RE: Bill C-61, the Canadian copyright bill.

Dear Jim Prentice,

I've been following recent developments regarding the new C-61 copyright bill. There are many things I don't like about it. Here are three.

1) It becomes illegal to copy DVDs for backups or for playing on another device.

I have recently started to move my DVDs onto a separate hard disk so that I can play them from my computer without going through the bother of finding the physical disk first. Essentially I have made a sort of crude movie jukebox. I find this to be a great way of watching movies.

I also make temporary copies of DVDs to my laptop for use on long flights or bus rides. Playing from the digital copies doesn't take up as much battery lifespan as playing them from disk. Also I don't need to carry around the DVD drive, not to mention the disk itself. This is especially useful since my laptop machine doesn't have a DVD drive.

I am concerned for people making copies of DVDs for use in their iPod movie player devices. While I don't do it I don't think this should be made illegal. I can see a time in the near future where it will be possible to put every movie I own onto one of these devices. I would like to see this doesn't become illegal.

I am also concerned about the parents who want to make backup copies of their children's DVDs because their children tend to destroy them. I think this is a reasonable, fair use.

2) The anti circumvention clauses.

All free and open source DVD players on linux are, to my knowledge, based on the DeCSS. This code was backward engineered to allow DVD playback on Linux. This would be made illegal.

From my understanding, the development of this code would be illegal. I'm not even sure that the use of this code is legal, therefore I'm not sure whether there's any way of legally playing DVDs on linux. I think this is a bad thing.

Putting linux aside for a moment, the breaking of CSS has opened up the possibility for me to make copies of DVD for the uses I mentioned above. In a very real way I owe these new capabilities to the breaking of the encryption. It looks like bill C-61 makes format shifting in general illegal and breaking DRM to do so doubly illegal.

I believe that DRM and encryption are examples of how digital technology can be used to create new business models. Digital technology, and the use of encryption, can allow the content producer to control how their content is consumed and paid for. Historically, this has been defeated by other who break the encryption and backward engineer their formats. Anti-circumvention legislation removes the ability of third parties to do this and tilts the balance of power in favour of content producers.

With DRM, piracy is a red herring. DRM certainly doesn't help stop piracy since all you need is one non-DRM copy to begin to circulate for all piracy to be possible. It is, however, a great way of getting people to pay extra for the ability to VCR programs for later viewing... Or to pay to re-buy tracks they actually own but need to buy again because their tracks all use a DRM for a type of player that doesn't exist any more.

Finally, I would like to mentions the Sony root kit incident. Sony's CD copy protection DRM was obnoxious and invasive. It used a root-kit style attack more common of trojan horse (computer virus) cracking attempts. It's buggy modifications to Windows has caused me personally to spend time fixing machines broken by its buggy implementation (known commonly as the Sony rootkit fiasco). In my opinion this sort of drive by virus-like behaviour from software should be illegal and not any attempt to circumvent it!

How to fix your desktop application

Ok, a quicky..

Google's calender, spredsheet applications, mail have started to displace desktop applications. Why? IMHO they suck. They try to be desktop applications but are nasty, buggy, pale imitations. They do have a few things that desktop applications can learn from.

1) No dang installation step. I've always hated installing applications. Is anyone here over 30? Can anyone remember installing applications on Macs circa 1992? The correct answer to that question, with a few exceptions, was no. You just dragged the application from the floppy to where you wanted on your hard disk. The only reason you didn't run the dang program directly from the floppy was it ran slow. 'm using windows XP and everything little thing has an installer. Step one to making desktop applications suck less, get rid of installers. Let's get a standard where I can run desktop applications from the web and cache them locally, please.

2) No load time. Web applications don't need to load. To be honest I'm still not sure why desktop applicati0ons have a load time... and I've been writing them for years! While writing Myster I tried to reduce the amount of time it took to load. In the end I managed to get it down to some reasonable fraction of what it took to load the java virtual machine but really it should have been even shorter.

