Raw Matter

Now that's what I call ironic: Pam Jones (Groklaw) links to an article about a report authored by Lauro DiDio, and seems to agree, at least partially. (Actually, the article PJ links to just links to another article about the report, and the report itself apparently isn't available online.) I suggest we ask Rob Enderle what he has to say about this situation.

David, after the demise of the little joystick of my previous phone (Sony Ericsson T610), I opted for the D900 (at CHF 21.-- plus 2 years, quite a good offer IMHO.) The hardware is very slick, though the display is disappointingly dark if you use the phone outside in bright light (Look at Casio's Exilim cameras for a good example of how a display can be readable even in direct sunlight.) Since I'm using the device as a phone only (and write less than 5 messages per month, usually), I still think it's a nice thing, but...

• The camera is not usable because of a huge delay after release, mostly the autofocus, I guess. Quality is good otherwise, you don't want to photograph anything capable of movement.
• Haven't figured out how to import a contact that's sent to me by SMS (MMS?) into the address book.
• The Sony-Ericsson had the option of dialing any number that is contained in a short message, I really miss that.
• Battery lifetime is good as long as you're not using it as an MP3 player. But then the limited memory is a problem anyway. Haven't bought an SD card, so YMMV.
• No infrared. So no pushing contacts from or to my old Palm Vx which is still my primary repository for addresses.
• No timeout on Bluetooth activation. So I need to manually switch it off after use, which takes about 4 clicks. Switching it on and using it is quicker and works just fine.
• No way to sync addresses with my computer that I have figured out. (I guess I don't need to mention that I'm only speaking of Linux here. A Windows software CD is included, naturally.)
• No T9 in the WAP browser (T9 == autocompletion thingy, in case you didn't know that.).
• How do I edit the included dictionary of the T9? This actually made me switch off that thing entirely, while on the old phone I was quite good with that, most of my relatives names etc. being in the dictionary.
• Samsung to 3.5mm adaptors (for headphones) are hard to come by. If you know somebody who sells them in Switzerland, please tell me.

Would I buy that phone again? I don't know. The price was good, and, again, it's still a very slick looking phone. But the firmware designers should be locked up for a few years and forced to write their code with the built in editor or someting like that. But if you expect anything other than to be able to call people over this device: don't go near it. I haven't relly looked at any other phones when I bought it, so I can't compare.

Marc, that's fairly easy. HUB really stands for Hosed Utter Beast (yes, I just have had one of them break this morning. Well, it was a SWITCH, not a HUB, oh well...), WEB is all that's Weird, Erotic or Broken. HTH.

Whee, I actually managed to vote in the DPL race. Out of 5 votes I sent, 3 were rejected and 2 where ack'ed (theser were 5 different variants of MUA's, gpg usage and character set stuff.) Now I just hope that I actually voted the way I intended. (for those who are interested: my ballot is roughly the one I announced.)

Call me pessimist, but I can't see how wind power works as a civilisation's main power source without massive backup by either energy storage or alternative energy sources for those times when there's just no wind. There are only few (if any) locations with winds which blow 24*7 at enough strength. So our world needs, even more than wind power, any technology that reduces power consumption (which can mean, in many cases, fall back to some old-fashioned technology. Like a proper on-off switch instead of a standby mode. /me would probably vote in favor of a law mandating on-off switches on all electrical devices.))

(Oh, and to Joey, in case he didn't notice: Winter's back! :-)

So I turned 30 last week... Some of you were at FOSDEM and might have heard of this when they signed a card madduck apparently passed round, so here's a big thank you to you all. You can ask madduck why I don't know who you are, but never mind, it's the thought that counts :-)

These are some random thoughts based on a not very thorough reading of candidate platforms of the DPL Election 2007, and my subjective view of the candidates based on the mailing traffic I remember reading.

Wouter Verhelst: Has quite a broad Debian-background, the platform also seems to share quite a bit of my view of where Debian's problems are at the moment. Doesn't propose a course of action right now, not sure how to judge that. Not sure if I remember Wouter being heavily involved in flamewars, but I do remember reading quite a few of his emails in discussions with interest.

