I’m at the airport in Rochester, NY, waiting for my lunchtime flight to Chicago and then on to Europe overnight. The airport has this beautiful new free business center with no-charge wifi, so I’m quite comfortable. In fact, I came in here right after I dropped my son off at school even though it was four hours before my flight.

One nit with the business center is that the rooms have an outlet in the floor in the center and the receptacles are inset. For my MacBook Pro I can use the power cord extension, but for my Blackberry charger it is not an easy fit. My solution was to wedge a paperbook book (Red Mars) between the charger and the slanted table leg, thereby pressing down and making the connection. It’s tenuous, but seems to be working.

I had hoped to finish the porch restoration project this weekend since I only have some finish molding to put on, but the weather conspired against me. It rained most of the day on Saturday. On Sunday we went to a political picnic in the afternoon, and then it rained a bit more for good measure. Weather permitting, the porch should be carpentry-complete on Saturday and then I’ll start painting. First the whole thing will need a good scrubbing, but if we have a sunny day it will dry quickly.

The countdown continues until we bring Katie to college. We’re at T minus 10 days now. Most of her friends have already gone to school since her university is on a quarter system and starts quite late. We’re fine with her being home longer, but I think she has mixed feeling now about wanting to start but being nervous about moving to school. Like millions before us, we’ll get through it, but it will be tough emotionally.

• Chrome’s JavaScript challenge to Silverlight | Business Tech - CNET News

  “The biggest rival for Microsoft’s next-generation Silverlight Web technology will be JavaScript, not Adobe Systems’ ubiquitous Flash, according to experts speaking at Microsoft’s Tech.Ed conference here.”

  tags: OB, JavaScript, Google, Microsoft

• First look: Raptr, a gamer’s Facebook with some rough edges

  “Leveraging the power of the Internet to bring gamers together has become an essential aspect of virtually every game that comes onto the market. But with the online social community boom, this trend has begun to transcend any one particular game or platform altogether as gamers seek out their brothers and sisters in other ways. That’s where Raptr, a new online social community service for gamers, comes in.”

  tags: OB, NP, social networking, video games

Though technically there’s a bit more than two weeks until Summer ends in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s over for all intents and purposes. In my family that means that school starts for someone. Up until this year it was both my daughter and son, but while my son started middle school today, my daughter has two more weeks until we bring her to start her first year of college.

I can also tell Summer is over because my travel schedule picks up significantly. I’ll be in Europe next week and this will cut into the time I can spend with my daughter before she goes off to school. That’s a shame, but I’ve not been away too much on business travel during the last few weeks. Also, I travel a lot through Chicago so I should be able to see her fairly frequently if I build a little extra time into my travel schedule.

She also feels that we can escape up to Hibbing once or two twice to reprise our trip in 2006 where we saw where Bob Dylan grew up. Unfortunately, Dylan Days in 2009 may conflict with her studying for finals. I need to work on that girl’s priorities.

• Office Live, you’re no Google Docs | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

  “I believe Microsoft could make an honest Google Docs competitor without killing its Microsoft Office business. Eventually, Microsoft will have to. So it might be smart for Microsoft to encourage people to start thinking about the company as an expansive supplier of productivity solutions–desktop and Web-based–rather than just a company that makes desktop office products that, by the way, also have some add-on Web support.”

  tags: OB, Google, Microsoft

• What Do The ISO And The NBA Have In Common? - David Berlind’s Tech Radar - InformationWeek

  “My post here isn’t to say which ISO standard better or worse: OOXML or ODF. But, with the ISO’s approval of OOXML as a standard for the same thing that the ISO-ratified ODF does, the ISO is now getting outted for the way its practices could plunge it into irrelevancy.”

  tags: OB, ISO, OOXML

• State of the Art - Serious Potential in Google’s Browser - NYTimes.com

  “Google argues that current Web browsers were designed eons ago, before so many of the developments that characterize today’s Web: video everywhere, scams and spyware, viruses that lurk even on legitimate sites, Web-based games and ambitious Web-based programs like Google’s own Docs word processor. As Google’s blog puts it, “We realized that the Web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser.””

  tags: OB, Google, Chrome

• PC World - Business Center: Nations Question ISO’s Merit Following Dropped OOXML Appeals

