Client-Side Server Scripting

While many people think it is impossible to shift Server-Side Duties to the Client, it isn't! Apparently the group of people hired to write a web application for my employer (my full-time job that supports my pursuit of Woven Thorns Productions, not WTP itself) decided to do just that.

By using Java applets to write server-side applications, we are able to require that everyone use the Java Runtime Environment. No biggie, that is made for linux, windows, mac OS, and of course solaris. So I install it on my windows machine and on my Linux machine. The application works great in Internet explorer 6+ on Windows XP Pro, but does not work in Firefox 1.5 on Windows, nor does it work in Firefox 1.0.7 on Linux.

If the developers had used something such as PHP, ASP, Perl, or any CGI language, then this would be a non-issue, because the work would be done on the server side of things. Heck, they could even throw in some Javascript to make it look and perform the exact same way. But here's the problem, Javascript can be purified down to a simple, cross browser, cross platform language (minus a few Microsoft changes, which are easily tip-toed around) that will work on all versions of Firefox on all Operating Systems, as well as IE, Safari, Opera, etc. etc. All without having to add Java Runtime Plugins for each browser.

Why didn't we do this?

My only guess is money. Java developers connecting to Oracle Servers get paid better than PHP developers connecting to MySQL/PostgreSQL Servers. (Side Note: PHP can connect to Oracle Servers just fine, and can even be compiled to encrypt the database usernames and passwords)

So for all the Java developers out there, please continue making great, compiled, desktop applications for specific operating systems, but leave the internet alone unless you can garuntee cross-browser, cross-platform portability. I'm tired of being told to "view this page in IE". That's like saying you can't watch a black and white TV show because I have a color TV. If a standard signal was sent, I could watch whatever I want to.

Please, if you work on the web, don't do what is easy, or what is lazy, do what is portable. If your website requires something other than what is packaged by default with Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Opera, then please recreate your site.

Some examples of methods that defeat the purpose of web applications:

• Java Applets
• Flash-Only websites
• AJAX-Only websites
• Complex Table layouts
• Any web content, CSS, Graphic, etc. geared for a single web browser.

Please, follow standards, and keep in mind that while most visitors are using IE on Windows, doesn't mean all of your visitors are. If I lived in a predominantly white town, I wouldn't let that influence me to refuse service to someone just because they are a minority. The same attitude should be taken to web applications.

If you want to target an operating system, create stand-alone applications. If you want to target anyone with the internet and a web browser, write standards-compliant, ADA friendly, server-side applications.

Webserver Setup in Ubuntu

Tonight I will be taking my laptop with me to work on a website, but the place I am going does not have a secure connection to the internet available. (No wired connection, and only unsecured wireless)

Because I'm paranoid when it comes to security, I will be insalling PHP5, MySQL, and Apache2 on my Ubuntu 5.10 based laptop. Here's my steps:

2:37PM
Click on System>Administration>Synaptic Package Manager
Enter the Administrator Password. (normal users shouldn't be able to install/remove applications without a password)

Click "Search" and type in "php5" and click the "Search" button.

Check the box next to "libapache2-mod-php5" and click "Mark" on the popup window that confirms that I am okay with installing the additional packages required to get this library working. (Such packages include apache2, php5, openssl, and related items)

Check the box next to php5-mysql

Check the box next to php-pear

Check the box next to php5-gd

Click "Apply"
Review the changes and click "Apply" again.

2:42PM
watch as files are downloaded and installed

2:43PM
Review the window that confirms it downloaded and installed properly

2:44PM
Remember I need to install MySQL and run a search for "MySQL"

Check the box next to "mysql-server" and accept the additional packages.

2:45PM
Click "Apply" and confirm the changes by clicking "Apply" again.

Wait and watch as the files are downloaded and installed.

2:46PM
Follow the Postfix Configuration wizard:
Choose Local Only (since this is for developmental purposes only)
Accept the default mail name (we won't really be using postfix anyway)
Watch as it installs the rest of the packages we chose.

2:48PM
Click "Close" at the Changes Applied screen.

2:49PM
Because I'm a geek, I'm going to install PEAR DB, so I open up a terminal and type in:
sudo pear install db
(because I want the administrator to make pear install the pear DB package)

2:50PM
Open up firefox and type in "localhost" to make sure it all worked.

It Did!!

2:51PM
Download all the neccessary scripts from my FTP server that I will be modifying, so I can work on them locally, then set up a MySQL user for the script to use.

2:55PM
DONE!


In an 18 minute time span I was able to install and set up a webserver that has PHP5, MySQL 4, Apache 2, and PEAR::DB. I was also able to download my files from my FTP server using gFTP, a simple and elegant FTP client.

I'll post tomorrow how well it worked, and what issues I've run into with my rushed webserver installation.

Where the death of DVD should lead us

According to Australian news source, The Age, DVD is dead. And they leave open a question for what comes next. They, and many other sources, point to the standard HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray battle, but I for one am holding out for option 3, which is actually coming on much quicker than I anticipated.

