Column for June
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for June
12 Links
for column of June
05 The text of "As We May Think" can be found here. MIT held an interesting symposium to mark the 40th anniversary of the article event in 1995. PostSecret is here. The New York Times piece which led me to it is here. There are several online confessionals -- e.g. here and here. Links
for column of May
29 Virginia Postrel's column is here. Steven Johnson's Blog is here. Steven Shaviro's essay is here. Links
for column of May
22 George Monbiot's original column is here. Footnoted version on his personal site is here. Wikipedia entry on Lyndon LaRouche here. And of course there's www.iceagenow.com Here's a useful article on global warming by the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser. The IPCC runs a really useful information resource on the issue. Column
for May
15 BECTA report is available from here. The Times Educational Supplement had a scoop preview. I had an email this morning from someone claiming that their local school had just signed a leasing deal with Research machines (the leading Microsoft reseller in UK primary and secondary schools) for a 70-PC network and support. The cost? Why a mere £75,000 a year! That's the equivalent of two full-time teachers. Column
for May
08 Column
for May
01 Column
for April
24 The BBC's Creative Archive site. Links
for column of April
17 The original Guardian story about Ed Matts and his celebrated picture is here. The responses of readers are here. I've been following the story as it developed on my weblog. Audio version of column here. Column
for April
10 Links
for column of April
03 The New York Times report on the Grokster case. And a Wall Street Journal editorial which manages to miss the point. The big problem with the case is that Grokster and the other defendants are not particularly good examples of my general point about innovation -- in that the objective of Grokster from day one was to profit from providing a file-sharing service. It would have been better if, say, BitTorrent had been the target of the content owners. A site called outragedmoderates.org has published a BitTorrent of all the documents relevant to the case. Neat that -- making the medium the message! Column
for March 27 Because of a systems error, the column was missed out of the Web Edition of the paper. Column
for March
20 Column
for March
13 Resources for challenging the software patent Directive. 1. Clickable map for identifying your MEPs. You can do it directly using Tom Steinberg's lovely service, Write to Them. 2. Suggested draft text of email. Please amend this as you see fit. And remember that the EP constituencies are multi-member ones, so you should email each of your MEPs. They are all supposed to represent you. ..................................... I am writing to express my concern about the way the issue of software patents is being handled by the European Commission's Directorate for the Internal Market, and to request that, as my representative in the European Union's only democratically accountable body, you play a full role in ensuring that the Commission's attempts to push through a flawed and biased Directive without adequate public discussion are rebuffed by the Parliament. There are two important issues involved -- one technical, one constitutional. The technical issue is that applying patent law to computer code will have a disastrous 'chilling' effect on innovation in Europe, which has been up to now been an amazingly fertile source of open source (i.e. non-proprietary) software. The significance of this is that open source software is enabling an increasing number of European institutions (e.g. the German Bundestag and security services, and municipalities like Munich and Paris) to free themselves from being locked in to the products of Microsoft, a company which has been fined by the Commission for abusing its monopoly power in Europe. For a brief explanation of why allowing patents into software is a bad idea, you may find this article helpful: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1436170,00.html The constitutional issue is even more important. As you are doubtless aware, the European Parliament has already spoken on this issue, and requested that software (together with so-called 'business methods') should be excluded from the Draft Directive. The Commission has apparently ignored this request and has attempted to push the Draft through at the last Council of Ministers meeting using a procedural ploy which was allowed by the Presidency. By doing this, the Commission is not only challenging the authority of the Parliament, but treating it with contempt. I respectfully suggest that this is a challenge which elected Members cannot ignore. The Draft Directive can be rejected by the Parliament, but this will only happen if MEPs attend and vote on the issue. I would not presume to tell you how to vote (though you know my views on the matter) but I would appreciate your confirmation that you will be there for the debate. Yours sincerely
* Don't forget to add your name and snail-mail address.* ......................................................... 3. Links about software patents An essay by Professor Eben Moglen of Columbia University. No Software Patents -- a site devoted to the issue. A primer on copyrights and patents. "The IP Elephant in the IT kitchen" -- a thoughtful essay by Simon Phipps. How big companies use patents as weapons -- column by Richard Wilder. swpat.ffii.org/ -- a campaigning website with lots of useful links (and some intemperate comment!) Column
for March
06 Audio version here. Column
for February
27 Audio version of column here. Observer Blog went live today. You can find it here. Column
for February
20 Column
for February
13 Audio version here. Column
for February
06 Audio version here. No
column for January 30 Column
for January
23 Audio version here. Links
for column for January
16 See here for an entertaining video of Steve Jobs's presentation of the Mac Mini. Details of the new products for UK consumers can be found here. Sceptical view of the Mac Mini here. The BBC's North American Business Correspondent has written a puzzled piece about the cult of the Mac. Randall Stross has a nice piece in today's New York Times on how Apple has acquired the monopoly on 'cool'. And here is David Pogue's commentary on the new strategy. Column
for January
09 Column
for January
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© John Naughton 1999,2000,2001,2002, 2003, 2004. Nothing in this Web page should be construed as offering investment advice. Information is posted here to supplement my column in the London Observer in the hope that additional links and background will be of interest to readers. If you are seeking advice or information about online investment, pay off your credit card bills first and then consult The Motley Fool. If you want to know where the World Wide Web is headed, buy a crystal ball.