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Sunday, April 04, 2004 |
CNN. Terror
plot to bomb transportation systems in major US cities. This, in
addition to the multiple attacks in Spain and the disrupted plot in the
UK, points to a growing trend in terrorist operations: attacks on
infrastructure. The start of the shift began with 9/11 and will soon
come to dominate terrorist operations. Unfortunately, the unintentional
consequences of scaling terror operations will lead them to the right
operational strategy. Much more on this in Global Guerrillas over the next couple of months, and a complete examination of this new mode of operations in my upcoming book. [John Robb's Weblog] 
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Debka has posted
an interesting terrorist strategy document (take this with a grain of
salt). This is particularly interesting since it signals an increasing
level of sophistication in attack planning:
Hafiza calculated the cost of maintaining US forces in Iraq and
the dollar losses al Qaeda is capable of inflicting on the Americans
through terror attacks. Two, before recommending the attack in Madrid,
he analyzed the results of all Spain’s elections since 1982, one by one
and drew lessons. He noted that the 9/11 attacks in America gave Spain
its first chance ever to distance itself from the dominant European
axis of France and Germany and align with the United States. [John Robb's Weblog]
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Craigslist Zen: Army and Arabic-speaker "role-play". BoingBoing buddy Choire "Gawker" Sicha redirects our collective cursors to this utterly bizarre entry on Craigslist.
Arabic speakers needed to roleplay for the Army - $4000 in 25 days
Date: 2004-03-31, 8:28AM CST
Arabic speakers only. Participate in a 25 day rotation to help train
soldiers in an Army base in Louisiana. You will role play such roles as
mayor, mailman, shopkeeper, farmer, etc. You will be instructed on what
role to play once you arrive at the base. All meals, housing and
transportation will be provided. All Arabic speakers are welcome to
apply, men and women of any age and from any part of the country.
Link.
While we're on the subject -- of Choire, and of the bizarre -- check
out this gutbustingly hilarious scientific study penned by Mr. Sicha
for The Morning News: "An actually accurate mathematical equation [that helps] you decide in which restaurants it's appropriate to breastfeed." Link
Update: BoingBoing reader Blake West says:
"This posting really isn't that weird. The Joint Readiness Training Center
at Ft. Polk, used mostly by the US army, has been running training
scenarios for years with simulated civilians. There are little villages
set up in the training area, and military personnel are tasked to play
civilians. REAL civilians are also hired to participate in the training
because they possess special skills (like speaking Arabic). Here's a power point about being a "Civilian on the Battlefield" or COB. Ft. Polk has really crappy weather. It's basically a big swamp." [Boing Boing]
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World's evilest pop-star. Bruce Sterling calls Svetlana "Ceca" Raznjatovic -- the widow of noted Balkan
war criminal "Arkan", the current girlfriend of assassin and military deserter "Legija,"
and the former girlfriend of murdered gangster "Shaban" -- the "most evil pop star in the world." Here's her fansite.
Link
(via Beyond the Beyond) [Boing Boing]
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Tron cosplay. 
This guy made himself an incredibly faithful reproduction of the
costumes from Tron, including the glowing piping around the seams.
Link
(Thanks, Julian!)
[Boing Boing]
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Photoblog of Tibetan monks creating a sand mandala. Boingboing reader Jayvant says:
In my photoblog, I document the construction of a traditional Tibetan
Sand Mandala built by two visiting Tibetan Buddhist Monks in my
university. This truly fascinating and intricate piece of artwork is
built slowly using just a few grains of sand at a time. Once the
Mandala is completed it is deconstructed and deposited into a body of
water, to symbolize the Buddhist belief of nonattachment.
Link [Boing Boing]
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Happy 25th Birthday, Space Invaders. 
Space Invaders is 25 years old. Riding a wave of '80s old-school geek
chick, the cult Japanese game is experiencing a renaissance. On April
25th, Space Invaders for PS2 launches around the world -- and mobile
versions are said to be in the works.
Paris-based online/realspace boutique colette (I heart this store) will
sell the remake. They'll also be selling tons of other cool Space
Invaders schwag like t-shirts, key holders, books, and more. Tuesday
29th April is evidently Space Invader Day with intergalactic gaming
competitions planned in Japan, Paris, and elsewhere.
Link to colette store online (horrible Flash interface -- I love what they sell, but I hatehatehate the website UI), Link to Times UK story, Link to press relelase about Space Invaders remake coming to mobile phones with BREW platform, and Link
to Space Invaders 25th anniversary home (also built with Flash, but IMO
a rockin' good UI). And finally, I urge you to visit the website for
Taito, the Japanese company that created Space Invaders -- if only to
read the clumsily translated English copy on this page that invites
you, over and over, to "crick here for detail." Sweartagod. Link [Boing Boing]
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Everyone In Silico, licensed for remixing. My friend Jim Munroe is a brilliant sf writer, author of Angry Young Spaceman (which I reviewed for Wired), Everyone in Silico, and Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gas Mask.
Silico is a particularily interesting novel about the corporatization
of public spaces (Jim used to be a managing editor at AdBusters), and
among Jim's publicity stunts for the book was a letter-writing campaign to corporations mentioned in the book, shaking them down for money for "product placement."
Jim has decided to release Silico online under the same Creative Commons license that I chose for the re-release of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom,
a license that allows the production of non-commercial derivative
works, such as fan-films, sequels, translations, and audio adaptations.
He credits me with inspiring this, which is immensely gratifying --
Jim's a talented writer and this is a wonderful book.
