decision and (2) High speed internet connectivity via your local cable company was Nirvana. Local business and technology papers and journals were little better. Mr. Tie was either unwilling to understand the basic concepts of Open Source or else he was simply *unable* to. In the first case, facts are irrelevant, since they will be ignored anyway. In the 2nd case, facts are useless, since they simply bounce off the gray matter they are intended to infiltrate. With those unwilling to understand, FUD works by providing the barest minimum rationale required to validate their belief; "why take a chance?" For those unable, FUD works by solidifying the mindset which prevents any other concept from taking root. It's like fertilizer for weeds, preventing the grass and flowers of Open Source from germinating in the field of technology. Yet despite all this, we should still continue the fight. As Eileen and I were leaving, I stopped off at the table. "Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I couldn't help overhearing your conversation. I'm afraid that your argument is based on some common misconceptions and inaccuracies about Open Source. Here's my card; please don't hesitate to contact me if you'd like to understand it a bit more." I'm not holding my breath, but you never know...

As many people know, the ASF is migrating, with vim and vigor, away from CVS towards Subversion (SVN). For me the migration is bitter sweet, like throwing out that old, comfortable pair of shoes for a new pair. Although I don't consider myself a CVS expert by any means, I knew my way around it and was able to use it without even thinking (some people claim I do too many things without thinking, but that's a whole different entry). Now with Subversion, for the casual user, you can just s/cvs/svn/ and get by pretty well; but with a super cool utility like SVN, that's hardly doing it justice. For example, due to the expense of branching and tagging, it's been avoided like the plague; with SVN this incredibly useful (no, make that *required* ) capability is cheap and encouraged. One of my goals for the holiday break is to really *read* the Subversion book. In the meantime, I'm just enjoying playing around with it. I just wonder how long before we see robust and seamless SVN suport in various tools, like XCode? Hopefully sooner rather than later. (PS: Yes, the title is supposed to be that way)