  “In a statement made at the Congresso Internacional Sociedade e Governo Electronico (CONSEGI) 2008 conference, representatives from three of the four countries that appealed against an April 1 vote to approve OOXML as a standard — Brazil, South Africa and Venezuela — said they are “no longer confident” in the ability of both the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) to be vendor-neutral and open when it comes to setting technology standards.”

  tags: OB, OOXML, ISO, IEC

• 451 CAOS Theory » Why I won’t be using Google’s Chrome much

  “… I really don’t enjoy using my Windows very much (not as much as Linux), and use is limited mainly to Webinars and rare instances when a vendor or project provides support only for Windows. Luckily for me, those instances are occurring less and less. And when Google gets around to putting Chrome on Linux, I’ll be ready to really take it for a drive.”

  tags: OB, Chrome, Google, Windows

• ODF approved as Swedish Standard - Peter Krantz

  Follow link for text of Swedish standard.

  tags: OB, standards, ODF

• CORRECTED - ISO Microsoft vote sparks dissent amid IT bodies | Reuters

  “A decision to dismiss appeals against the controversial fast-track approval of a Microsoft (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) document format has provoked six national IT bodies to question the relevance of global standards-setting body ISO.”

  tags: OB, OOXML, ISO, IEC

News came out over the weekend that representatives from six countries—Brazil, South Africa, Venezuela, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Cuba—have written an open letter to the ISO and IEC criticizing the handling of the OOXML appeals.

See, for example,

• Groklaw: “CONSEGI 2008 Declaration — Open Letter to ISO Reveals More OOXML Issues”
• Andy Updegrove: “The CONSEGI 2008 Declaration: Six Nations “Just Say No” to ISO/IEC”
• Jomar Silva: “OpenXML: Newton’s Third Law”
• Open Malaysia: “OOXML won’t be accepted in South America”
• Charles-H. Schultz: “Teenage Riot?”

Several of these, e.g., Groklaw, contain the text of the letter.

I had hoped for better from the ISO and IEC. I had hoped that they would not try to force the opinions of the executives on the boards considering the appeals. I had hoped that ISO and IEC would understand that refusing to give a fair hearing to the concerns of emerging economies would be neither logical nor sensible.

I’m usually an optimist but in situation after situation, the response has always been “we are right and—wait a minute until we find it—we have a rule which justifies our forcing OOXML through the system.”

With the actions of the ISO and IEC, and with this letter from the countries, we’re seeing a serious backlash to the role of these standards bodies in creating and approving IT standards. That is, while they’ve created thousands of standards for safety, mining, agriculture, and other areas, perhaps people are now shifting away from thinking that these groups should have anything to do with IT and interoperability standards.

With the actions of the ISO and IEC, I think people have every reason to think that way. I feel that way.

So what will fill this void? Will the new leadership that will sit at the top of the ISO in 2009 make the necessary changes to help it regain its reputation in the IT world? Or will Fortress ISO continue to maintain its infallibility in all things OOXML-wise?

Will a new organization rise up to take the place of the ISO for IT standards?

Is it just the wrong model entirely for IT standards meant for global use?

What would an ISO that “gets ‘open’” even look like?

I know about the ISO, IEC, and WTO. Reviewing the language, I didn’t notice anything about it being in place or relevant “forever and ever and ever and ever.”

So here are a few things to remember about what’s coming out of the OOXML fiasco and how ISO/IEC handled it:

• There are a lot of very angry people out there, and these people are willing to work for significant change.
• These people are not going away, and the ISO and IEC can’t just “wait them out.”
• People are in this for the long haul. Some things can be done quickly, but if others take years, then people are committed to work on them however long it takes.
• ISO and IEC have damaged their reputations and caused people to question seriously their relevance to IT interoperability standards in important emerging economies.
• Change at this point in inevitable.

• Get Pad and Pen - The School Supply List Is Long - NYTimes.com

  “As school districts both poor and prosperous struggle to finance such basics as teacher salaries, utilities, building maintenance and textbooks, many are asking parents to purchase more — and more particular — school supplies. Gone are the days when back-to-school shopping meant making sure each child had new shoes and a three-ring binder. Now, according to the New York State School Boards Association, supplies run an average of $100 for high school students and $60 for middle schoolers.”

  tags: OB, education, supplies

• Google Code reverses open-source license ban | Business Tech - CNET News

  “Before, the company had tried to discourage the increase in the number of open-source licenses; having multiple licenses can increase legal costs and in some cases prohibit mingling code from one open-source project to another. But the Eclipse programming tool project is thriving, and it’s better not to block its projects, Di Bona said.”

