solvitur ambulando
Big and small things I’m working on.
Last week, Linus Torvalds wailed on a Red Hat developer over something called Secure Boot. He used bad words, and I'd describe the response across the community as equal parts confusion and hyperbole. This isn't surprising. Microsoft is involved. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to figure out exactly what the argument is about. The technical argument … Continue reading Why Secure Boot makes people freak out.
"Before enactment of this requirement for data exchange standardization, the Department had been a proponent of and strong advocate for the use of open source technologies and data exchange standards in the development of IT systems..." – Part of a proposed rule change at the Federal-State Unemployment Insurance Program
Dan Risacher from the DOD CIO's office is now blogging. Finally.
I try to make some sense of Aaron Swartz and Jodie Lane's death.
A study of Dutch procurement bias against open source yields some valuable lessons about why technology procurements are so truly terrible.
I really don't like making predictions, and I really really don't like skeumorphic interfaces. That means you'll really enjoy this article in Modern Governing magazine.
The Department of Defense has a much longer and more comprehensive FAQ on this same subject. Can the government use open source? Yes. See CENDI's report on open source in government, which talks a lot about how the government works with open source licenses. Is Open Source secure? Yes, but you're asking the wrong questions. … Continue reading Open Source in Government FAQ
How more structure could help product reviews become more useful.
So I went down a rathole after writing that screed against AMBER alerts because I wanted to find out who was responsible for the format of these alerts. The Amber Alerts no longer come from the Wireless AMBER alerts program as they once did. The Wireless AMBER Alert Program has been rolled into the Wireless … Continue reading How do Amber Alerts work?
This afternoon, I received an Amber Alert on my phone. The DOJ, National Center for Exploited Children, Congress, the FCC, and my mobile carrier have spent years and no doubt millions of dollars of coordinating this alert, which is mind-bogglingly awful.
a technology job is no excuse 