Something I don't quite understand.  I re-installed the webbug that was missing from Byran Bell's template in my weblog and yet my referrer logs according to Userland look nothing like the referrer logs I get from SiteMeter...

David Weinberger on Palladium

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/wo_weinberger102502.asp

Microsoft to become Hollywoods new best friend?

My Response to Larry Lessig.

Documents about Chandler talks about various "killer features".  Killer features are intended to kill something.  If Chandler kills Outlook, we'll have Chandler where we used to have Outlook.  Nothing really changed except now no one is making a dime instead of the Bully making all the money.  The consumers will love it of course and learn to take free software as the norm.  How dare you charge money for what should be free?  The service sector will eventually get nothing in return because consumer software will be so easy to use and customize that they won't need any help.  The book industry will live a little longer.  No wonder Tim O'Reilly is so strongly pushing open source and free software.  How about free books too Tim?

[Don Park's Blog]

» This argument seems to boil down to:

Does the software industry have a right to survive?

I would argue that it does not, and that it should survive only so long as it serves a purpose.

Now, obviously, as someone with a background (albeit not such a long one as Don) in software development this is a sore point for me.  I too would like to make money from the things I create.  Would I relish the idea of a group of open source developers blowing my business model by undercutting me?  No, of course not.  Will it happen?  Yes, eventually I believe it will.  I just have to be ready for that.

I think that what we are seeing is the beginning of the end of software as a production business.  Any attempts we make to shore up the traditional software industry will be no more than protectionism and about as effective as government attempts to shore up coal and steel when it was undercut by cheap foreign imports.

In the future those who develop software will do so because of a love of the craft (and true craftsmen may still be able to sell what they product in niche markets) or because they can sell services on top of that software.

That's what I think right now.

I was just thinking about the coming problems with referrer tracking and trackback (et al.) and I wondered whether it would be possible to use PGP like technology to provide trusted sender authentication for pings.