Comments for Paulitex http://paulitex.com Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:41:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 Comment on A very short history my time with Circle/Square by Joe http://paulitex.com/2009/12/a-very-short-history-my-time-with-circlesquare/comment-page-1/#comment-268 Joe Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:15:55 +0000 http://paulitex.com/?p=371#comment-268 I will say, the web app was serious quality though :P I will say, the web app was serious quality though :P

]]> Comment on Learning is what happens while you’re not at school by Joe Gaudet http://paulitex.com/2009/04/learning-is-what-happens-while-youre-not-at-school/comment-page-1/#comment-243 Joe Gaudet Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:36:42 +0000 http://paulitex.com/?p=313#comment-243 Nice post, though I somewhat disagree. Primarily because I feel that a lot of learning with regard to programing is about getting experience, aka coding hours. And while you can do this on your own time, or with a project in mind. It's been my experience that when you learn coding with the goal of building a particular widget, you don't learn best practices. CS education in particular I feel is about enforcing those practices, and furthermore about getting you to build pointless things for the sake of getting those hours under your belt. Nice post, though I somewhat disagree. Primarily because I feel that a lot of learning with regard to programing is about getting experience, aka coding hours. And while you can do this on your own time, or with a project in mind. It’s been my experience that when you learn coding with the goal of building a particular widget, you don’t learn best practices.

CS education in particular I feel is about enforcing those practices, and furthermore about getting you to build pointless things for the sake of getting those hours under your belt.

]]> Comment on Free Software is obsolete by Paul http://paulitex.com/2009/03/free-software-is-obsolete/comment-page-1/#comment-17 Paul Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:03:11 +0000 http://paulitex.com/?p=70#comment-17 Jake, nice to hear from you! And you make a good point. You clarified what I was trying to get at with the 'annihilate' button example, it really is the communal data that is generating the value in these social applications, and it is the integrity of that data that needs to be protected. Perhaps the access to data could be governed freely and democratically - I suppose it doesn't even need to be centralized - but it would still need some sort of control. This is to say I couldn't do whatever I pleased 'freely'. But you put it well, maybe it must change from anarchy to democracy, though it does sound a bit more like communism (in the best sense ;) ) Jake, nice to hear from you! And you make a good point. You clarified what I was trying to get at with the ‘annihilate’ button example, it really is the communal data that is generating the value in these social applications, and it is the integrity of that data that needs to be protected. Perhaps the access to data could be governed freely and democratically - I suppose it doesn’t even need to be centralized - but it would still need some sort of control. This is to say I couldn’t do whatever I pleased ‘freely’. But you put it well, maybe it must change from anarchy to democracy, though it does sound a bit more like communism (in the best sense ;) )

]]> Comment on Free Software is obsolete by jake http://paulitex.com/2009/03/free-software-is-obsolete/comment-page-1/#comment-13 jake Sun, 15 Mar 2009 00:02:56 +0000 http://paulitex.com/?p=70#comment-13 playing devil´s advocate, i would say that calling free software an "obsolete philosophy" might be going a bit too far. you contend that the communal nature of software like facebook precludes you from making private modifications, but that need not be the case. one could imagine providing an infrastructure for the implementation and deployment of private facebook plugins, or even a per-session instantiation of private facebook binaries based on user login preferences. inter-version compatibility would of course be an issue, but the onus there would mostly fall upon you convincing your friends to adopt your changes (note that they would not have to abandon the central facebook deployment to do this though). of course it´s not clear that such a plugin/private binary approach would allow you to implement any and all changes you could imagine (e.g., a nifty "annihilate" button to permanently destroy other users´ accounts), and your changes may require the consent of the community before they are adopted, but your freedoms need not be entirely annulled. perhaps with communal applications the flavor of free software must change from one of anarchy to democracy. :) but you´re probably planning to address all this in the next post anyhow... playing devil´s advocate, i would say that calling free software an “obsolete philosophy” might be going a bit too far.

you contend that the communal nature of software like facebook precludes you from making private modifications, but that need not be the case. one could imagine providing an infrastructure for the implementation and deployment of private facebook plugins, or even a per-session instantiation of private facebook binaries based on user login preferences. inter-version compatibility would of course be an issue, but the onus there would mostly fall upon you convincing your friends to adopt your changes (note that they would not have to abandon the central facebook deployment to do this though).

of course it´s not clear that such a plugin/private binary approach would allow you to implement any and all changes you could imagine (e.g., a nifty “annihilate” button to permanently destroy other users´ accounts), and your changes may require the consent of the community before they are adopted, but your freedoms need not be entirely annulled. perhaps with communal applications the flavor of free software must change from one of anarchy to democracy. :)

but you´re probably planning to address all this in the next post anyhow…

]]> Comment on Free Software is obsolete by Paul http://paulitex.com/2009/03/free-software-is-obsolete/comment-page-1/#comment-12 Paul Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:38:02 +0000 http://paulitex.com/?p=70#comment-12 Is this post not more valuable now that you've commented? I hope you think you've added something :) Blogs almost by definition derive their particular value from community interaction and sharing - otherwise they would just be personal journaling. But maybe a better example would be a computer game with little online component, like World of Goo. Almost all it's value is 'instrict' (and so it was pirated like mad). But the point I was trying to make is that Stallman advocates a world where ALL software is 'free' (according to his freedoms) and that is impossible. It's a quantifying question: I'm arguing that not *all* software can be 'free', not that 'some' software can be free. There exists 'free' software. But it's not social. Is this post not more valuable now that you’ve commented? I hope you think you’ve added something :) Blogs almost by definition derive their particular value from community interaction and sharing - otherwise they would just be personal journaling.
But maybe a better example would be a computer game with little online component, like World of Goo. Almost all it’s value is ‘instrict’ (and so it was pirated like mad).

But the point I was trying to make is that Stallman advocates a world where ALL software is ‘free’ (according to his freedoms) and that is impossible. It’s a quantifying question: I’m arguing that not *all* software can be ‘free’, not that ’some’ software can be free. There exists ‘free’ software. But it’s not social.

]]> Comment on Free Software is obsolete by Joe Gaudet http://paulitex.com/2009/03/free-software-is-obsolete/comment-page-1/#comment-11 Joe Gaudet Thu, 12 Mar 2009 08:52:19 +0000 http://paulitex.com/?p=70#comment-11 While I agree with you in principle, consider wordpress, its value is not derived from community, and we (both you and I) build our blogs on it. While I agree with you in principle, consider wordpress, its value is not derived from community, and we (both you and I) build our blogs on it.

]]> Comment on Next year’s halloween costume by Joe http://paulitex.com/2008/10/next-years-halloween-costume/comment-page-1/#comment-3 Joe Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:00:32 +0000 http://paulitex.com/?p=10#comment-3 I suppose I should post the link... http://www.stick.org/anniversary.php I suppose I should post the link…

http://www.stick.org/anniversary.php

]]> Comment on Next year’s halloween costume by Joe http://paulitex.com/2008/10/next-years-halloween-costume/comment-page-1/#comment-2 Joe Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:59:29 +0000 http://paulitex.com/?p=10#comment-2 Quite an Entertaining idea... I say this as I drink from my 10th anniversary SitM coffee cup.... God it feels good to be a dork. .joe Quite an Entertaining idea… I say this as I drink from my 10th anniversary SitM coffee cup….

God it feels good to be a dork.

.joe

]]>