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New user? Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Jon Stewart's Commencement Address
Jon Stewart's Commencement Address
So many funny parts I couldn't pick a quote. If you like Jon Stewart (yes, the host of the Daily Show), you'll love this speech.
Frontier as open source
It's been over two days since Dave Winer announced that Frontier will be released under an open source licence. I've been so blown away by this, I've had to think about it for a while before attempting to articulate a reaction.
First and foremost, I think Dave Winer did the right thing, and I think it took a lot of courage to make it happen.
It's true that Frontier has fallen behind as a server platform, and its scripting libraries aren't on par with Python and Perl and PHP and Ruby, to name a few. But to rate Frontier in those terms does a disservice to Frontier's unique capabilities and lasting value. Frontier is still a productive scripting-based automation environment with a beautiful transparent data store, elegant scripting language and development environment, and an artistic user interface. Sure, other popular scripting languages have awesome libraries, and other code editors have wizzy features like syntax colouring, contextual autocompletion, function popup and more, but they don't have Frontier's integrated development environment, not by a long shot. The term IDE seems shallow when applied to other languages in comparison to Frontier... except for Smalltalk-derived environments, which are similarly pervasive.
I have no idea if I will do anything at all with the Frontier source except study it and build it so I can use the application itself. I've wanted to learn how UserTalk and the ODB are written ever since the day I laid eyes on it. Putting my CS student hat on, I am giddy with excitement at the prospect of lifting the hood. It's unlikely I'll have time to do anything significant development with it for quite a while, unfortunately.
I look forward to putting Frontier back on my desktop as a scripting and automation tool. Since I really don't care for Manila or Radio, I won't be missing anything compared to what I used to use Frontier for years ago, and Userland certainly will not have lost any money by letting me get the software for free, because I never would have paid for Manila or Radio, the only ways one can currently get a Frontier license.
I wonder, what do other people hope for Frontier in its new life as an open source package? Do people want to see it get beefed up into a hunky server juggernaut with scalability and reliability up the wazoo? Do people want to see it instead focus on its roots as a scripting and automation engine? Do people want to see it adopt other open source languages, or vice versa, have other languages adopt Frontier's environment? I know some people would love to get back to writing code in an outliner again. Include me in that group! I bet there are people who fall into all those categories, but I'm far from certain that Frontier will attract a sizable enough community to tackle all of those ideas, if only because so much time has passed since the Frontier scripting community was vibrant.
On Monday I saw a message from Jim Byrne, a seriously old-school Frontier wizard and much-admired community participant. I wonder, how much of of the old community might re-form around this new release? Is ScriptMeridian relevant again? Now that it's open source, can the dissenting faction of the old community finally bury the hatchet and have a productive relationship with Dave Winer? (I sure hope so)
Like anything with potential, I think this announcement raises more questions than it does provide answers. This could be a true rennaisance for Frontier and Frontier users. So many Frontier users moved on long ago. I think what happens next depends greatly on how many people are willing to move back. Even if too few return and not enough new enthusiasts appear to make strong waves, simply having Frontier as open source software has tremendous, long lasting value, and we should not forget who made it happen.
Thanks Dave!
Monday, May 17, 2004
A good segue to talk about the FairTax
There is a very good reason to not tax savings -- it's very inefficient. Savings can run around easily to avoid tax. Companies can hide profits through depreciation schedules, debt payments, share buy-backs, and a hundred other things taught in first year business school classes. Investors can house money offshore, in various financial instruments, in nonprofit annuity schemes etc. People can simply move savings into things like houses which can be classified as consumption, come with tax breaks, but really are an asset just like anything else. The inefficiency from taxes chasing this money come from 1) the high auditing cost to try and pin this money down and 2) the dead weight loss (economic distortion) that comes from the forgone opportunities that these shenanigans preclude."
It sounds to me like Zimran would be quite in favour of the FairTax, which is a proposed flat consumption tax that would replace Income Tax, Payroll Tax, Estate Tax and Gift Taxes. Instead of taxing productivity (and savings!), the US would tax consumption.
I've done a poor job of keeping everyone up to date on what's happening with the FairTax lately, even though I have been keeping informed. Last week I watched 6 Congressmen speak about it for an hour or so in Congress in a "special order session" (I think that's what it was called) shown live on CSPAN. Bill HR-25 is currently in front of Congress and the Senate. It would kill the IRS and income tax completely. No more tax returns! Consumers would pay a flat national sales tax. Registered households would be sent a rebate each month that works out to the tax that a family living at the poverty line would pay on essentials. This means that the poor would become completely untaxed. I've heard that people at the poverty line don't pay income tax anyway, but they still end up paying taxes because those costs are hidden in all the products they buy, since businesses pass their tax burden to consumers. Businesses would not pay the consumption tax, only consumers.
US companies and people would no longer have to hide in tax havens, so they could repatriate their headquarters and/or residence. If you go to the FairTax web site you can read about the many many ways that replacing the current US current tax code with the FairTax would massively boost the US economy. The Congressmen cited a $1T/year boost.
One other nice side effect is people with undeclared incomes would suddenly have a very hard time avoiding paying taxes. As a Congressman said, right now it only takes one to cheat on taxes, the person who files their return incorrectly (or not at all). Under a consumption tax, another party would have to be an accomplice to the crime, and the number of people willing to go to jail to someone wanting to cheat on their taxes is pretty small. All of a sudden, drug dealers would be paying taxes when they buy their fancy cars, houses, jewelry and eat at fancy restaurants.
My hope is that the US passes the FairTax bill, because it will all but force Canada and many other countries to abolish their income taxes to compete with the new US economy. It would simplify our lives and remove a huge source of waste and drag on the world economy.
Even though I'd like to talk about FairTax for pages and pages more I don't have time at the moment. Hopefully I'll find time soon though.
If you are a US citizen, please go to FairTaxVolunteer.org and read their pages about how you can help. Specifically they really want people to write letters to their representatives right now and constantly for the next three months. If you are not a US citizen, please talk about FairTax on your web site or anywhere else, to spread the word, in hopes that an American citizen will hear about it and feel compelled to act.
Friday, May 14, 2004
Hy-wire has a long way to go
csmonitor.com: How I almost wrecked a $3.5 million car
I hope GM isn't seriously thinking of having these cars use this video game controller-like interface that the concept car has, or a LOT of people will be wrecking this car. They need to get pedals and a steering wheel in it for people to accept it.
Mark donates $535 to WordPress
Mark Pilgrim: Freedom 0
That reminds me of IBM's recent (Linux) commercials. It's probably fair to say that in the long run, the perceived utility of most technology approaches zero, because new technology replaces it.
I support open source, and I contribute to a GPL-licensed product, but I don't have anything against non-Free software. Quite the contrary, I support it actively.
