Universal Rule

Book Reviews

Friday, March 21, 2003

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Does Open Source Stifle Innovation? 'In a recent article entitled "Why Open Source Stifles Innovation", Peter Passell warns against what he sees as the many perils of open source software. Though he makes some good points, on balance I don't agree. In fact, with apologies to Mr. Passell, it's one of the most wrongheaded essays I've read in a while. Let's play point counterpoint.' [osOpinion]

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Windows and Open Source: Perfect Together? "Many IT managers may like the idea of open source software but may not feel ready to champion a switch to Linux or one of the BSD operating systems. Fortunately, plenty of open source and free software applications run on Windows. What are the options for CIOs who want to dip their toes in the open source pool?"[osOpinion]

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New clues emerge on how HIV evades antibodies: "Scientists in the United States said on Wednesday they had found a new way in which the virus that causes AIDS manages to evade the body's immune system. [...] In a report in the journal Nature, researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Alabama said that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, uses a previously unknown strategy to evade the human antibodies that attack invading viruses and bacteria." [Reuters Health eLine]

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Women smile more than men--usually: "People often think that women smile more than men, and there are even studies that show this to be true. [...] But a new review of "smiling" research suggests that when placed in similar work or social situations, men may smile just as often as women." [Reuters Health eLine]

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Scientists See Sand's Future: "For years scientists have understood how pounding waves during violent storms suck sand offshore. How it reappears on beaches once the stormy seas have passed, however, remains a mystery, and without that information, accurately predicting beach evolution has been impossible. Now researchers are one step closer to foretelling sand's journeys. A model that successfully forecasts how sandbars that protect beaches from harsh wave action migrate away from shore and back again over several weeks is described today in the journal Science." [Scientific American]

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BBC on Website Slow Downs: "The BBC is carrying a report about the impact on websites as people try to get news regarding the war in Iraq. It talks of a report from Keynote Systems, which tests the reponsiveness of websites, which shows that the BBC news site has shown a fourfold increase in response times. However, Government sites in both the US and the UK are being hit, with the US Army site taking over 80 seconds to load at peak times." [Slashdot]

Flying, and back again -- Comment()
As planned, I went by plane to University of Kuopio to take part in a drug discovery meeting. The morning plane was only half full, but the afternoon plane was fully booked. The security at both airposts was top-notch, but that is usual nowadays. Luckily I remembered to leave home my Leatherman Micra, which I bought five years ago on a Finnair flight. Else the airport staff would have confiscated the tool.

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Warblogs: "Dan Gillmor offers many links to sites covering the war, including journalists and others in the field in the Middle East." [Dan Gillmor's eJournal > t e c h n o c u l t u r e]

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Scripting News: "Paul Boutin, who we trust, fact-checked the Iraqi blogger, and concludes that he probably is reporting from Baghdad."

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Scripting News: "Andy Rhinehart has an RSS feed for AP war coverage. Excellent. Click here to subscribe in Radio's aggregator."