Digital video for download.

Before I jump into why, and if companies should trust users, I'd like to drudge up some recent bad press for the companies that would disagree with me.

As everyone by now knows, Sony Music has released a beefed up version of Digital Rights Management (DRM) that was essentially a rootkit. Without going too far into detail, I'll just say that it created a space on your computer that you did not have access to, but ran Sony branded scripts, such as those that would send information back to their servers every time you played their CDs. On top of that, virus writers found a way to exploit this rootkit and install viruses in a manner that you, nor your virus scanner, could remove them, all thanks to Sony's DRM.

This was all to keep you from being able to make a backup copy of your CD, as well as to keep you from listening to the music on your mp3 player, ipod, etc.

After Sony denied the existence of the rootkit, and denied the severity, it was made public on numerous websites, news articles, and television shows. Sony then agreed it was a bad idea and offered to replace all of the affected CDs by shipping out new CDs to the customers. While customers were waiting on the new CD, they were offered free downloads of the mp3 version of the songs. So in the end, Sony's outrageous method of DRM intended to prevent mp3's being made of their music caused them to release the mp3 version of their songs.

Had Sony offered free mp3 downloads for songs people purchased to begin with, customer satisfaction would have gone through the roof, and iTunes users everywhere would probably start buying Sony branded CDs. Instead, many people (including myself) are going to be very skeptical before purchasing a Sony branded CD, much less any audio CD that advertises DRM.

The solution:

The solution to this problem is simple. Allow owners of media content the ability to use that media content in any way they see fit, as long as they do not break copyright laws for their country. This means, do not copy the music or video and give it to someone else, there should be a license agreement to prevent this anyway. However, if you would like to copy the music or movie to your computer so you can stream it over your home network to all of the rooms in your own home, then by all means, enjoy.

Adding company-wide DRM policies that impact the playability and usability of a product will only cause bad press, more lawsuits, and possibly indigestion.

Unfortunately I have decided as a Christian and as a Business Owner to use only legal software on my computers, and I refuse to knowingly break any laws (and try my hardest to keep myself educated on the laws that are easy to break unknowingly). I say "unfortunately" because this means I must go return my DVDs as they do not play in my computer's DVD player. I was told I needed to purchase a DVD decoder in order to play the encrypted DVDs, but I was told this after I purchased a fairly large collection. It is also important to note that Windows based PCs and Macintosh based PCs are the only computer systems that have decoders available. This means Unix, BSD, and Linux users are left out in the cold.

I won't make this a Linux vs. the world debate, but considering the number of linux users has been nearly doubling each year, it does not make sense to prevent users from playing encrypted DVD video on this platform.

If you live in a country that allows you to break the encryption on DVDs for the purpose of viewing them, you can download various open-source DVD decryption libraries that are a sinch to install. Unfortunately, United States law prevents me from doing this on my laptop, because that wouldn't be fair to the company I paid so I could watch the movie they produced.

The only solution I see is for DVD decoders to be freely available for every operating system that supports DVD video playback, or to remove encryption altogether. And if we are removing encryption altogether, we might as well offer downloads for at least the 3 most popular Operating Systems.

By moving to a more standardized approach of media content distribution, we will be able to realize the technology corporations are struggling to support today, but without the headaches caused by DRM, proprietary encoding, and lack of respect for Fair Use rights in many countries.

Some interesting facts to think of while watching the media drool over new, yet proprietary, technology:

The encoding methods used to create DVD video has been surpassed by not only proprietary video encoding methods, but also by open-source and freely available encoding methods. XviD has better compression rates than DVD video while maintaining better video quality, and is free to use on any system, including future set-top players.

Plasma TV's have fewer horizontal scan lines than standard television sets. While they have larger surface areas, look nice and thin, and have better viewing angles than other large-screen TVs, they still technically have worse resolution and therefore worse quality than a standard $150 television.

Flat pannel computer monitors that reach resolutions of up to 1280x1024 are now available for less than $250 while most "HD-ready" sets are not even able to completely support the 1280x720 HD standard. A new standard, 1920x1080 is being pushed, and with high-end HD plamas reaching closer to 768 lines, the end result is a 1920x1080 image shrunken down to fit into a 1366x768 screen. That means some pixels are completely lost, but not an even number, so while it may not be overly obvious, you will be missing some of the picture on the $4,000 50" plasma when a $400 22" CRT monitor could accurately display up to 2048x1536.

If more money were spent on usable computer formats, we could start downloading movies at higher than current "High Definition" resolutions and play them on truly high resolution computer monitors (that could easily be expanded to a more enjoyable 42" if the demand presented itself). In the future, I see very few electronics being without standard computer parts, especially entertainment centers which are already seeing PCs as a valid source of media. Why pay a monthly fee for television shows on demand when you can purchase the show for $2 on iTunes the day after it comes out?

Why purchase a 1280x720 HD DVD that requires a decryptor, when current computers support much higher resolutions that don't requre extra software?

