The problem is that Radio UserLand, which I have been using since I started blogging, doesn't work for me. The first intimation of trouble was when I noticed that sometimes it doesn't properly update the server with changes, due to communication errors, and when that happens it doesn't alert the user that a problem has occurred. (You have to look at the log or check the site). The final straw was backup problems. RUL has a backup feature, but sometimes it doesn't work (the verification step fails for no apparent reason). It seems that a particular blog entry gets corrupted. When that happens, you have to dig into RUL's internal database to figure out what entry was corrupted. After you do, according to advice I received from UserLand, you edit that entry again and all will be fine. The first time I went through that hassle, it was indeed fine. But a few days ago I had the verification problem again, and editing the bad entry did not fix it. So at present, I have no official way to back up further entries to my blog.

As far as I'm concerned, the whole idea of RUL is kind of confused. One main advantage to running software locally rather than through the Web is so that you get the benefit of a native GUI built for your OS. But Radio's GUI is through a Web browser, so it acts pretty much as if it was a plain vanilla Web site, although it nevertheless has the overhead of requiring you to run a local process. Actually, much more overhead than a typical Mac app: Radio is usually using 12% of my CPU (on a 1GHZ PowerBook G4) while not even displaying any data (other than its little status box) or responding to user input.

Radio posts can be created through other sorftware such as NetNewsWire on the Mac, so I'm not limited to Radio's browser-based interface. But if I'm running NetNewsWire, I can post directly to a TypePad blog and not have to worry about backup issues or Radio's CPU's overhead.

On top of the issues above, Radio doesn't give you a direct way to see how many page reads you have if you aren't in their top 100. I am in the top 100 some days, but I'd like to know how I'm doing the rest of the time as well. Sure I could add a 3rd-party counter to my blog, but why should I have to bother with template editing for such basic functionality?

UserLand was a pioneer in the weblog space. But conceptually their approach has been burdened with the fact that they started out as a scripting language company. I think that's the root of the fact that Radio resides on the user's machine. It's because UserLand had a script engine and they wanted to get it onto more desktops, because of other ideas of what they might do with the platform in the future. And the language, UserTalk, is a proprietary language in a world of superior open-source scripting languages such as Python. (I have a right to say that, having done both UserTalk and Python coding in professional settings.)

There is one good thing about Radio, related to the future potentiality mentioned above. RSS enclosure handling. Radio does that better than anything else I've seen. It's not very useful functionality though because RSS enclosures don't yet have critical mass from the technology and entertainment worlds. They probably will one day, and I'll keep Radio around for that day when it comes. Though hopefully by then NetNewsWire will be able to handle them. (My guess is it will.)

So, those are my thoughts about UserLand Radio. Hello TypePad. Please visit me there.

Update: today I edited my Spam Detection piece. The first time I tried to save it, after completing my edits, Radio said it couldn't because the file wasn't open. (There's no reason I can imagine who it should think the file isn't open; Radio brought it up so I could edit it, so one could reasonably assume that Radio knew it was open.) I clicked Save again and I thought it worked, but in reality all my changes had been lost. GRRRRRRRRRR. My advice if you're in the market for a weblog tool: You guessed it. Pick something other than Radio.
10:22:48 PM    

Separated at birth:

http://www.sunncomm.com/index2.html [sunncomm.com]

http://www.zombo.com/ [zombo.com]

9:10:23 PM    

A couple of weeks ago BMG released an audio CD with a new type of DRM. Earlier this week, a computer science graduate student at Princeton wrote a report showing the DRM was ineffective - it could easily be defeated by use of the 'shift' key. The stock of the DRM company (SunnComm) has since fallen by 20%. Now, SunnComm plans to sue the student under the DMCA and claim that SunnComm's reputation has been falsely damaged. According to SunnComm's CEO, 'No matter what their credentials or rationale, it is wrong to use one's knowledge and the cover of academia to facilitate piracy and theft of digital property.' [Slashdot]

8:38:07 PM