Just what the heck is happening during a program launch anyway? The answer is the machine reads a block of computer instructions from the HD and starts executing them. This is actually quite fast.. even on windows. The trouble comes when these initial instructions start loading libraries and building tables and constants and loading the code that loads the preferences and reading from the preferences and loading parsing them then loading all the icon resources then displaying those. The list goes on and on. In the end, desktop applications take a long time to load.

If your desktop application takes longer to load than my perception of instantaneous, then you should be making it faster. If your application feels the need to present a splash screen it's taking too long to load. If your app takes longer to load than a typical web page then it's too slow.

3) Web pages can be accessed from anywhere. I'm not entirely sure why I can't access my home documents or application setting from another location. Part of this problem is that applications require an installer and I don't want to go through this heavy install process in order to access my information from another PC. The other part is because I have to find someplace where I can store my documents or setting in order to access them.

Web sites don't have this problem. In one of the weirdest examples or this I have ever seen, my web browser of choice has an option to store its settings remotely. The idea is that when I use my web browser on a different machine, the settings I usually use follow me there. Hurray! Now the three machine I use daily will be in sync. The thing is, in order to use this feature I have type enter a server to connect to to store my settings. Are you kidding me? I got this browser from a website.. A web site that appears to have no problem handling a bazillion downloads of said web browser every month, not to mention other page hits etc.. But it won't allow me to store my settings anywhere on its servers. Is this desktop application group think?

4) Platform compatible. The three machines I use daily are all on different platforms. I have a mac, a PC and a Linux box. I can view the same web sites on all. Desktop apps? Yeah, there are some ports but I would have expected that we'd have cross platform code by now. Java has been around for some time now and does it fine.


gumble grumble grumble..

So at work I'm currently working on a brand new desktop application product. I want to give demo/beta applications to people. I don't want to keep sending out installers to everyone what can I do?

Well, The application is in java so I use Java web start.

With java web start you go to a web page, click on a button or link, the application is then downloaded to your machine (if it's not cached there already) and run. The whole process is a bit quirky in practice since you have to click on a box acknowledging that you're downloading an application by someone named whatever.. but it works. Want to run it offline? Yep, you can do that too. It's like having a desktop application available from a web page. This application, also has roaming user preferences as well so if you go to a different machine, the preferences can follow you around via your login. Basically, it nails 3 out of the four things above. The startup time isn't the best.. I mean this is java, but it's still fast than open office, for example, so it's not bad...

yeah.. I can see this stuff happening.

RSI is a pain in the wrist

Repetitive strain injury is a serious risk for all coders and for many office workers too. Many of my colleges at my workplace display symptoms of RSI problems and it worries me.

I once went through a period of about 2 months where I couldn't move at all. I could barely move my wrist, opening doors was difficult etc.. all the classic RSI symptoms. On the advice of my family I went to see a physiotherapist and over 2 months I managed to get use of my fingers back. In a very real way I'm still recovering now. While, I can use the computer all week for the normal amount, I still sometimes get pains in my wrists.. this is 3 years later.

RSI is bad new and represents one of those few times in life where panic and anxiety is a reasonable emotional reaction. Untreated RSI can destroy careers and lives. It can cripple for life. A friend of mine had to abandon his Ph. D in computer science and pretty much change his entire career plan. This same friend has written a short article about what he's learned battling RSI.

One big tip is stop typing! Don't type through the pain!

Being unable to type for 2 months is much less of an issue then being unable to type for the rest of your life.

Tomato Plants on the Balcony

Many years ago, when I lived with my parents, I would plant a garden in our backyard. I'd grow things like beans and tomatoes. I quite liked doing it because it was relaxing.

When I moved into the city I wanted to grow tomatoes in pots on the balcony. My first year wasn't very successful. My second year wasn't either. I figured my balcony wasn't getting enough sun or something.