PHP Applications with Smarty and OOP

Introduction

With PHP script kiddies (including myself) around every corner, it's time we start distinguishing ourselves from the crowd and start writing more than just web scripts. Yes, you read right, PHP Applications. Entire Applications consisting not of multiple scripts, but of multiple objects, templates, and possibly even a solid framework!

You may ask why use PHP for an application at all, to which I wouldn't reply, because this is a blog, not a forum. Stop talking to your monitor. Seriously... it's kind of creepy.

The Tools
PHP 5
While PHP 4 is perfectly capable of creating great online web applications, so is PHP 5, and PHP 5 has the ability to create fully-functional Objects with Public and Private variables and methods.
The number one technique that has changed the way I write applications is the practice of extending classes. When you extend a class, you are creating your own new class that has all sorts of custom methods, but also has full use of the original class that you are extending. An example of when to do this would be if you had a class that you used for various portions of the application, but needed added functionality for a different area of the application, or for a different application altogether.
I'll go more into the benefits and techniques in a tutorial later on the main WovenThorns.com site, but for now, let's just assume PHP 5 is a great tool that has been around for over a year and is more than stable enough for production use.

Apache 2
Apache 1 vs. Apache 2 doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me, other than the administration side of things. Keeping track of multiple sites is much easier, and there are more modules being actively worked on for Apache 2. Once again, you can use IIS on a windows machine instead, but why would you want to?
The number one technique in Apache 2 that I love to take advantage of is mod_rewrite, which allows you to rewrite URL's, such as http://www.example.com/articles.php?id=5&page=3 to http://www.example.com/articles/5/3 (which looks much nicer and is noticed more in search engines)

PEAR DB
If you don't know what PEAR is, head over to http://pear.php.net and find out. While it is not neccessary for all applications, they sure do have a lot of great tools, such as PEAR DB that make writing web applications a whole heck of a lot easier, and make your tools much more portable. PEAR DB is a catch-all database class, that allows you to query a database without having to worry about the syntax for a specific database server. You just have to know the proper connection string to use with PEAR DB, then it will use the appropriate PHP tools to connect to your database, whether it is MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, etc. This means you can write an entire PHP application without hard-coding a specific database vendor. If you decide to change Database Vendors from Oracle to PostgreSQL, then you only need to change the connection string, and the rest of your application will remain functional!

Smarty
Smarty is a great templating class written in PHP that makes creating web applications very organized and easy to modify. Smarty makes it simple to separate code from design, allowing your design team to work on layout and graphics and freeing up your development team to write the code without worrying about layout.
If you are unfamiliar with Smarty, head over to http://smarty.php.net and check it out. They have a great tutorial on creating a web application with the techniques hinted on in this article as well.

Conclusion
Don't re-invent the wheel, and don't program yourself into a corner. Keep things modular with PHP5 Object Oriented Programming techniques, separate your database from your application with PEAR DB, and separate design from code with Smarty.

Look for tutorials and help forums when the new and improved Woven Thorns Productions is released later this month!

More Corporate Branding

With a newfound interest in promoting the WTP image, we have decided to brand each of our computers with the new WTP logo.

The Cross and thorns has been a longstanding image present on many internal documents, project proposals, and our corporate banner (originally created in the spring of 2000). Now that we have converted it from a 3d rendering to a two-tone vector image, we have made it our goal to promote the new image, as well as our values and standards, as much as possible.

The only computer remaining is a single laptop, which will need to have some extensive work done before the surface is ready to be branded due to the existing computer manufacturer placed branding which changes the shape of the surface.

While the picture may not do it justice, the edges of the logo are crisp and not blurry whatsoever. All of the work was done in-house, from the logo design, to cutting of a foam-rubber stencil of the logo, to the placement and ultimately painting and polishing of the computer. Due to the quality of the finished product, you may very well see WTP branded stencils for use on any smooth surface, not to mention the window stickers we have already been experimenting with.

Be sure to check out the new site in December to see what we've been cooking up at WTP labs!

The Linux Experience at Woven Thorns Productions

The Background:
After spending around 15 years running our applications on Microsoft based operating systems, we at Woven Thorns Productions have switched all of our office computers to Ubuntu Linux. This switch was not made as a whim, and was not an easy decision to come to. There were fears of lack of hardware support, costs of training, and availability and costs of support.

We have been using the Adobe Creative Suite for all of the graphics on the Woven Thorns Productions website, as well as various client websites. We have also become reliant on the Macromedia Studio MX 2004 collection of web development applications, specifically Dreamweaver MX2004 and Flash MX2004. None of these products are available for Linux, and making the switch would mean we are no longer able to create media with the same tools we are trained on and have experience with. Despite the difficulty of switching to a new platform of media development applications, the "coming soon" animation on the home page of www.woventhorns.com will mark the last document created with an Adobe or Macromedia product until they open the source to the general public.