Aigars Mahinovs: Quoting from his platform: “My goal of running for DPL is not to be DPL, but to get a few concepts closer to real life.” So don't run for DPL, but start doing these things you're thinking about. Not being DPL has the advantage that you don't have to spend time on DPL stuff that would detract you from these goals. Speaking about your goals: (i) No release: I've thought about that, too, but I feel this would quickly make Debian irrelevant. (ii) $HOME configuration files organisation: take it up with the upstream developers of all the application. I think this is a very good idea, but freedesktop.org would be a better platform. (iii) Old Maintainer Process: Idea looking for a problem. (iv) Dropping Trademarks: not sure what to think about this.

Gustavo Franco: Some focus on the desktop, and a constructive attitude towards Ubuntu, both positive in my book. (The first one primarily because on servers Linux is already quite well established, while the desktop is where more work is still to be done. Not because servers are less important.) His goals: (i) Core teams: as with Wouter, he sees that people and what goes on between them are where the problems are. (ii) Release goals: I think building the release based on release goals could be a driving force, but this is more RM area than DPL. (iii) Adding features to the bts doesn't need DPL powers. (iii) New developers: certainly an area that still needs attention, but the intended course is not entirely clear to me. (iv) NEW queue: same. (v) CTTE: Not sure what the idea behind this is. (vi) Groups: yes, but again not entirely clear what and how. (vii) Backports: yes, new versions of some software should go into Debian (stable) faster. Officially supporting backports or something else, I don't know, but this is an area where a DPL could pull together the RMs, security team(s), backports.org people etc. (viii) Universal OS: is this about more media coverage or about more face to face meetings? Both are good, but we should set clear goals beforehand. (ix) Much work is needed, especially in the area of buildd management (meaning: the processes and people behind it!). Does Gustavo have previous involvement here? (x) Vendors, Website, Publicity: This is more or less all about media coverage and popularity. Much needed, but as Debian as it is will never be able to commit to a public official opinion of anything, we'll need to think hard about what to do here. (xi) NMU: I don't see a great need for action here, personally. Overall: this platform contains too much material, I fear trying to tackle all these areas will lead to a burned out DPL within three months and little actually getting anywhere.

Sven Luther: It's true that it always needs at least two people for a flamewar. But having a DPL who is always ready to provide one side of an argument is not a good idea.

Sam Hocevar: Everything is high-level on his platform. Both good and bad. Not sure how to rate this platform, but I see myself nodding along. Learn from other OSs is good, but I hope he also means active cooperation and not just passive let's see how they do it.

Steve McIntyre: Should have won 2006. Certainly did a lot of both behind-the-scenes work and some good communication. The platform lacks mention of relations between Debian and the outside world, which is an area where I feel some work is missing (and where the DPL as the only person with a official role also known outside Debian can make a difference), and also lacks mention of legal problems (trademarks and patents) where I'm not sure how solid Debian's work is. Additional argument in favor of Steve: Having a 2IC and promoting him to DPL the year after might be a good idea overall. Maybe we should actually elect the 2IC and only have a confirmation vote to promote him to DPL?

Raphaël Hertzog: I like the DPL board idea. I also like how Raphaël focuses, in his platform, on the DPL board idea and some selected problems. On the other hand, the platform is wholly focused inward, outside relations are important, too !

Anthony Towns: Not sure what to think of the current DPL. I think he had good ideas, and I still think the original “spend Debian funds for the release”-idea was not that bad, but seeing how it all worked out was very, very painful for too many people. The platform seems pretty much empty, so I guess ajt won't have my vote this time.

Simon Richter: Maybe I miss something, but I only see “don't repeat the dunc-tank flamefest” in his platform, which seems a bit thin. His observation that the real power of the DPL is to get everybody's attention may be partly true, though, even if this power will be spent as soon as a DPL, trying to mediate, lets himself be drawn into the flamewar instead (I don't accuse Simon that he ultimately will do this, but I fear that it happens all too quickly).

Now what? I really don't have the time to thoroughly follow the campaigning, but I'll certainly have a look at the rebuttals, and perhaps somebody will do some summary. So the ballot below will certainly change. (You might also be able to buy the vote if you're rich enough ;-)

 [ 1 ] Wouter Verhelst
 [ 5 ] Aigars Mahinovs
 [ 3 ] Gustavo Franco
 [ 6 ] Sven Luther
 [ 3 ] Sam Hocevar
 [ 1 ] Steve McIntyre
 [ 2 ] Raphaë Hertzog
 [ 5 ] Anthony Towns
 [ 4 ] Simon Richter
 [ 5 ] NOTA