The Inquisitr » software

A Very Wordpress World

Kyle Brady — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:05:52 +0000

Since 2003, an open source, Internet-oriented software package has done what is exceedingly rare within that community: becoming not only immensely popular and wildly loved, but also profitable. Matt Mullenweg has managed to turn what began as a fork of an aging content management system (CMS) into a worldwide empire that doesn’t even technically have a central office – Automattic’s Wordpress.

And there’s more coming.

Wordpress has evolved into one of the leading CMS packages in the world, in large part thanks to its many features and intense focus. Over the years it’s morphed from a rough-around-the-edges, but useful, software tool into a fully featured and easy-to-use content management endpoint with de facto deployment status. With built-in features like automatic upgrade, an increasingly intelligent editing interface, and an extensive plugin system, it’s easy to see why, and viewing the list of features in the upcoming 2.9 release is evidence enough that they’re moving toward a singular goal, given their prior history.

One of the complaints with Wordpress has always been relatively simple: while it’s easier to use than Drupal or Joomla for non-programmers, a basic familiarity with programming and advanced “Internet skills” are necessary to establish an enjoyable and highly functional site/blog. Themes use direct PHP references, plugins (until recently) had to be uploaded via FTP, and content was typically written externally – none of these facets of software lend themselves to attracting the proverbial Grandma as a user. Yes, the interface is more slick and friendly than their competitors’, but the Wordpress team still has far to go.

Wordpress 2.9 will supposedly see public access to easier rich-media embedding, inline image editing, and an operating system-like Trashcan – these are the most standout features of the impending upgrade, and they are definitively GUI- and Grandma-oriented. For some time now, Automattic has been playing both sides of the coin by enhancing the software backend and functionality while simultaneously smoothing over the user experience for the world-at-large, and this is admirable. It is, therefore, not a significant stretch to assume that Wordpress is intended to one day have rich functionality and extensibility, but with an interface that caters to the general public – the Gmail, Facebook, or Firefox of CMS packages.

There is, however, a problem.

Unless a user chooses the watered-down, hosted version, a site/blog using Wordpress in any fashion still requires significant setup and configuration – hosting, databases, and the initial software setup are all required elements to achieving functionality, and they all require some technological knowledge. Even worse are those sites that use Wordpress and begin to see traffic, because there is still a significant memory/load issue at its very core. The Inquisitr uses Wordpress, and I’ve always used it for my own site, business, and clients, but it is almost always heavily modified for any popular or load-bearing use.

All of us use some sort of content caching option, but a step further is still required: in my case, all sites are hosted with MediaTemple’s (gridserver) plan, with extra database-only memory resources, but in the case of the Inquisitr, an extensive hosting solution, involving Amazon’s AWS products, was necessary for the site to remain functional. How is this still a problem for Wordpress installations?

For Wordpress to achieve its high-minded goals, it needs to begin work on the core immediately. Given that Automattic has been slowly acquiring plugins and other software that advances its ideals, it would make more sense for Wordpress to come prepackaged with certain features, not as plugins, in order to enhance its basic usability – page caching should be first on the list.

Matt Mullenweg, Automattic, and Wordpress, I salute you. You’ve done an admirable job and the world generally loves you – but it’s time to step up to what you’ve created, and do things right.

You don’t want to become the Microsoft of content management systems, do you?

Kyle Brady is a contributing columnist for the Inquisitr, an entrepreneur, and has a future in science fiction. He can be found at his blog, via email, or on Twitter.

Breathalyzer ‘source code’ could lead to dropped charges

Steven Hodson — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:51:52 +0000

An interesting case has developed in Minnesota when it comes to the state’s use of the Intoxilyzer breath-testing machine in drunk driving charges. The state’s highest court ruled Thursday that defendants have the right to have the source code of the software used in the breath-testing machines examined by their own experts.

However this is creating a big problem for prosecutors and defense attorneys alike because they don’t have the source code and the Kentucky company that makes the machine won’t make the code available on the grounds of the code being a trade secret. This argument prompted Ed Felten of Freedom to Tinker to question the company’s argument because the company also says it’s all about the sensors

The problem is illustrated nicely by a contradiction in the arguments that CMI and the state are making. On the one hand, they argue that the machine’s source code contains valuable trade secrets — I’ll call them the "secret sauce" — and that CMI’s business would be substantially harmed if its competitors learned about the secret sauce. On the other hand, they argue that there is no need to examine the source code because it operates straightforwardly, just reading values from some sensors and doing simple calculations to derive a blood alcohol estimate.

It’s hard to see how both arguments can be correct. If the software contains secret sauce, then by definition it has aspects that are neither obvious nor straightforward, and those aspects are important for the software’s operation. In other words, the secret sauce — whatever it is — must relevant to the defendants’ claims.

Much of the argument used by one defense lawyer was based around the fact that defects have been found in voting machine source code as well as defects being found in the code of a breath-testing machine in New Jersey. It was this argument that led the state Supreme Court to overturn an earlier appeals court decision.

