Adventures of an Eternal Optimist

Well – I’m almost at the end of my Vista pre-activation period.

At this point I get to decide whether I want to continue dual-booting with Apple’s Boot Camp and also access my Vista partition via a VMWare Fusion Virtual Machine.

If I want to keep on choosing to natively boot and virtually boot, I’ll have to pay for Vista twice.  Even though the same code is running on the same CPU.  And even though I can’t ever possibly use both of my licenses at the same time. 

I don’t think I can do it.  I don’t mind paying for value,  but I’m not a big fan of paying twice for the same thing.   The small amount of utility & flexibility that comes with being able to choose between a native or virtual boot process is obviously not worth the cost of an entire operating system all over again.  

Locked down, fenced in, held back.   Enthusiasm dampened, pocketbook closed more out of anger than thrift.  Do they have the right to ask for more money?  Sure.  And they can go right on asking.

I suppose that this cloud’s silver lining is that I won’t have to remember to hold down the option key every time I start my machine anymore…

As part of the next OSIS Interop, participants are contributing pain points that stand in the way of easy interoperation of user-centric components.

My personal list involves the pieces that I have found to stand in the way, when writing code for the Pamela Project. For those of you who are interested, the discussion is still going on, you could probably sneak in a few extra suggestions if you were do it soon. I would suggest subscribing to both the OSIS general mailing list and the new Google Group dedicated to this particular Interop (the new list is currently empty, but I don’t expect it to remain that way for long).

List items have so far ranged from usability issues to protocol underspecification, to debates over whether certain aspects of a component can be implemented securely. There are OpenID suggestions from at least two different participants, which is great! I think the final list is going to be an important body of work, and I personally would like to see that body of work turned into the beginnings of a set of recommended practices that new component writers can refer to as they work to become interoperable.

Stay tuned for more…

Here is a perfect example of what happens when data you prefer to keep private ends up in the wrong hands. Or worse, when data about another person becomes public, and can then be used to infer information about you based on a past or present, direct or even indirect relationship with that person. In this case, there isn’t even proof, but rumor is more than enough if the spotlight is bright.

(via Jezebel, image from HolyCandy)

It seems that the damage in Xcalak is mostly cosmetic, and as far as I can tell, nobody was hurt.

This pic and more, plus commentary here.

One of my favorite places has just gone through a direct hit from a category 5 hurricane. To all the folks in Xcalak, Quintana Roo, Mexico, and especially to all of you at the Tierra Maya, my thoughts are with you, I hope you made it through.

It seems that since Pat last tagged me, the random fact quota has gone up from five to eight!

Eugene, I hope I can offer my original 5, and supplement to get to eight here:

1. I would much rather wakeboard than waterski; I would rather sled than ATV; I gave up telemarking for the snowboard when I met my husband, but I’m not sure it was a good trade; none of the above compares to chasing down a flying disc with a defender in hot pursuit.
2. My first “real” job in the computer industry was a summer job where I researched Modem configuration strings for a digital whiteboard company. I didn’t actually have the modems — I just had to find the manuals, read them, and extrapolate what the strings would be. It was excruciatingly mindless.
3. I once got busted by the Moscow Police for attempting to buy a matryoshka doll from an old lady in the long tunnel entrance to a Metro station. It is illegal to sell wares in the metro tunnels, and whenever a cop shows up, all the old ladies selling things tuck everything into their coats in the blink of an eye, and melt into the crush of commuters. I was holding the merchandise when the alarm went up in this particular instance, and I didn’t understand what was happening quickly enough to react. The poor vendor whose doll I was holding ended up hovering beside me, terrified but unwilling to flee and sacrifice the merchandise. I did my best ‘dumb tourist’ schtick and the cop let us go – but not before advising me that (a) the item was overpriced, and (b) I had better buy it, to make up for the serious trouble I could have gotten the poor little old lady into.

Let me tell you about my first day on Facebook. It was both intense and thought-provoking.

As most of you know – I’m not exactly a wilting wallflower. I’ve done a lot of things, been part of many and varying circles of people, and generally I’ve had myself a hell of a time. Many of my friends from the less-geeky parts of my life have been talking about and using Facebook for quite some time, and I finally caved in.

One of the very first people I added was an old, good friend from my gloriously misspent youth. I had run into him earlier, and he mentioned he was on Facebook, so I looked him up. Once we were connected, he sent me this message:

Hey!! Nice to see you check in my albums there is a photo of you that has sparked the longest comment chain around.

Next thing I know, I see that a photo has been ‘tagged’ as being of me. And I click over to see a picture me from my first year of university. It was a nice picture, nothing embarrassing or racy. The conversation around the picture, however, gave me pause. Let me paraphrase:

Commenter #1: I dated her in high school

…

Commenter #10: I dated her after high school

…

Commenter #17: I dated her after #1 and before #10…

Well, where does a person even start on this? As a conversation, this thread was funny & endearing and I am really excited to catch up with all of the people there, they are wonderful wonderful people. Nothing in the thread was secret – and all of the commenters were truthful in their remarks (except that I actually think that I dated Commenter #17 after Commenter #10 not before, but that’s neither here nor there). All of the people in the thread are part of the same circle of friends, and so this is no different than the same people sitting around at a party and looking at a physical photo from a shoebox.

but.

But.

BUT.