Link [Boing Boing]
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WinForms is dead misconceptions are misplaced. I
just had a call from one of our best customer evangelists telling me
Microsoft is screwing up with its Longhorn evangelism message.
I think he's right. So, let's take it on head on.
What's the screw up?
That we made it clear that in Longhorn we were changing forms strategy.
First, for those who aren't developers, what I'm talking about is
the technology used to display user interface elements. You know, the
words, buttons, text-entry areas, drop-down list boxes, and other
elements that make up a Windows application.
In current versions of .NET, that technology is called "Windows
Forms" or "WinForms" for short. In Longhorn we're introducing a new
forms technology, code-named Avalon.
Now, if you saw the PDC, or followed my writings here, you'd come to the conculsion "WinForms is dead," right?
The customer who called me this morning (I don't know if he wanted
to be named, so I'll let him leave a comment if he does) said this
really is hurting Microsoft and his business (he does consulting and
training to a bunch of large companies). Why? Because companies who
hear this message say "hey, I'm not gonna move to .NET, I'm gonna keep
my existing apps on VB6 or MFC, cause WinForms is dead and why would I
write an app using WinForms today when I should just wait for Longhorn
and Avalon to get here?"
Well, that means that the Longhorn evangelism message is getting
through, right? Well, yes. We did a pretty good job of hyping up the
future. And it is a bright future. Avalon really is going to let you
build new kinds of apps that are simply not possible today.
But, let me take my Longhorn evangelism hat off and put my "real world" hat on.
First, Avalon is a Longhorn-only technology. There are no plans to
convert it to Windows XP, or 98 or ME or 2000. Now, think about that
for a minute. If you are writing apps for an enterprise, say Procter
and Gamble, how soon will you have 100% Longhorn coverage? Here's my
guess: 2012 to 2014. So, until you have 100% coverage, you won't be
able to use Longhorn-only technologies in your apps, right? At least
not ones that need reach.
Second, WinForms-based apps work just fine in Longhorn. In fact, you can encapsulate WinForms UIs inside Avalon-based ones.
So, why does this all matter? For a few reasons.
One, .NET today (and especially as we get closer to the release of
Visual Studio 2005, code-named Whidbey) is more productive to develop
apps in, and easier to integrate, than older technologies like MFC, and
VB6. In Longhorn having your code in .NET will really help you out
(since much of Avalon itself is being written in .NET, you'll see that
Microsoft has been converting rafts of programmers over to .NET). Plus,
most .NET programmers have found that they are more productive in .NET
than they ever were in MFC, and VB6-based programmers will find their
skills will be more in demand if they move to .NET.
Two, Microsoft is pouring huge investments into .NET. I'm hearing of
.NET being used in projects across the company, from SQL Server to
Alerts. That means if you invest your developers' time in .NET, that
work will be leveraged in the future. For instance, I just talked with
the SQL Server's Euan Garden on Friday. He talked with me about how the
SQL Server team's work with the CLR has made .NET faster, more secure,
and easier to integrate. You'll see those innovations in Whidbey and
Longhorn (and SQL Server itself, the next version of which has .NET
built into it). So, the .NET code you write today will just get better
in the future as the platform underneath evolves.
Three, the eco-system is moving to .NET. Look at bookshelves. Look
at conferences like VSLive. Look at training. Look at the coolest new
apps (OnFolio, and NewsGator were done in .NET, for instance). Look at
the bleeding-edge shops. The Pistachio factory, for instance. .NET.
Reuters. .NET. And I could go on all day about this. The world is
moving to .NET and that trend is only going to accelerate over the next
few years.
How do you best move your Enterprise team into a position where they
can take advantage of Longhorn later this decade? Get into .NET today.
The skills you learn will move smoothly into Longhorn when it gets here.
Do you agree? If you were Microsoft, what would you do differently? [Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger]
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New York Times on Silicon Valley's relationship with Microsoft. New York Times' John Markoff: Silicon Valley is Seeking Peace.
Some interesting quotes. Folks still holding onto the perceptions
that Microsoft doesn't innovate. Microsoft is changing in a big way
there. Don't assume the past is gonna be like the future. We're
spending billions in R&D and that translates into better products,
services, and experiences. And, look at where many things came from at
Microsoft: they were purchased -- from Silicon Valley. Hotmail.
PowerPoint. Flight Simulator. WebTV. Placeware. On and on. When I lived
in Silicon Valley I knew quite a few entrepreneurs who got rich from
selling to Microsoft (these were often the same folks who'd then turn
around and bash Microsoft in the press, which I often thought was funny
behavior). So there's some goodness there as well that these articles
often overlook.
I saw Dan'l Lewin getting credit in the article for working on
Silicon Valley relationships (I'm glad he's on our team, he's been
working very hard to build relationships with companies small and large
and is a remarkable person, if you ever get a chance to meet him ask
him for some stories about his days as an executive at NeXT).
Oh, I much rather would compete in the marketplace than in
courtrooms, or in executive or weblog rhetoric. The customer definitely
is in power here. Let the best products win! [Scobleizer: Microsoft Geek Blogger]
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Nice sum up on Lance's weblog
about the outsourcing trade shock and what we need to do about it.
Unfortunately, it looks like we are creating a budget deficit of such a
magnitude that it will prevent these needed reforms. [John Robb's Weblog]
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© Copyright 2004 William J. Maya.
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In
July, the US Post Office will issue a Buckminster Fuller stamp
featuring an old Time magazine cover illustration by the late great 