I switched apartments a few years ago and this new apartment had a balcony that was in the sun for most of the day. The tomato plants still didn't do well. In fact, they didn't grow at all. All they did was turn purple.

Eventually I figured out what was wrong. It turns out that I was using the wrong soil.




For whatever reason, "black earth" has, in my family, always been a by-word for rich soil. So, when I went looking for soil to plant my tomato plants in I went with the big bag labeled black earth. Unfortunately, the black earth I got didn't help the tomato plants grow. I'm still not clear on why, although I've been told that tomatoes like something more organic. Great. Tomatoes are hippies.

Anyway, the second time I planted my tomatoes on the sunny balcony of my new apartment, I used a mixture of soils. I actually suspected that my they-aren't-getting-enough-sun hypothesis was bogus, so I planted 6 tomatoes plants n a mixture of different soils. The soil that did best was regular potting soil made for house plants. I can't remember the name of the soil but it was something ridiculous like "Mr. Magic's incredible miracle soil".

(for the experienced tomato growers: No, I didn't have compost in my selection of soils.. I'm getting to that :-) )

They did fine in the miracle soil (by fine I mean they actually grew. This had not happened before). Then I went to visit my parents. My parents still grow tomatoes and their tomatoes were twice the size of mine. I was annoyed but curious. Apparently, there was still room for improvement.

A little while later I noticed my plants had stopped growing. I became very frustrated but hypothesized that they might need more fertilizer. I had this jar of flowing houseplant fertilizer and I decided that since my tomato plants weren't producing anything that I might as well amuse myself by testing this hypothesis by trying to over fertilize them.

I started by giving them the weekly recommended dose every day. Their response was to turn an incredibly deep green then start growing by about an inch per day. It was really impressive.

I went to ask my local plant person about this and they said that tomatoes are always hungry. They really like nutrients and completely sap the soil of any. The house plant stuff I used was nicely balanced but not rich enough in the stuff the tomato plants wanted. I should plant them in pure compost. This made me relived as I half expected them to say they needed blood! Fresh blood and plenty of it! I dodged a bullet there.

So this year I have planted them in a mostly compost mix. They are bright green but and a bit tiny but I'm betting it's because they are cold. After bringing in a plant for a week and seeing its size doubled my hypothesis seems to be confirmed. Well, June is coming so that shouldn't be much of a problem anymore (June always likes the heat turned up to full. She's a funny girl is June.).

Growing tomato plants on your balcony is fun and results in a comical number of tomatoes at the end of the summer (if you've done it right).

The things you need are a balcony that gets plenty of direct sun from about 10am to 2pm. You need pots that are about 17 to 22 L (10 inch pots, deeper is better). You need pure compose soil (maybe mixed with something - opinions on the internet differ. I'm mixing with various amount of regular house plant soil in ratios of two thirds compost to seven eights compost the rest regular house plant soil).

Cherry tomato plants seem to be more resilient and less finicky.

Anti-squirrel gun installations may be needed depending on where you live.

Since my parents have a large compost pile where they compost just about everything I went down there and picked up some real, organic compost. You can also buy compost at the store. I've been told sea shell compost is quite good since tomatoes like the calcium. There are other composts as well. If you buy your soil at a real plant place you can ask the guy. If you're visiting a downtown botanist make sure you make it clear you're not using tomato plants as a euphemism for pot plants. Man, the miss-understandings I've had.. wow... As long as you use some type of organic compost soil you're probably ok. I'm still looking for soil tips to try out next year. Post pictures of your plants and soil tips in the forums :-)... I'd love to see them.

Tomato plants are fun to grow and fun for kids too since once they start growing you can actually see the amount they grow per day. This is growth on a kid-friendly time scale.

Oh and tomatoes taste so much stronger straight off the plant. Don't put them in the fridge because it destroys the taste.

Ok, enough about tomatoes. See you next time.

