What tablet PCs are useful for
I always found tablet PCs to be either too big to be considered as mobile devices (PDAs are better for this) and not powerful enough to be real PCs (a real laptop is not that bigger).
But yesterday, I finally found what they're useful for: I had to write a letter with my own little hands, something I hadn't done for a looooong time. Ouch! It was physically difficult and I realized that I missed handwriting training.
So that's the real reason for tablet PCs: ensure that we, techno-geeks, have our daily training to still be able to use those prehistoric tools that are called pen and paper.
But yesterday, I finally found what they're useful for: I had to write a letter with my own little hands, something I hadn't done for a looooong time. Ouch! It was physically difficult and I realized that I missed handwriting training.
So that's the real reason for tablet PCs: ensure that we, techno-geeks, have our daily training to still be able to use those prehistoric tools that are called pen and paper.
What I can't do
Tim Bray is looking for a job. I stumbled across this sentence in the "What I can't do" section:
I don't enjoy project management, which requires struggling with the youthful programmer's over-optimism that I've never managed to lose.Hehe, how much I do share this feeling ;-)
Happy new year!
2003 is over very soon, and this is the occasion for a quick look behind to the major things that year brought me.
At home, this year saw a major "refactoring" of the garden. Half of it was totally redone, including a swimming pool (regular readers already know this). Kids keeps growing, and feel good with school and friends, which hasn't always been the case.
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Decent SVG on MacOS X?
We're on vacation near Paris at my parents-in-law's. Family Christmas, sight-seeing in Paris, and... they have a nice PowerMac (dual 1GHz G4) running Panther!
I rushed on this jewel as soon as we arrived to see if all I need to work is available there. I want some meat to convince people that switching to a Mac is possible.
Wow, MacOS X is so cool and usable... Let's look at the tools I need. A browser: there are plenty. A JDK: 1.4.1 is builtin (and I have the impression that the JVM process is pooled and shared between programs). Eclipse: runs smoothly. An XML editor: JEdit is good. Running Cocoon: no problem.
Now let's try SVG. We use it a lot at work for highly graphical and interactive GUIs. The Adobe viewer is available and works with all browsers, which isn't the case on Windows.
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I rushed on this jewel as soon as we arrived to see if all I need to work is available there. I want some meat to convince people that switching to a Mac is possible.
Wow, MacOS X is so cool and usable... Let's look at the tools I need. A browser: there are plenty. A JDK: 1.4.1 is builtin (and I have the impression that the JVM process is pooled and shared between programs). Eclipse: runs smoothly. An XML editor: JEdit is good. Running Cocoon: no problem.
Now let's try SVG. We use it a lot at work for highly graphical and interactive GUIs. The Adobe viewer is available and works with all browsers, which isn't the case on Windows.
Continue reading »
I want a Mac!!!
Yes, enough is enough! I want a Mac!
I owned a Mac at a time where other people laughed at it. "A mouse and fancy icons? This is a toy!" they said back in 1987 when I bought a Macintosh SE. Yes, but at that time, I added a 21" display (yes 2 pages - I worked hard during vacations to buy it) to the built-in 9" screen, and they formed just one big virtual screen. PC users had to wait about 10 years (or more?) to do the same.
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I owned a Mac at a time where other people laughed at it. "A mouse and fancy icons? This is a toy!" they said back in 1987 when I bought a Macintosh SE. Yes, but at that time, I added a 21" display (yes 2 pages - I worked hard during vacations to buy it) to the built-in 9" screen, and they formed just one big virtual screen. PC users had to wait about 10 years (or more?) to do the same.
Continue reading »
Eclipse moving to OSGi
The Eclipse IDE is changing its internal runtime. There was an ongoing study named "Equinox" to evaluate different frameworks, including Avalon.
But the choice of the Eclipse team is OSGi, which is a normalized platform for handling Java services. Strange thing is that other candidates seem to have not been studied at all.
We already use OSGi for our embedded software activities, as it's the platform that is used by most of the Java software in the automotive and automation domains.
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But the choice of the Eclipse team is OSGi, which is a normalized platform for handling Java services. Strange thing is that other candidates seem to have not been studied at all.
We already use OSGi for our embedded software activities, as it's the platform that is used by most of the Java software in the automotive and automation domains.
Continue reading »
Cocoon gaining momentum
Seems like the Cocoon-related presentations that were given at ApacheCon helped a lot of people to know what Cocoon really is today.
Ovidiu's presentation about flowscript and continations seems to have had the greatest impact:
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Ovidiu's presentation about flowscript and continations seems to have had the greatest impact:
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On the road to Paris
In the coming hours, we'll be leaving to Paris for the XML Forum exhibition. 700 km in a car packed with all the stuff needed for our booth.
Arrival at the end of the afternoon, then hurry to set up the booth so that everything is nice and shiny for the "grand opening" tomorrow morning.
Arrival at the end of the afternoon, then hurry to set up the booth so that everything is nice and shiny for the "grand opening" tomorrow morning.
LOAF implemented in XSL!
LOAF is getting mainstream, and Matthew and Bertrand, very aware of new technological trends, already noticed it.There are some implementations in Java, Perl, C, C++, Python and even Word Basic. But LOAF can also be implemented in less traditional programming languages like XSLT.
So here it is: the first XSLT implementation of LOAF! Download it here: loaf.xslt
This implementation is covered by the Apache license.
Rédacteur sur XMLfr.org / Editor on XMLfr.org
Contrarily to other posts, this one is in french. You'll understand why by reading the english version below...
XMLfr.org est le portail de la communauté XML francophone. Jeudi dernier, j'ai répondu à un article à propos du format des fichers de OpenOffice (des fichiers XML dans une archive zip), expliquant comment nous avions réalisé le systéme de gestion de contenu du nouveau site de l'INSA Toulouse.
Après quelques échanges avec le rédacteur de cet article, il m'a été proposé de devenir rédacteur sur XMLfr.org, notamment pour y parler de Cocoon et Apache. Nouvelle nommination dans une nouvelle communauté, regroupant certains des spécialistes XML français les plus renommés.
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XMLfr.org est le portail de la communauté XML francophone. Jeudi dernier, j'ai répondu à un article à propos du format des fichers de OpenOffice (des fichiers XML dans une archive zip), expliquant comment nous avions réalisé le systéme de gestion de contenu du nouveau site de l'INSA Toulouse.
Après quelques échanges avec le rédacteur de cet article, il m'a été proposé de devenir rédacteur sur XMLfr.org, notamment pour y parler de Cocoon et Apache. Nouvelle nommination dans une nouvelle communauté, regroupant certains des spécialistes XML français les plus renommés.
Continue reading »