The Reasoning:
Despite the overwhelming popularity of Microsoft products and the applications that work well with them, WTP has chosen to avoid the restrictions incurred within Closed Source licenses. If a particular application does not work on our hardware, and we know how to modify it to work, Open Source licenses allow us to make these modifications, Closed Source licenses do not. In fact, Microsoft would be within their legal rights to sue our business if we did make these modifications.

Another restriction when using closed source solutions is the lack of support. Truly knowledgable and in-depth support can only be obtained through the company that has access to the source code. With closed source applications, this means the company that created the software. If the company decides to stop supporting, or sunset, the application then we are left with a useless and often expensive application that would otherwise be supported by other development firms had they been granted access to the source code.

Security is also decreased when many closed source developers use the "They don't know where all the weak spots in the code are, so they probably won't exploit them" method of programming. Open Source developers are often accused of those weaknesses being exposed, but that only gives the product a greater chance of becoming more stable and more secure. Two illustrations I used in a recent siminar are:

1. Just because an inspector approves the quality of your building without actually visiting and inspecting it doesn't mean you don't run the risk of having a poor quality building that is ready to collapse.
2. Open Source code does not require passwords, database connection strings, nor data to be exposed, and if an individual having access to the source code jeapordizes the security and integrity of your software, then you need to rewrite your application.

The Result:
Woven Thorns Productions is now able to:

• Code and Test complex web aplications
• create 3d Models and animations
• edit video
• edit audio
• create complex spreadsheets
• create dynamic pivot charts and 3d graphs
• create raster and vector art
• check and send email
• browse the web
• remote into all of our servers and desktops with reliable security and encryption
• connect to our wireless network
• backup and restore files quickly and easily across the network
  
• and more...

All without paying any money whatsoever for software, training, or installation. The only fees we have paid are for hardware and internet access, which greatly reduces our cost of operations, and allows us to offer our products and services at a much more considerable rate.

All of our support issues have been solved promptly through free online support, and were we to run into a problem that would require modifying code, or simply more complex and in-depth troubleshooting, these services are provided by various vendors throughout the world, most of which charge less than support centers for closed source applications.

This blog is being posted from a widescreen laptop over our wireless network here at Woven Thorns Productions, and the only windows desktop left in the building (which happens to be sitting next to me at the moment) has lost its wireless connection about 5 times since I started typing. I have also had to defragment the hard-drive twice this month, and restart it at least 3 times due to software updates. The Linux-based laptop I am using has had over 15 updates this month, but has not required me to restart once, and the filesystem used by this laptop does not require defragmenting, no matter how often I create, delete, or move files.

The Bottom Line:
The computers running Linux have been easier to maintain, easier to connect to network devices (servers, printers, etc.), and have had fewer problems and maintenance issues combined than the single Windows XP machine that is sitting next to me.

Installing software has become as simple as clicking the "Applications" menu and then clicking on "Add Applications". We just browse through an intuitive menu of available applications which number in the hundreds and range from 3d rendering and video editing programs to email clients and office applications. The program downloads the applications from a reliable source, double-checks the download to be sure it is safe to install and has downloaded accurately, then installs the application and configures it for my machine.

Productivity has increased, and tech support issues has decreased, and it hasn't cost us a day of training nor a penny of license costs. We have no intentions of turning back, and are very pleased with our decision.

A step in a new direction

Because of the dramatic change from what was woventhorns.com and what will be the Woven Thorns Productions web site, I have done a nearly unforgivable thing. I have added a "Coming Soon" page.

Before judging, feel free to hop over to woventhorns.com and see the image for yourself. It does not have an animated picture of a construction worker, and does not mention anything about the site being under construction (which I am still against, and will continue to pretend that makes this okay).

I am hoping to build suspense in the 2 people I force to view my site while giving myself incentive to hurry up and finish the site. Because I hate coming soon pages so much, and I have so much to say and do with this Company, I will hopefully have the site up in the next week or so. (But definitely no later than December 1, 2005)

I will be implementing far more complex development in the background than ever before, which will actually make things easier, as I've recently discovered that complex applications are much easier to maintain and develop than semi-complex scripts. (note that scripts are a collection of functions and if-then statements, and applications are built using multiple classes and a more object-oriented approach)

I will also be switching to a tried and true templating system, and will offer the end result as an open source application.

A quick glimpse into the future:

• New Direction
• Church Management
• Church Community Building
• Individual Study Applications
  
• New Image
• New Logo
• New Color Pallet
• New Layout
  
• New Projects:
• OSCampus - an Open Source suite of Higher Education Software Solutions
• OSChurch - an Open Source suite of Christian Church Software Solutions
• OSHelp Desk - an Online Help Desk application
• Bible Guide - "Read the Bible in" online application
  
• The COSD Network - a Community of Open Source Developers working on Christ-centered projects.

If you would like to be involved in any of the projects listed above, or you know of a ministry that a team of Christian developers could help with, please contact me at: chris [at] woventhorns [dot] com.