  tags: OB, Google, open source

• Open source group sues Quebec over MS purchase > Open Source and Linux

  “A Montreal-based open source association that’s suing the government of Quebec for procuring proprietary software without considering open source alternatives, wants the government to take a more European approach to software purchases.”

  tags: OB, Canada, Quebec, Microsoft, open source

• DevMaster.net - 3D Game and Graphics Engines Database

  “Each engine contains a brief description as well as a list of supported features and general info (platform, API, etc.). In addition, you will find reviews/ratings from DevMaster.net staff or community members to help you decide which engine is right for you. This is a great way to know how your engine compares with others or to learn how engines use state-of-the-art technology. Be sure to share your thoughts about any engine you are familiar with by reviewing it.”

  tags: OB, 3d, development, programming, game, engine

I had a request from someone to list my favorite travel websites. Not the reservations ones like Travelocity or Expedia, but smaller ones with good travel content, perhaps local. Any recommendations?

• ‘EA Land’ closing just weeks after debut | Gaming and Culture - CNET News

  I missed this when the news story hit in April, but the service shut down on August 1. This was to be the successor to The Sims Online.

  tags: OB, NP, EA, virtual worlds

• ‘100 Things’ author dies at 47 - CNN.com

  “Dave Freeman, co-author of “100 Things to Do Before You Die,” a travel guide and ode to odd adventures that inspired readers and imitators, died after hitting his head in a fall at his home. He was 47.”

  tags: OB, irony

Browsers and Privacy

• Microsoft to add privacy features to IE8 - Network World

  Safari introduced similar features in 2005.

  tags: OB, IE, Safari, browser, privacy

• Stealther :: Firefox Add-ons

  “If there are times you want to surf the web without leaving a trace in your local computer, then this is the right extension for you.”

  tags: OB, browser, Firefox, extension, privacy

• IEBlog : IE8 and Privacy

  “Have you ever wanted to take your web browsing “off the record”? Perhaps you’re using someone else’s computer and you don’t want them to know which sites you visited. Maybe you need to buy a gift for a loved one without ruining the surprise. Maybe you’re at an Internet kiosk and don’t want the next person using it to know at which website you bank.”

  tags: OB, IE, browser, privacy

Open Source

• New guide from SLFC: Not violating the GPL for dummies

  “The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) has published a guide that explains the obligations imposed by GNU’s General Public License (GPL). The SFLC, which has recently conducted a string of GPL enforcement lawsuits, released the guide in order to educate companies and help them understand what they need to do in order to comply with the license and avoid legal risks.”

  tags: OB, open source, SFLC, GPL

• Open Malaysia: The entire State of Pahang moves to OpenOffice.org

  “The driving force for this migration seems to be cost of proprietary software and the fear of unlicensed software. OpenOffice.org is the obvious solution to these two pressing problems (thanks, BSA!) What is good is that they have chosen ODF by default, and they are not changing the file format to the binary proprietary ones.”

  tags: OB, ODF, Malaysia, OpenOffice.org

• Open Malaysia: The State of Kedah moves to OpenOffice.org

  “A case study submitted to the Open Source Competency Center by the Center of Information Technology, Office of the Chief Minister and State Secretary of Kedah, has indicated that OpenOffice.org has been installed in 70% of the computers in the Kedah state government agencies. There are currently 2,202 installed seats and by the looks of it, the numbers will just keep rising!”

  tags: OB, Malaysia, ODF, OpenOffice.org

Standards Convergence

• New direction for ‘JavaScript 2′ | InfoWorld | By Paul Krill

  “The biggest change in JavaScript 2’s direction is that the ECMAScript 4 project has been dropped. That change resolves a long-simmering debate as to whether ECMAScript 3.1 or ECMAScript 4 should be the basis of JavaScript 2. (ECMAScript is the formal name for the standard, vendor-neutral version of JavaScript.)”

  tags: OB, standards, JavaScript, ECMA

Exercise and Virtual Worlds

• Alpha Male » World Of Warcraft On Treadmills

  “The Wii might get you involved and more immersed in your gaming experience, thanks to the unique motion control system, but the folks at Manapotions.com decided to go the extra mile where World of Warcraft (WoW) is concerned. This special mod connects treadmills and joysticks to a computer, where running on the treadmill will make you move your character accordingly.”

  Follow the link and check out the video.

  tags: NP, OB, World of Warcraft, exercise