what the folks from Mozilla think a web app store should look like

""The beauty of releasing the data is it frees us from having to develop the applications ourselves,'' said Chris Dempsey, an assistant secretary in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation. "That's expensive and something that we're not very good at.''"

wherein val asks some very relevant questions of Facebook

interesting look at the economics of the ecosystem

open data from...the media? interesting

this is a fantastic interview. if Kundra [and the community] is able to execute on even a quarter of the promise here, we're all going to be well rewarded

"Apple’s decision to severely limit communication with the news media, shareholders and the public is at odds with the approach taken by many other companies, which are embracing online outlets like blogs and Twitter and generally trying to be more open with shareholders and more responsive to customers."

an interesting look at the current state of OpenMoko, thanks to @segphault for the pointer. i applaud the ideals, but i can't say that i'm optimistic.

this could be very cool, as Evernote looks decent, but platform limited

standards are indeed important. it's just difficult to get buyers to think beyond the present.

"We can (and will) have debates about the relative openness of Azure and AWS and Force.com and all the other "cloud platforms" that are available or will be available. And those will be important debates. But in this early stage of the cloud's development, openness means little to the buyer (or user). The buyers, particularly those in big companies, are nervous about the cloud even as they are becoming increasingly eager to reap the benefits the cloud can provide. What they care about right now is security, reliability, features, compatibility with their existing systems and applications, ease of adoption, stability of the vendor, and other practical concerns. In the long run, they may come to regret their lack of stress on openness, but in the here-and-now it's just not a major consideration. They want stuff that works and won't blow up in their faces." - agreed

interesting critique of Android's openness. in comparison to the iPhone, it fares well (re: openness), but there are some very problematic restrictions.

all the more interesting in light of DeWitt's post on Silverlight

"In order for public data to benefit from the same innovation...that characterize private parties’ use of the Internet, the..government must...should focus on creating a...publicly accessible infrastructure that “exposes” the underlying data." +1

interesting, i wouldn't have expected this. maybe i should consider doing the same. i don't encrypt traffic now, but i do use hardware authentication to stymie random usage.

i'd be more sympathetic if it wasn't Plaxo; while they've somewhat rehabilitated themselves from their spamming past, i still get far too many "reminders" from them

fascinating, and potentially relevant to Luis' open services discussion. from my initial read, however, it does seem as if they're a bit ambitious.

i'm of a somewhat similar mindset, which may have implications for the 2007 tecosystems award for technical innovation

"Getting started should be free. · Also, it shouldn’t take more than a few days." - i'd actually argue minutes. it's still about barriers to entry. anyway, read the whole thing, it's worth it.

Verizon? open? would be great news, and actually could compel me to switch back, but i'll believe it when i see it. of all the carriers, they've been the most closed and most likely to cripple their own devices. which is why i'm now an AT&T customer.

i think the real question is how open will Facebook be forced to be? Facebook forced LinkedIn into an API, and now in turn will be forced to respond

open standards, as always, favor the laggards

this is interesting and important, and i need to think about it a lot more

"We predict that Redmonk 2.0 will be an old boys club, private with paid membership" - not on my watch. and incidentally, this is the first time i've seen Furl used in a long while.

some good basic thoughts on data rights from Battelle

excellent piece from Miguel on potential web platforms

"I call bullshit. Trends are just pointing in a different direction." - i concur

"There will be a delta between general availability of Win Office (January) and converters from MacBU (expected late March/early April." - hadn't seen this version of the story

great (as usual) summary of ODF progress in MA from Andy; even better? it's in Q&A format ;)

Microsoft's Brian Jones responds to some of the Open XML critiques from Phipps, Sutor & Weir

RedMonk client db4objects takes transparency to a whole new level; great to see

there are some useful questions to be asked here - as Sam's indicated - but i'm with most of the other commenters in saying that this is a Good. Thing.

the most detailed explanation of the shortcomings of Microsoft's ODF plugin i've seen yet; let's hope they're addressed, either by this plugin or an alternative

*must* read piece on the Microsoft ODF news - see especially the reflections on his conversation with Jason; also, on a personal note, hugely appreciate the kind words coming from a guy like Andy

Sam's with David in thinking i got this wrong - give it a read, although i still maintain my position

Australia sees Microsoft's decision as a validation of ODF - we'll see more and more of this, i think

the project that's got everyone talking: adding ODF support to Word 2007

i haven't talked to Adobe about this news yet, but the last i had spoken with them they claimed to be *for* Microsoft supporting PDF

can't say that i enjoyed Bronte at all - not as bad as Kate Chopin, but it's close; anyhow, i suspect that dual license oriented firms will take exception to some of the notions herein

Matusow's commentary is going to generate a lot of talk, i'm sure

an ODF plugin for Microsoft Word? this would be a Very Big Deal, IMO, as it would allow organizations to embrace ODF while continuing to leverage their investments in Office

great, thoughtful piece from Stephe on perceptions of Microsoft; DeWitt's got a good story here

excellent thoughts from Milke Olson; it's The World is Flat mashed up with Small is the New Big

interesting news, but i agree with the commenter: this was pretty much expected from Corel

great summary and update from Andy on where ODF is vis a vis MA

you can always count on Andy to give a blow by blow account of these activities - excellent work, sir

Sun's Tenhumberg on ODF traction and more

more on ODF and accessibility

so my intelligence was correct; Jason's taking on a new challenge. this is an interesting move for Microsoft, and has implications for the ODF/MSXML strife

very informative look at the covenant agreements side by side

great summary of the ODF MA council meeting

if only read one piece on community and Geronimo, make it this one - Bruce and Matt are two big reasons to pay attention to Virtuas - some interesting governance notes for you, Simon

"The more Microsoft allows third party plug-ins and extensions (not just its own) to Office" - absolutely correct

i've been waiting for something like this; will have to see if they can get input/output

not an intelligent interview from Corel (via Erwin)

"binary key" commentary from MS's Brian Jones; i found Todd's comments of particular interest here

Winer's take on the ODF; needless to say, i don't agree

eWeek, October 11th, 2005

SearchOpenSource.com, October 10th, 2005

interesting analysis from orcmid of the ODF vs MSXML patent/license issues

interesting interview with Yahoo's Terry Semel at Web 2.0

can i get an amen?

go figure - opening content leads to new business opportunities - who would of figured. the irony is that the story originated from an org that just closed their doors

the KOffice folks respond to Yates (via /.)

Ruby on the ODF/MA deal

can't wait to hear this (via Bray via Berlind)

it's not too often that i find myself on the same side as Nicholas Carr, but we're definitely in agreement on this point

well, now i don't have to write this, because Stephe's said it better than i could ;)

Tim notes that Apple's even less of an open player than Microsoft; most unfortunate, as ODF support with their suite would be a huge win for Apple, IMO

fine piece, up until the commentary on Massachusetts, where i think she goes off the rails

Skype vs G/Talk & Gizmo

usually on the same page as Jon, but not on this one; i want less email, not more. and it's not really about compound documents, it's about the thousands of millions of deliverables/proposals/invoices/etc created every day - i might not like it, but offic

Mike responds to Tim Bray, among others

i'm being told this is not a trivial exercise, surprisingly, but need some more evidence

don't agree, obviously

i'd like to hear Matt's take on why MSFT should not support the ODF alongside of its own format, provided that customers ask for it

Tim's take on the Microsoft MA response

wherein Stephe articulates his side of our Fri AM breakfast

more interesting commentary from Gary Edwards re: ODF community, etc

interesting ODF & MA essay