ATI and NVIDIA: secretly become great friends

Based on my experience with ATI and NVIDIA, it appears they have become great friends.

I recently witnessed ATI kindly sharing the market with NVIDIA. While the Windows market is still a fierce battle ground, ATI has obviously handed NVIDIA the Linux market by not putting forth much of an effort at all to get their graphics cards to work under just about any distribution of the operating system.

Those with new kernels, such as the kernel that ships with Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger), will be hard pressed to get hardware accelleration to run, even with the recent release of version 8.18.6 of ATI's linux proprietary drivers.

I'm sure ATI is working hard at getting things to work under Linux, but as with most proprietary software, having it developed in a closed source office rather than the open source community, it just doesn't have much of a chance of keeping up with the development and growth of Linux.

For most software applications, this is fine, because you rarely have to upgrade applications because of a kernel upgrade, but hardware drivers and core modules are a different story.

My personal reccomendation is if you use linux, or think you might use linux, then stick with an NVIDIA card. If, however, you love Windows and will probably never even try Linux, stick with whichever card has the best advertising campaigns. (all the open source geeks are laughing at that one... at least I think that guy in the back row is laughing.... no wait, choking on a jolly rancher, my bad)

Set In Stone

Well, it is officially set in stone, this will be the new logo of Woven Thorns Productions. Yesterday I had this sandblasted by some relatives, and it couldn't have turned out better.

This tile will be backlit and serve as "that cool thing on the wall" until I am able to create a larger one. (this is exactly 1 square foot)

For a sneak preview of where else this logo might appear, check this out.

A new day, a new logo

If you have followed the progress of Woven Thorns Productions at all, you would know that we have undergone at least 4 logo changes and 10 corporate image changes. (It wouldn't be a normal Friday without one.)

So now that we've had the same logo for over a year, and it has been placed on hundreds of business cards and thousands of documents, we have once again changed our logo. This time, we have taken our original logo, designed in 1997, and have outlined it to create a solid black and white logo. The text below the logo will be our official wordmark, and the official release of the logo at http://www.woventhorns.com will mark the release of our new corporate image. (Proposed release date: November 7, 2005)

This time, we will be going back to our roots while considering design and concepts of modern day. (modern day changes every month and a half in the tech industry) We will be releasing a vector version of our logo for anyone to use for advertising, linking, or just showing support of Woven Thorns Productions. This will be available for anyone willing to read over and comply with a 15 page trademark manual, but don't worry, you'll have more freedom than with most logos.

The wordmark is almost an exact copy from our original logo, and the cross and thorns branding image are a simplified silhouette of the original logo, making clear our owner's personal beliefs, and the direction the business is taking.

If you have any comments about the logo, you are more than welcome to keep them to yourself.

That or you could post comments at the bottom of this blog, but either way I probably won't take negative reactions to heart. (I call it positive-thinking, it makes coping with bad design much easier.)

Severs Schmervers

I am reformatting a server today, and I have documented the difference between a server and a desktop machine:

A Server Must:

1. Cost much more than a desktop
2. Use new or rare hardware
3. Stay on all the time.

A Desktop Must:

1. Cost much less than a server
2. Use new but common hardware
3. Turn on and off, or stay on, depending on the user.
   

Here's where I get confused:
My computer at home stays on 24/7. If it weren't for my paying my own electric bill, my uptime would be measured in years. My computer has over 120GB of storage, a CD Burner, 6 USB ports, 512MB of RAM, a 17" Flat Pannel monitor, and a rather nice looking keyboard.
This computer cost me about $700 when I made it.

Had I spent an extra $500, I could have opted for a better processor, more RAM, and 500GB of hot-swappable SATA striped RAID.

But, if I wanted to serverize it, I would be required to instead spend at least $2,000 more on 2 processors running at half the speed of my current one, 72GB of SCSI RAID, 2 extra PSUs, and the same amount of RAM (only ECC this time).

Fortunately for me, I'm too cheap to serverize things. Either I am super-lucky, or IT units are super-scared. For $2,835 I could get 900GB of SCSI Goodness, or for $696 I can get 1200GB of SATA goodness.
The argument I hear most is that SCSI is the most reliable. I remember reading that too, back when it was SCSI v. IDE. But now that we've got SATA, I'm not so sure. And even if SCSI is more reliable, with the money I've saved, I could buy another 3,687GB of SATA storage! So if SATA is so much worse, and it caused me to swap out drives every 6 months, I could go for 4 years and still end up ahead! (and by then my 400GB SATA drive would be dirt cheap, which would extend server life yet another 4 years probably.)

But let's be realistic, how many times do you have to swap out drives, and with 5 year warranties on each drive, you only need one extra, then RMA the bad one, and wait for the new drive in the mail for free!

Now, onto processors. Nowadays, I could just buy a socket 939 board and put in whatever AMD 64 I want, including their dual core processors. I could even spend out the extra $$ and get a server board that would run dual Opterons, while still staying far below the cost of SCSI drives alone!

