So, for one thing, I’ve been thinking about making more changes to my blog. For one, I was thinking about ditching Blogger and just doing everything myself server-side. My only qualm about this is whether using blogger (a Google product) raises my Google rankings - after all, Google rankings are a good thing. Also, I’ve been toying around with the idea of creating multiple feeds. Specifically, categorizing my posts into descriptive categories, such as tech how-tos, tech news, personal views, etc. and then offering either a combined feed or feeds of only a certain category. If anyone actually reads this thing (I think most of my readers come from searching specific topics, and probably only read that post - though I don’t have anything to support that). Obviously, to do this, it would be easiest to handle the blog with software on my server, probably something slightly custom.

Facebook Beacon

In an update on Facebook Beacon, I came by this post on Slashdot, referencing a ComputerWorld article questioning whether Facebook Beacon could possibly be sued, as it appears to violate the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988, which prevents video rental agencies from disclosing the rental history of their customers without a written release. Interesting stuff.

Linux in the Real World

Being an avid Linux user, and a fan of both the functionality (from the point of view of a user as well as a programmer) and religion of F/OSS, I always like to hear stories of Linux (and other F/OSS) usage in the “real world”. Especially situations where Linux is displacing Windows, but really anything Linux-based in general. I can’t wait for a Linux cellphone that will do everything I want - though being a Verizon customer, I doubt that will happen until they move to GSM in a few years. Some people accuse me of being anti-Microsoft. Sure, I am. Why would I pay $200 for Windows when it doesn’t do half of what my free Linux does? I’m not even going to touch on the moral aspects. But just look at the arguments against the OOXML standard. Microsoft sure does do some stupid stuff, and seems to miss the whole idea of the workings of standards. If it only exists in ONE proprietary product, I don’t see how you can call it a standard.

Anyway, I found this article from the New York Times, talking about how the New York Stock Exchange is “investing heavily” in Linux on commodity x86 hardware, replacing Unix mainframes, nonetheless. And what hardware are they using? My beloved HP Proliants.



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