With that said: Rant On.

Two of the best presentations had asides where they spoke about working to deliver your content and code to the lowest common denominator of users. Clint Andrew Hall came down on the side of making everything available to everyone, while Kevin Potts took the opposite opinion (acknowledging, of course, that your customers may disagree and their opinion really counts). Paying customers want what they want, and any sane consultant will give them what they’re wanting to pay for. I get it, and I practice that. With that said:

Why in the world would any project dedicate man hours to supporting old crap? Let’s take PHP4 as an example. PHP5 has been out since 2004. Every major Linux distribution has been packaging PHP5 as the default for years. I don’t know of a single reputable hosting provider that is still running PHP4. There is no reason in the world why we should have serious discussions about maintaining compatibility to PHP4. There is no excuse other than laziness to still be on PHP4, and are we as developers going to work harder so that a handful of lazy admins don’t have to upgrade one set of packages? Not in my world. My Recently Popular WordPress plugin is not backwards compatible. Thankfully WordPress itself has given up and as of 3.2 you’ll be required to have PHP5. Other projects are coming around as well.

Should we immediately drop support for WidgetSoft 8 the day WidgetsSoft 9 comes out? Of course not. I don’t like being on the upgraded treadmill any more than the next guy. But if WidgetSoft 9 has proven itself stable for a year and is a free upgrade then in my book version 8′s days are numbered, and that number is very small.

The same holds true for web front end work. Clint maintained that we should all do the extra legwork to ensure that our users get a native and acceptable experience on their own browser version and device. Kevin’s point was much more a “screw the guy with the old browser, we all know we’re talking about some guy on IE6″ approach. In this case I think there’s a happy middle ground. Delivering a native user interface for the iPhone if a lot of your viewers will be on iPhone makes sense. Spending the time building an iPhone specific skin if you have no idea how many of your users will be on an iPhone is a colossal waste of effort. (Note: I don’t believe Clint was saying to do this)

I do have a philosophical problem supporting older browsers, though. People who are running older, un-patched browsers aren’t just affecting themselves. The viruses, trojans, and other nasties they acquire wind up sending spam to the rest of us, or letting their computer act as a node in a DDoS attack, or getting their bank accounts hacked and costing us all money during the ensuing legal battles, or any number of other problems. These people have proven they’re too lazy to upgrade, but for the sake of everyone else on the Internet they need to be put in a position where the pain of not upgrading is worse than the pain of upgrading. Google recently announced that they would only support the current version minus one for any given browser. The major browsers are all beginning to implement a background upgrade process that doesn’t require the user to do anything, and I think that is a fantastic idea.

Phew. Rant off.

This series also brings full support for network based (MU) installations. It will properly create and clean up after itself if you network (de)active or do so on individual blogs. We’ve also tested on WordPress 3.2 and found no compatibility problems.

There was a bug fix release, 0.7.1, that came out the day after 0.7. That release was done to implement a workaround that was affecting people running eAccelerator on Centos, which has a known bug parsing PHP classes in included files.

• Now fully OOP.
• Network (MU) compatibility.
• WP 3.2 updates and testing.
• %thumbnail_url% tag reintroduced.
• Default thumbnail URL parameter added.
• Counts for posts in multiple categories is fixed.
• %category% tag is fixed.

So, that’s quite a lot of work to be pushed into one release. As such I’m going to need some testers. I know there are a number of you who have been waiting for a number of these fixes, so get the copy from trunk. Two notes before you do so:

1. There were no changes to the database structure, so you won’t need to wipe out your existing data. HOWEVER, if you disable this plugin it does remove its tables. If you’re in a Network (MU) install you will have to disable and re-enable the plugin so that it will build the correct tables.
2. The plugin and widget files were renamed, so be sure to delete the old ones when you copy the new files up.

As always I’m eating my own dog food, so trunk is live on this site and working. If you find bugs please email me or comment on this post. Thanks.

In my quest for the cloud I’ve been gradually getting to the point where all of my desktop apps are replaceable. I’ve recently discovered that phpMyAdmin can do schema and data compares, eliminating the last hurdle for me to ditch SQLyog.  SQLyog is a good tool, but it’s Wine-based and requires installation giving it two strikes.  The third is that it’s pay software.

My most glaring needs are still an inexpensive way to test sites in IE and what I fear will be the biggest hurdle, a good integrated development environment. I just recently received my invite to Cloud9 IDE but at this point haven’t had time to really give it a good look.

So far so good.  Thanks again for the freebie, Google.

1. I can type faster than I can write, so I get better notes.
2. It’s easier to read later.
3. I don’t have that piece of paper with me everywhere unless I carry it around.
4. Because of #3 I wind up transcribing the notes into Google Docs anyway.
5. When I need to reference something from a past meeting it’s right there on the notebook.

So I’m skipping the middleman, and I suppose I’m also helping the environment by not using up paper and generating trash.  So far it’s been working out marvelously.  I only wish I’d done it sooner.

Initial setup is still very computer-like.  You’ll need to know the basics like what your wireless router is named and what the password is.  The Verizon 3G setup was easy enough and consisted of filling out a form on a web page.  Should be doable by just about anyone.

Both of my kids (six and nine) were able to add themselves with no problem, including an account picture.  I didn’t give them any pointers or help so that part lives up to the hype of being easy to use.

I had one lock up that forced me to remove the battery to cure it.  Of course that happened when I was showing it off to a friend.

I had to disable and then re-enable the wireless network once to restore communication.

The battery life is amazing.  I’ve had it unplugged for about 36 hours, and I’ve been on it for probably 4 hours.  The battery is at 50%.