So I guess I like servers, but I just don't like "corporate" servers, with SCSI RAID, Redundant Power, and underperforming processors. I'd rather go SCSI SATA, a good Battery powered UPS, a couple of nice dual core Athlon 64's, and some nice non ECC low latency RAM.

Matt Zimmerman's Birthday Present: Ubuntu 5.10

Matt Zimmerman, one of the lead developers of Ubuntu, has gotten the birthday present we've all been waiting for (and he's sharing)! Ubuntu Breezy Badger (5.10) was released today, October 13, 2005.

If you have been fighting the urge to try out linux, I completely understand. I even agreed with you. Until now.

After trying out various linux distrobutions, I finally got my hands on an Ubuntu 5.04 CD. After installing the operating system, I was preparing myself for the difficult task of getting things to work. Strangely enough, my laptop's touch-pad, wide screen, and sound card all worked without any work on my part!

I was able to put in a little more effort and get the wide screen to look even better, and I did have to install proprietary (but free) drivers from my wireless card's manufacturer, but in the end, I had to install 2 pieces of hardware to have a fully functioning laptop!

Ubuntu Breezy Badger comes out of the box with a better installer, a nicer startup screen, and openoffice.org (OOo) 2.0 Beta 2. This version of OOo saves files using the OpenDocument format mentioned in my previous articles. The only problem is, what happens when the final version is released? This is linux, how do I uninstall this, and reinstall the new version?

Simple.

My Ubuntu Updates icon will appear telling me I need to install updates. I simply click the icon, type in my administrator's password (don't want the kids installing software and messing up the system like they do on windows, do we?) and let it download and install any software it needs to.

Picture Windows Update on steroids, but without the annoying bubble popping up every ten minutes. Instead of just upgrading the operating system itself, it also upgrades any software you have installed from the Ubuntu servers. This includes graphics editing software, accounting/financial software, 3d rendering applications, and even web server software.

Installing new software isn't any harder.

If I wanted to start making graphics for my website, all I have to do is open up Ubuntu's "Add Remove Programs" (Synaptic Package Manager) and browse the graphic applications section until I find a program I want to use. I then click the checkbox next to it and press "Apply". This will download and install the program, and add it to my Start Menu.

That's right, I didn't have to type any commands, I didn't have to download any files and save them to my desktop first, everything is automatic, and has worked for me every time.

If you choose to give Ubuntu a try, feel free to download it from one of their mirrors, or purchase it from LinuxOnCD.net. You can also head over to Ubuntu's CD Distribution site and get some official CDs FREE! (Shipping times are usually a bit longer when going through Ubuntu's site, but the CD's are worth the wait! And that's coming from the owner of LinuxOnCD.net!)

So in conclusion, Happy birthday Matt, and congradulations Ubuntu on another great version of your distro!

Vinyl Plotter Fun!

After hearing that a relative was in the process of purchasing a vinyl plotter, I quickly fired up Adobe Illustrator and whipped up some logos for my online nickname "OneSeventeen", a few bible verses (Jer. 1:17 and Matt. 4:19), my URL (www.woventhorns.com), and some pre-made logos that I copied/cleaned.

Now that I had my large illustrator file (copied into about 10 formats, just to be sure their plotter software would read it), I figured it would be a simple matter of loading my graphic, loading some vinyl, and clicking print.

Wrong! I now have a greater respect for signmakers. First, I aligned the graphics with the sheet of vinyl (we were using 15" vinyl on a 24" plotter), then I cut the vinyl, then came the fun part! I spent at least 45 minutes "weeding" the vinyl. Meaning I had to pull out all of the vinyl that would not be a part of the final window sticker. After going through the smaller graphics with a precision screwdriver and some tweezers, I was finally ready to put them on my window.


Now, all I had to do was clean my window, apply this thick clear plastic tape (application tape) to the front of the vinyl window sticker. Then I used a stiff piece of plastic to rub the tape onto the sticker. After that, I peeled the paper backing to the vinyl off, which left me with a clear piece of thick tape that had the window sticker on it. So now I just stuck it wherever I wanted it on my window, used a stiff squiegee to press it firmly into place, then I slowly peeled away the clear tape. Leaving me with what I consider a very attractive window sticker.

Overall, I am very pleased with the outcome. Feel free to click the two images on this blog to view larger images. You are also more than welcome to view the original artwork I used for the design of the stickers.

$google . $sun != "WebOffice"

Apparently the rumors of a Google and Sun powered Web office were false. According to The Register [link omitted due to Christian-Geek unfriendly photo of John Battelle flipping of the camera], the speculations of a Web Office were untrue, silly, and not that great of an idea anyhow.

What Google will be doing is adding OpenOffice.org centered features to their increasingly popular Google Toolbar (which I still have yet to download since switching to Firefox). This is a nice step in a good direction, but it is not as huge a step or as good a direction as the previous rumors seemed to be.

