I’m trying to wrap my brain around the big dust-up regarding GNOME, and .NET, and Mono, and Miguel de Icaza. That means I’m probably going to be linking to a bunch of stuff here about this controversy over the next few days. (The link to “One Runtime to Bind Them All” was the starter’s gun going off.) This Miguel de Icaza email got things rolling. There’s an editorial at Kuro5hin about it. There’s a massive Slashdot thread about it as well.
You know, ever since I dumped those other browsers for Mozilla, the question I constantly find myself asking when I visit a new site is, “Will I save your cookie?” Mozilla has a great cookie management system, and makes it really easy to make a one time decision whether or not to store cookies from a particular server or domain. Under no circumstances do I accept cookies thrust upon me by web statistics, hit counter, or ad broker servers. I do accept them from sites where I might buy something and will need to use the shopping cart. I do accept them from sites where I want to save my username and password for future visits.
What’s more interesting to me are the other cases. There are plenty of sites out there that offer cookies for no apparent reason. For example, every single Blogspot site tries to give me a cookie. I refuse them all. In fact, nearly every site I visit that’s “powered” by Microsoft wants me to take a cookie – I assume it’s because ASP programmers usually turn on session tracking whether they need it or not. I usually refuse their advances. Other than that, I accept or refuse based on nothing other than intrigue or trust. If a site seems to be run by somebody cool and/or clever, I’ll accept the cookie, thinking that I’ll be rewarded for it. If I think you’re giving me a cookie out of ignorance or malice, I refuse.
Anyway, I feel like everybody should have real cookie filtering enabled, if nothing else it forces you to think a little bit about who you’re willing to trust all the time.
Things are tough all over. I’ll come out and say that I thought that the desire of the USOC to carry the WTC flag in the opening ceremony of the Olympics reeked of self-pity, or failing that, crass manipulation. Yes, something truly tragic, awful, and absurd happened to the United States last year. I still feel a strange rush of emotion when I encounter things that bring the 9/11 attacks to mind. But we’re the United States, and we have the luxury of not only sending a massive team to the Olympics but hosting the damn thing. For a little perspective, check out MSF’s ten most underreported humanitarian crises of 2001. The people listed have a lot more immediate things to worry about than which flag is appropriate for the opening ceremony of the winter Olympics.
Why did the USOC want our athletes to march in with the WTC flag? Are we in any real danger of forgetting the recent past? It seems to me that everybody wants their own turn at tugging at our heartstrings while they have the chance. First it was the World Series, then the Super Bowl (then Budweiser in a commercial during the Super Bowl), and now it’s the USOC. The wound still hurts, you guys shouldn’t be so eager to keep ripping the bandage off.
Official rc3.org advice to Caleb Carr: grow up. I learned to buck up and take it the first time I read a bad review of my first book at Amazon.com. You’re an incredibly successful author who’s made bucketloads of cash, and you melt down when somebody criticizes your work? Please.
Here’s a depressing article on underemployment among high-tech workers these days. I think I’m very lucky to have found a job, the going is very rough out there right now.