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Tuesday, February 05, 2002
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One final note before I sign off.
The Web Services the BigCo's talk about will one day soon allow me to check the weather and stock quotes and bank balances and countless other pieces of information. That's nice.
The Web Services that run on your desktop (like Radio) allow create an infinite web of interacting applications owned and operated by other human beings all over the world. That's awesome.
11:14:13 PM 
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A few days ago, Dave Winer pointed to Charles Miller who complained about the documentation problem with Radio 8. That got me thinking, and this post is the result.
Radio has two audiences: writers and developers.
UserLand treats its writer customers very, very well. The application built in to the Radio platform makes writing for the web easy and powerful. Five minutes, and someone who knows very little about technology can be writing to the web. That's incredible power, and UserLand deserves every single accolade its gotten on that, and more.
UserLand treats its developers pretty poorly. I can sum up their developer problem in one word: documentation. The lack of easily-found, easily-navigated documentation is a huge barrier to entry. In order to write your first meaningful Radio extension, you have to do a ton of digging. Here's a pretty comprehensive list of what you need to know, and documents that will get you started.
- You have to understand the UserTalk syntax (there's a pretty good document on that here)
- The concept of the Object Database (I just found this).
- The verbs available (excellent documentation here, but I don't know if it's complete for Radio)
- The built-in Radio macros (some of which are here, but I have yet to find a comprehensive list)
- The intricacies of the Page Table. This will get you started, but you have to do a prohibitive ammount of trial-and-error for each web form you write. Good luck finding that document on your own; I've read it a number of times, and it took me a while to find it again. I have yet to find a good, definitive document.
- Random built-in functions. The document pointed to in the last item mentions, almost as an afterthought, the edit() function (macro? verb?). I never would have known about it if it wasn't in that document, and it's the only thing that makes coding form handlers possible. There are probably other things like this out there, but I don't know what they are.
Most, if not all, of the necessary documentation is out there. Dave knows this is a problem. I have faith that this problem will be fixed. None of this is said out of anger, but frustration. I love Radio, and I love UserLand, and I use the word "love" sparingly, especially when it comes to applications and vendors (I love DreamWeaver, CVS, and NetBeans and that's the list).
Earlier this evening, I paid UserLand for Radio. I paid for the platform as much as the writing environment, if not more, and I have this feature request. In the meantime, I hope this post helps. Maybe I should turn this into a story.
I'll keep digging, because that's the way I am (to the great chagrin of my fiancee). I'll let you know what I come up with.
11:05:43 PM
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Giants forging Web services consortium. "Microsoft, IBM, Intel and BEA Systems plan to educate businesses on how to build Web services and how to ensure they do it in a compatible way, according to sources." [CNET News.com]
Call me a skeptic, but any time BigCos get together to "educate" they wind up stepping on each others' toes, getting in each others' way, arguing, bickering, and trying to control the conversation. Do you really expect Microsoft to get along with Bea, an upstart Java shop? Or with IBM, who's now selling Linux-powered servers?
You don't ensure compatability in anyting by swinging your weight around. You ensure compatibility by standing back, doing your thing, and watching it shake out. Or, to paraphrase Gordon Sumner, "If you love something, set it free."
9:39:32 PM
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All that HP nonsense made me feel dirty. So I paid for Radio. Now I feel clean.
8:12:14 PM
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Holy cow, I'm getting a lot of hits today. Currently, my count's at 106. I'm even beating (gasp) Garth and (GASP) Doc.
By far the biggest linker: A Google search on "Superbowl Commercials," with 37 hits. Variants on this search total an additional 39. I'm second on the list of results, and I hardly said anything about Superbowl Commercials.
Of course, the Talking Moose figured this out months ago. All you have to do is talk about SEX SEX SEX and PORN PORN PORN, and pow, instant flow. I miss the Moose.
God, I love the web.
7:54:28 PM
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A Scanner Darkly
For a long time in college, I thought I was going to be a graphic designer. I was doing a lot of graphics work with my theater company, as well as doing covers for some of the lesser sports at the University of Michigan (lesser only in exposure; they were incredible atheletes who won most of the time). I needed to do a lot of scanning of images, so my parents generously bought me a scanner. I used it all the time; it allowed me to do almost all of my work at home instead of trudging to an office or computer lab. If you've never lived in Michigan in February without a car, trust me: you want to trudge as little as possible.
For Christmas, my parents got me another generous gift: a fantastic camera. I just went and developed my first four rolls of film. There's some nice stuff in there from our vacation with Shannon's business fraternity and some walks I've taken around my apartment complex during an ice storm.
The problem is that the idotic HP software was designed for Windows 98 and only Windows 98. Not 2000, not ME, and certainly not XP, which means I can't use my scanner (I'm running Windows 2000). When you try to install it under another OS, a helpful window pops up informing you that "We're sorry, but this software will only work with Windows 98."
So I, as any semi-intelligent computer consumer would, went to the Hewlett-Packard website to download the Windows 2000 drivers for the scanner. The driver page has a "Windows 2000 Pro Update" download, which I thought would do the trick. As it happens, that seems to update a later version of the software than the one I have. There was nothing I could download from their website to make it work. My only option was to buy another CD for $10.55. I know, I couldn't believe it, either.
Against my better judgement, and resenting it every step of the way, I bought the software, but this is the last time I buy anything from Hewlett Packard.
Which, I guess, is just as well, given their recent troubles.
7:36:57 PM
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© Copyright 2002 Christopher T. Nitchie
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