Why Web Based Office Software Would be Good:

An entire web-based Office Suite would be sort of silly and probably a bit slow. A few web-based Office Applications, on the otherhand, would be amazing! Currently, the fear of retraining Microsoft Office users, and the burden of installing new software are the top two reasons not to switch from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org or StarOffice.

The concept of difficult training sessions and countless hours of converting and reformatting existing documents are reasons to fear a new office suite. The only problem is they are all bogus fears. Because I now see "openoffice.org Writer" instead of "Microsoft Word" in my title bar, I do not suddenly loose all knowledge of writing letters, creating tables, and loading templates.

The first fear: difficult training sessions: Clicking the thick "B" still makes text bold, and the slanted "i" still means italic. In fact, the few items that have changed dramatically feel easier, and more intuitive in openoffice.org. For example, inserting a graph of data from a table is as simple as creating a table (in the document you are working in), highlight the table, then choose Insert>Object>Chart. This does not open a spreadsheet application, force me to rewrite my data, generate the graph, then allow me to insert a "window" into the spreadsheet application. This is much simpler, cleaner, and intuitive.

The second fear: countless hours of converting/reformatting: This, is a good example of a "half-truth". Yes, it will be a little difficult to convert all of your documents. You shouldn't need to reformat existing documents, as openoffice.org can open .doc files. The only reason you may have trouble with certain design aspects, is because Microsoft Office does not, and does not intend to, use Standard File Formats such as OpenDocument.

If you create all of your new documents using OpenDocument, and you decide you need to make a major change to every single document you have ever created, then you can simply write a small script that will go through, open, change, and save all of your documents without even opening an office application. This is the feature of using a non-proprietary format. Had Microsoft Office used a different standard file format that is freely available to the public (such as XML or a derrivative), then converting documents would be a simple matter of converting the existing format's schema to the OpenDocument schema. Too bad Word .doc files use a closed, proprietary format, instead of one that would allow you to change things easily.

Back on Topic: Why Web-Based Office Software is good: By offering a flexible, easy to use, free software application online that could easily replace Microsoft Word, all of the popular fears, myths, doubts, and excuses would be null-and-void. Imagine this scenario:

CEO: "I don't understand computers, but I heard this web-based openoffice.org thing could replace our $400 office suite for everyone who doesn't use the advance features. Why don't we switch?"

IT: "I am MCSE certified and make lots of money because of it. VBA is an amazing language that lets you write applications into memos. Microsoft Office is already on everyone's computers and we all know how to use it. Switching would be difficult, time consuming, and in the end cost more than purchasing the next version of Office."

CEO: "I don't know what VBA is, but someone at woventhorns.com told me openoffice.org can use their own version of BASIC, Beanshell, Javascript, Java, and something called Python. I've also heard it functions just like Word, so training won't be an issue. Plus, if it is already online, the Christian Geek, OneSeventeen, told me we could just add the URL to the web-based Writer to our router's Whitelist."

IT: "But everyone already uses Word at home too."

CEO: "If openoffice.org is free, why not just get people to install it at home as well? (or use the web based one if they have the internet) Then people who don't have Microsoft Office can open our office documents without us having to convert them to some other weird format like RTF or PDF. (whatever those are, since I don't know much about computers)"

IT: "Everyone has PDF though, and it is increasingly popular."

CEO: "Oh yeah, woventhorns.com guy also said openoffice.org can save to PDF without extra plugins."

IT: "But Microsoft gave me this free Office T-shirt."

CEO: "I have a shirt with a pinguin on it if you want."

IT: "But I don't like pinguins"

CEO: "You're fired."

As you can plainly see, IT departments will be scared, but once given the opportunity to use a product that does not require installing software, training individuals, converting documents, or reading more books, they will be much more likely to switch over and trade in their Microsoft shirt for a GNU shirt.

Nothing in front, nothing behind!

While visiting my parents, I found this photo my dad took showing that on the way between their town and mine, there was almost nothing on the road.

When visiting other states, we will often run from one town into the next, but not in New Mexico. If you notice, there isn't so much as a billboard on the road ahead or the road behind. And based on my experience, the horizon is probably about 10 miles away in each direction!

As we like to say in New Mexico, we have a gorgeous view of the sky! 

Open Standards: Microsoft's Worst Enemy

Open Standards range from file formats to freely available APIs.

Consider the internet as a whole, there are 5 popular web browsers: Firefox, IE, Safari, Netscape, and Opera, and certain web pages can look very different in each one. Many sites actually "break" and loose functionality, aesthetics, and ultimately visitors, simply because they do not use the current standards available.

This is a good thing for Microsoft.

Microsoft is the only browser on that list that intentionally do not follow current web standards. Microsoft still has the market share necessary to convince web designers that their standard is better than the World Wide Web Consortium's. If Microsoft adhered to global web standards like most other browsers do, then there would be no reason for websites to work in one browser but not in another.

The same goes for their office suite.

There is a standard file format for office documents, collectively called OpenDocument, which is backed by OASIS Standards. OASIS stands for:

Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards

And if you look in recent history, many organizations, including the W3C, Mozilla, Sun Microsystems, Google, and others have been focusing more on Advancing Structured Information.

