I knew it… I need (at least) another 128 MB. It used to be easy: app won’t launch: add memory (or lower memory allocation manually). Now with OS X and that fancy « modern memory management », you can launch all the apps you want until the machine gets so slow that you tune out of the UI and get hypnotized by sound of your HD trashing away.

So you need a program to help you figure out when you system is cheating and paging out your memory from RAM to hard drive (did I get the technical terms correctly here?) so you can go to your admin and say « see: I told you I needed more RAM ». Unless you have a cool admin who can read the « top » output months ago and say  » yeah, you need more RAM like I need more budget ».

This is a pretty interesting program. Do I Need More Memory, a utility that can help you to determine how much RAM you really need installed in your Mac (based on pageouts), according to your average use…

[ via Mr. Barrett]

Larry Lessig will speak at the opening of the World Summit on the Information Society PreCom 2: Visionaries Panel in Geneva on the 17th.

Cla will finally see who’s that person I’ve been talking about so much.

The theme will be The Future of the Information Society and the panel will be composed of H.E. Mr. Ion Iliescu, President of Romania, H.E. Mr. Abdoulaye Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal, Professor Lessig and Jacques Attali.
The moderator being Maria Livanos Cattaui, Secretary-General ICC.

Resignation letter from Microsoft regarding the inevitable fact that the hype will die and that the PC and the associated resident software are becoming more and more a commodity every day.

The author also adds to that the fact that Microsoft, as a major player in the PC software field, missed the boat by not adapting to networked environment sooner: He argues that open source software and open protocols eat Microsoft’s lunch in that area.
A few quotes:

Microsoft’s reluctance to adopt networked ways is understandable. Their advantaged position has been built over the years by adhering to the tenet that software running on a PC is the natural point at which to integrate hardware and applications. Unfortunately, network protocols have turned out to be a far better fit for this middleman role

Microsoft cannot prosper during the open source wave as an island, with a defenses built out of litigation and proprietary protocols.

The conclusion being:

Useful software written above the level of the single device will command high margins for a long time to come.

Stop looking over your shoulder and invent something!

While I am known to occasionally enjoy a good MS bashing, I think that MS has adopted a very strong position in defending and extending their current business model and quite effectively holds a good part of their consumers hostage due to the lack of alternatives (with apologies to Apple and the open software crowd). I’m less worried for the future of Microsoft itself as I am for the future of computing as a versatile tool, as an agent of social and cultural empowerment.

Thanks Fizzz

Fizzz mentioned this paper that points out that the security through obscurity debate can be moved to the TCPA field.

The author argues that TCPA, and DRM enabled platform en general, will essentially squeeze open source initiatives out of the security equation.

At least that’s what I can get from a quick diagonal read. I’ll re-read during daytime.