Worst website nomination

So there I was, looking for some information on JavaFX, the new.. ummm.. something language from Sun which is great for.. well.. I'm not sure..

Anyway, I was looking for informaiton on JavaFX when I came across the JavaFX website:

http://javafx.com/

My jaw dropped to the floor. They really worked hard on it. It's so sad. The site is a total nightmare.

JavaFX.com is the kind of site that gives rise to inside-the-box thinking.

Here are the problems I have with it:

1) The "next page" icon things are inscrutable.
2) The amount of information per "page" is tiny.
2b) The content is laughably superficial as well.
3) The "floating" thing.. hereafter called the WTF windoid is so tiny as to make is useless.
4) The information presentation is noisy, filled with decoration compared with the amount of information displayed.
5) The minimized WTF windoids are hard to read.
6) The current WTF windoid hides other minimized WTF windoids behind it.
7) The transition effects don't work smoothly on my machine; everything just jumps around.
8) My font size settings break its assumptions about font sizes, so text flies off the end of the WTF windoids "titlebars".
9) There's not "throw a brick at the author" button.
10) Ugly as sin.. And black with white or sharp contrasting colors is my favorite color scheme too! - That's how my website is done. :-)

A "unix" UI rant

I think I'm finally getting the hand of the Unix/Linux mentality.

For years, now, I've maintained that trying to use Linux was about as much fun as a visit to the dentist. I think I'm finally starting to get it, though.

You see, Linux, in general, has a terrible UI. Not only that but it has been incredibly slow to improve. I fully expected, back in 1999, that'd this problem would be completely solved by now. With the massive rush of ex-apple programmers and general interest it shouldn't be too much effort to fix up Linux to be usable by people unwilling to dedicate several years of their life to learning it. yeah...

So anyway, today I managed to install a piece of software that was obviously programmed by some unix-type. I'm so proud of myself. It only took me two tries. The second try I approached it with the idea that 1) the programmer expects me to know about how everything and 2) put no thought into user interface.

Fun facts:

1) You needed to tinker with a config file that came with its own syntax.
2) The client and server concepts were backwards (*my machine* was the server and I had to ssh into the other machine and tell it connect to *me* so I could use it).
3) Security by insanity - do I know your login name? Yes? Ok, I'll talk to you. I mean, at least you could pretend it was a password; that's what it acts like.
4) The configuration was such that you needed to add two configuration entries to do something that really only needs 1 (for the most common use case). If you only added one configuration line your mouse cursor became trapped on the other screen. oh no!

The thing that really gets me though, is that once it was configured it actually works. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it! No stupid, bugs or miss-features it does what it was supposed to do. It's really a shame that this great software is hiding behind such a terrible interface.

Want to try it yourself? (the software or configuration odyssey. I'm not picky) The software is called synergy. It's purpose is to allow you to use a second computer, with a second screen as if it were really just an extra screen for your main computer.

You see, I run a PC most of the time, but I also have a mac that I want to use. I don't want to keep switching keyboards and mice, though. I'd rather just be able to mouse over to the mac screen and use it like that.

Those familiar with VNC can think of it as setting up VNC session on a monitor hooked up to a different computer. Synergy works better than that because isn't of using VNC to display the remote screen on your computer. You just use the physical monitor attached to other computer's and send your mouse and keyboard command are sent to it.

This works great if you have the two computers sitting on the floor next to you.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to flick the mouse over to the Macs screen because the screen saver has come on again..

Ok, so it has one (known) bug:
"The Mac OS X port is incomplete. It does not synchronize the screen saver, only text clipboard data works (i.e. HTML and bitmap data do not work), the cursor won't hide when not on the screen, and there may be problems with mouse wheel acceleration. Other problems should be filed as bugs."

OpenPro Computer - A mac clone!

Apparently Psystar is making macintosh clones. The OpenPro Computer model looks familiar. Oh yes, the case is the Antec P182. Essentially that same as my home PC's P180. Good choice.