Microsoft has been working on Advancing Proprietary Information. Meaning the Microsoft Office documents you create may belong to you, but the format they are saved in belongs to Microsoft. Another way to think of this is You wrote the speech, but Microsoft owns the ink. This may entitle you to all the rights you care about, but what about other individuals who want to read your speech, and you want them to read it, but they don't own the license from Microsoft that allows them to view the ink? That means you need to provide it in a different format, or they don't get to read it.

This is exactly what Microsoft wants. They want to control the way you use, share, and distribute your document.

Your intellectual property should be supported by document types, not controlled by them.

OpenOffice.org, the free Office Suite sponsored by Sun Microsystems will use the OpenDocument standard from OASIS in version 2 of their product. I highly recommend moving to this office suite, as it is not only free, but it will be more compatible with a wider variety of software applications than Microsoft Office ever will be.

If you are in an office environment, consider requesting Sun's StarOffice for the entire office. Massachusetts has moved to OpenDocument format for all of their government agencies, and many countries across the globe have done the same.

Microsoft's proprietary formats were used to lock people in, but are now pushing them away, causing more groups to leave the buggy software package for a cheaper, more flexible, more reliable software package.

Here is a quick list of software manufacturers that are legally entitled to utilize all of the features of Microsoft Office Documents:

• Microsoft

Here is a list of software manufactures that are legally entitled to utilize all of the features of OpenDocument formatted Documents:

• EVERYONE

This includes Microsoft, Google, Sun Microsystems, Adobe, Oracle, and all of your favorite developers. In fact, Billy, the 5 year old down the street, is legally entitled to write software that can take advantage of all OpenDocument features. (whether he can or not depends more on his personal drive and his bed-time than legal matters, which is a good thing!)

So if you intend on never sharing documents, and never getting documents from the entire state of Massachusetts, then by all means, use Microsoft Office. Otherwise, give OpenOffice.org a try. (after version 2.0 gets released, version 2 is the first version to utilize OpenDocument, and should be out in the next month or so)

Already moving the blog!

Well, I cleared away some land, laid a foundation, and we just moved.

What was christiangeek.blogspot.com is now blog.woventhorns.com.

We will soon be redesigning woventhorns.com and will have the blog match the look and feel, so expect things to get cool looking very soon. Also, as a result of posting random thoughts and ideas, we will actually begin to act on them as well. Since Woven Thorns Productions is a side project, I have been unable to devote much energy to it other than coming up with ideas. But now that people know what those ideas are, I might as well do them, because what good is it to talk about everything and not do anything? (This also means I will probably be more selective in which ideas I publish!)

Check back soon for some crazy ideas we have brewing up in the Woven Thorns Labs!

(just a reminder, this page will no longer be updated, so please head over to blog.woventhorns.com for all this Christian Geeky blog goodness.)

Google Maps are everywhere!

I'm playing with google maps a bit right now, and am mainly using it to map out small groups, events, and things like that for my church. Apparently, all you have to do is request a "key" that allows you to access google maps (only for non-commercial use though) then use javascript to call the map, and set up items on the map.

My testing site so far is at http://maps.woventhorns.com and doesn't really have a whole lot on it, but I'll be playing with different features throughout the week when I get the chance to play around.

I'm actually pulling the info from a MySQL database that then spits out the javascript required to create the markers on the map. I also have another script that accesses the GeoCoder site to convert addresses to latitude and longitude (which are required for adding markers to google maps).

What to do with 150 copies of Linux

So here I am at my desk, and I look over and see my nice little display case that shows 10 copies of Ubuntu Linux free for anyone to snag.

This is cool, but I look the other direction and see 140 more copies in a big box taking up far too much room! I think I will head over to the university I work at and try to convince someone in the lunch room to put them on display or something.

The only downside is Ubuntu is going to have an amazing new version in a few weeks. If you haven't tried linux yet, I say wait until the end of October and pick up the latest copy of Ubuntu and give it a try. Ubuntu is basically a user-friendly version of debian, and the new version will have a nice graphical installer with progressbars and all that jazz. (Plus it will shrink your windows partition and set up dual-booting automagically so you don't have to get rid of windows until after you realize how easy and reliable linux is!) 

Let the Blogging Begin!

Well, after fighting against it for quite some time, I've actually started a blog. Let me first introduce myself, I cheesily call myself OneSeventeen. I'll put the meaning of that in another blog, since I don't really have much to blog about just yet.

I am a data analyst, soon to be analyst programmer at a major US university, and I primarily code in PHP. I am highly opinionated when it comes to software (I'm an open source fanatic) and I also help mod the Bit-Tech forums over in the UK.

Wow... that's about it for now.... I'm going to go help my wife with a project for her classroom, then read some chronicles of narnia. I just got picasa, so expect to see tons of pictures in these blogs, especially renderings, logos, and all that junk.