As much as I enjoyed the repartee, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed by the implications of the situation in general. When my friend posted that picture, only those in his network saw it – generally speaking, those that were interested were all a member of one of my circles of acquaintance. No problem – until I join Facebook, and link all of my various circles TOGETHER. Suddenly, a photo & conversation intended for one circle is accessible to another. Yes, I can ‘limit’ what people see – but would I have the foresight, tools, and memory to figure out all the ways in which I really don’t want past circles to intersect in the future? What about current circles? What about friends who span the circles? I am suddenly the hub, and all my different spheres are the spokes, and those spokes are suddenly connected through me in a tangible, interesting, and researchable way. You may not need to be a direct friend; sharing a friend, a group, or a network may suffice as well (depending on whose account ‘houses’ what discussion, and who you and your friends open your accounts up to).

And once a meme starts, it’s tough to stop. There is a tipping point that could be reached. Why wouldn’t someone from some other part of my life or history cruise through and add his own dating history into that photo thread? Heck, maybe my husband will chime in, he’s on Facebook too. If there was enough interest, I do believe that an entire timeline could be constructed, and what could I do? I could scream and freak out and have the photo removed I’m sure. But such anti-social behaviour would become the object of discussion in turn. When you protest, people assume you are afraid of something :). Taken separately, nobody’s dating history is secret – but peer-to-peer publishing of cumulative results makes me feel vulnerable to the same phenomena occurring around some other, less innocent set of facts.

I have to cogitate on this a bit. And I have to figure out what to do when a professional colleague who isn’t also a good friend wants to ‘add me as a friend’. As I’ve said before, tools like Facebook blur the lines between social spheres, and we all get to slide down this slippery slope together, guinea pigs for the new digital age. Perhaps even worrying about controlling the descent is, in fact, no more than a delusion. For those of us who try to keep some lines drawn in the face of intense social pressure from all spheres to openly network, a long road is ahead. “All in” or “all out” are much simpler attitudes. I love the benefits of Facebook already; they are enough to put me into that scary no man’s land of trying to control multiple spheres, allowing some to meld and attempting to keep others apart.

One final question to ponder – by simply writing about this experience, have I compromised or complicated my ability to keep my social spheres separate? We shall see.

Wish me luck. I’ll need it.

On monday, OSIS members agreed to put on another Interop — this time in Europe.

This will again be a joint effort between the Burton Group and OSIS, with final results demonstrated at the Catalyst Europe conference in Barcelona Italy Spain (blonde moment) sometime during October 22-25 2007.

Participation is OPEN – if you have a component and you want to interoperate, join us. We are still hammering out the scenarios, so if you join now, you can influence what we test, if there are areas of interoperation that are critical to your project or group.

Discussion around this event is currently taking place on the osis-general mailing list — join the list and announce yourself if you are interested in participating or finding out more, or drop me a note if you want more information.

There are all sorts of new groups out there, and I can’t wait to see their code. We accomplished a lot last time, and we’re ready to do the same again!

System or metasystem?

Take your pick;

Someone will always disagree.

		-- The Eternal Optimist

Today I actually for just ONE single minute paused to seriously contemplate the consequences of lying on a Web 2.0 registration form.

The site that caused this momentary lapse in common sense was Facebook:

It turns out that I don’t want to supply my correct date of birth to Facebook. I would have been more than happy to assert that I was over 13 — but a complete DOB is just too much information. And yet — if I lie, I’m violating the terms of service:

Facebook: “…you agree to (a) provide accurate, current and complete information about you as may be prompted by any registration forms on the Site (“Registration Data”); (b) maintain the security of your password and identification; (c) maintain and promptly update the Registration Data, and any other information you provide to Company, to keep it accurate, current and complete;”

I started wondering – does this mean I can’t register a pseudonym on Facebook? Am I only legally able to register my “real” name? And if this is the case, what about all the other sites that I have pseudonymous names registered at?

Who knows, IASNAL (I am *so* not a lawyer) but if you were to ask me, it seems like the majority of accounts I have registered at the following sites are already in violation of the TOS:

Flickr: “…provide true, accurate, current and complete information about yourself as prompted by the Service’s registration form”

Multiply: “…provide certain limited information about you as prompted to do so by the Service (such information to be current, complete and accurate)”

Slashdot: “personally provide true, accurate, current and complete information on the SourceForge Site’s registration form (collectively, the “Registration Data”) and (2) maintain and promptly update the Registration Data as necessary to keep it true, accurate, current and complete. If, after investigation, SourceForge has reasonable grounds to suspect that any user’s information is untrue, inaccurate, not current or incomplete, SourceForge may suspend or terminate that user’s account and prohibit any and all current or future use of the SourceForge Sites (or any portion thereof) by that user other than as expressly provided herein.”

Google Mail: “5.1 In order to access certain Services, you may be required to provide information about yourself (such as identification or contact details) as part of the registration process for the Service, or as part of your continued use of the Services. You agree that any registration information you give to Google will always be accurate, correct and up to date.”

One site where I chose not to lie (and see no point in a pseudonymous account), is LinkedIn. I gave correct naming information to LinkedIn, but was not required to enter a date of birth, and so had no reason to pause during registration. I find it interesting that sites like Slashdot and sites like Facebook or LinkedIn have similar terms of use, even when usage is obviously quite different.

What do you all think? Do these TOS’s technically ban pseudonyms but not enforce? Does it matter? Oh, and if I ever remember to get around to finishing that Facebook registration, I hope to be at least a hundred and two years old, don’t be shocked…