The small screen size isn’t a hindrance at all.  The trackpad took some getting used to, but it’s fine.  The size and weight make it very easy to move around and to leave on your lap.  It also doesn’t generate as much heat as my Vostro 1720 which also makes it more comfortable.  The primary hot spot is on the center of the back, which is much more comfortable than some laptops I’ve owned where there is a heat source under the palm rests.  I don’t know if this is by design or not, but it’s something they should replicate in future hardware.

Flash isn’t tuned well enough to watch shows on Hulu without lagging, but it works fine for Youtube.

All told, though, this little device is really growing on me.  I’m already reaching for it instead of heading down to my office to climb on my 17 inch dual core laptop.

I understand that it’s still in beta, and I’m cutting it slack on things that should be ironed out by the time Chrome OS goes live.  Right now I only have one problem: I only have one of these things, so I can’t take it to work and leave it at home for the kids.  Come to think of it, three would be better.

So I hope you’re ready Google.  This little guy is going to see the full wrath of a six year old and a nine year old.  I’ve told them both to let me know if they have any problems with it or any problems using it.  To help test the theory that Chrome OS is completely user-friendly I’m not even going to explain to them how to use it.  I’m just going to hand them this device and let them have at it.  They’re already Chrome users, so I don’t think it will be that hard.

As for the obligatory first impressions that everyone gives: it is working well for me.  The keyboard is full sized, and works great even despite my large paws.  I’m a huge screen bigot, but the resolution and screen size on this work just fine and may change my mind about hauling around 7 pound lunch tray sized laptops.  The trackpad isn’t the best I’ve ever used, but it works.  Like every other laptop I’ve ever used I tend to hit it when I type, so I had to disable tap-to-click.  It has a matte screen, which I love.

It comes with two one-page instruction cards, but frankly you don’t need them.  If you’re fortunate enough to receive one, though, I highly recommend reading them.  They’re hilarious.  When you first log on you’ll be presented with a presentation on how to use the device which is more than adequate and is the right way to do it given the evolving nature of Chrome OS.

So if you haven’t applied to get one I highly recommend it (now that I have mine).

Let’s start by breaking down FUD into its component parts:

• Fear
• Uncertainty
• Doubt

FUD isn’t really an acronym specifically about technical things.  Wikipedia defines FUD as “a tactic of rhetoric and fallacy used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics and propaganda.”  It’s used in lots of places and industries, but here we’re going to be concerned with the computer software industry, where this practice is prominent, preying on the fact that it is impossible for decision makers to stay up to date with everything in a large and rapidly evolving industry.

Microsoft in particular has a long, documented history of using FUD as a tactic to attempt to discredit anyone they view as competitors, including a series of leaked internal memos spanning from 1998 to 2004  generally called the Halloween Documents.  While the Halloween Documents were specifically related to the threat they face from Open Source software, and Linux in particular, it is by no means the only FUD campaign by a major tech player.

FUD is frequently used by smaller companies as well.  Articles like one I discovered last week (I left a comment detailing these points that hadn’t been approved by the moderator at the time this article was written) where the author:

1. misrepresents Open Source as shareware.
2. makes claims about product ownership that are not correct (PHP’s license does not include copyleft restrictions, even though those wouldn’t apply in the example given).
3. includes a link to a SecurityFocus article from more than four years ago about PHP security, which states in the first paragraph “While flaws in the language itself account for a very small percentage the total…” as evidence that PHP itself is insecure.
4. conveniently leaves out the massive vulnerability that was just in the news regarding one of the products he is pushing, ASP.NET.  This cryptographic vulnerability took approximately two weeks for Microsoft to release a fix for.

So what can you do to protect yourself from FUD?  It’s easy, really.  Simply acknowledge to yourself that everyone has an agenda.  Research their arguments and verify their facts.

And yeah, that includes me.

The most efficient way to begin your Projects page is by keeping a journal. All you need is Notepad, a spreadsheet or a Moleskin notebook. Before you go home at the end of the day, jot down the projects you worked on, any obstacles you encountered, any success you achieved, any recognition you received, or anything else that stands out:

• Lucky Lu’s Tattoo Shop: worked from creative comp — no spec sheet. Again. Found codebase from 1998, not helpful. Considering transition to HTML 5. She wants a tattoo gun that people can use.
• Sea Hag iPhone App: can’t figure out the film strip mode to view images. Reconstructed the database. Again. Lost my mind.
• John’s Rebate Coupons: sent first draft to John. Expecting feedback Monday. I bet he’ll want QR codes, he thinks he’s cool.

This seems like such a simple thing, but with the right dataset to work from, you’ll be able to whip out a projects page that contains not only your functional keywords but also gives a human-usable description of your abilities.

Don’t forget to note somewhere which technologies you used. Additionally, even on the days you don’t remember to write things down, you’ll have something there at least to jog your memory:

• Lucky Lu’s Tattoo Shop http://www.luckylus.com Developed and implemented a fully interactive entertainment site , working only from creative comps; delivered product on time and with few change requests. Client was pleased with the results and did not miss her old site at all. Used HTML 5, CSS, C#, and edited videos.
• Sea Hag iPhone App: Used film strips, integrated menus, WCF, and GL. Overcame lack of client organization throughout database to secure and promote functional leads. Certified iPhone Developer.
• John’s Rebate Coupons: supplied content management system and supporting database to deliver QR code-based coupons into the hands of over a thousand subscribers. Client has since requested repeat business and has signed a contract for three years of support, maintenance, and coupon design. Used Constant Contact, Excel, C# and PhotoShop.

It’s five minutes of your time for a life’s worth of accomplishments. When you get to the entries that say, “Those idiots, WTF,” and you know it’s time to start looking for a different job, you’ll be well prepared to update that resume quickly and efficiently.