Patrin, his attorney, asked a district judge to order prosecutors to turn over the source code. He accompanied his request with a memorandum and nine exhibits. Among them: a computer science professor’s testimony that defects had been found in the code used in voting machines, as well as a report saying problems had been found in the code used in the breath-testing machine used by police in New Jersey.

The Supreme Court said Brunner’s submissions "show that an analysis of the source code may reveal deficiencies that could challenge the reliability of the Intoxilyzer and, in turn, would relate to Brunner’s guilt or innocence."

Source: TwinCities.com

As an ex-developer I know full well how even the smallest bug can creep into software without anyone realizing it. While this might seem like a specious argument on the behalf of desperate people and their lawyers the fact is that all software used in this manner should be questioned and examined.

Another Twitter client to give Seesmic & Tweetdeck a run

Steven Hodson — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 23:36:36 +0000

It seems sometimes that not a day goes by when we aren’t hearing about yet another client for Twitter. You almost become immune to them and note them in passing as the majority of them head to oblivion in the Twitter client graveyard. With most of the attention centering around the upcoming Seesmic Desktop, the replacement for Twhirl, and TweetDeck it is kind of hard for new clients to get traction these days. Which is too bad when it comes to a very promising Twitter client called Statuzer.

The application is developed by the folks at tEXtoo.net and while they readily admit that the client is still very much a beta this is some of the stuff currently available with Statuzer

fully customisable color scheme

MP3 Playing from song.ly and tra.kz

Jamendo music search (free and legal)

Displays twitpic images in tweet

Youtube Thumbs

Twitter search moving Trends

Hashtags

Fast display filter

contacts groups

followable Twitter searches

notifications

URLs preview

image/webcam upload

image/webcam upload to twitter profile image

multi-account

search filters

short URLs (Twitter API)

encode/decode MinUrl and TinyUrl

I’ve been running it for a little while today and yes it is easy to see why it is still in beta as I don’t believe that it is ready for prime time but I do believe that it has the potential to give both the front running Twitter clients a run for the money. As you can see from the screen capture it has one of the features that serious Twitter users want – multi-column desktop display (click for full view)

It also supports multiple Twitter accounts as well as Identi.ca accounts. As well the other big thing that users want is the ability to create and add users to specific groups which Statuzer supports

One really neat feature is the ability to use your webcam to snap a shot and then post it to Twitter via TwitPic

There a couple of things that I would like to see future versions of the program deal with. The main one is the same problem that seems to plague all programs using the Adobe AIR platform and that is memory usage. At this point Statuzer is really heavy on memory use and is probably the main reason why I wouldn’t use it full time at this point. The one other thing I would like to see is that the multi-column display is resizable. At this point it expands to take up the full monitor display and any resizing hides displays rather than resizing to fit the display.

Statuzer may only be a beta release but I think this is a Twitter client that folks should keep an eye as an alternative to the main players.

[hat tip to Go2Web20]

Microsoft’s free software program now extended to high school students

Steven Hodson — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:57:51 +0000

Back in February 2008 Microsoft launched the DreamSpark program which aimed to provide college and university students around the world with free versions of many of Microsoft’s programs. the program is still in full swing and at the recent Government Leaders Forum in Washington DC Bill Gates announced that the program was being extended to include high-school students around the world.

“Today, despite the economic crisis, it’s as important as ever to focus on investing in innovation so we can continue to make real progress in solving big problems and creating social and economic opportunity,” said Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft. “In particular, I believe investment in education is essential. Education is the starting point for success for individuals and the prerequisite for economic growth and prosperity for communities. It’s vital that we support efforts to provide children with access to a high-quality education and adults with access to ongoing technology skills training.”

The DreamSpark program provides no-cost access to Microsoft designer and development tools as well as training for verified high school, college and university students worldwide. Unlike the university and college students the high school students do not sign up for the program themselves. that job goes to the school administrator who is the one that will receive the product keys to hand out to the students. Once they have the students can sign in with their Live ID to the DreamSpark site and download the software.

[hat tip to LiveSide.net]

New Year Resolution: smack the RIAA/MPAA into oblivion

Steven Hodson — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:49:18 +0000

I realize I might be a little early on the New Year resolution part; but hey better to start planning now than to let it slide don’t you think. After all, if this past election in the U.S. has shown us anything it is that the people; if they believe in something strong enough, can make a change and if there is one area that is in need of a big change it is this. For too long we have done nothing more than sit back and let these trade organizations tell us what we can do with the things we buy.

They force things like draconian digital rights management on entertainment and software producers because they don’t want to lose a single penny. Of course it isn’t just the trade organizations like the RIAA, MPAA or their software counterparts. It is also the corporations producing the mass quantity; much of which is pure dribble to begin with, that issue the marching orders or end up paying for the lawyers suing people into the poor house.

Why is it that the whole concept of the first sale doctine goes out the window the moment we move to digital goods. Just because you spend your hard earned money to buy something online in a digital format shouldn’t mean that it isn’t yours. That however is just what all these entertainment and software companies are saying. You can go to a bookstore, record store or gaming shop and plop down your money and that tangible item is yours. You could go the very next day and trade it in on something else and the store can sell it as used goods. You can sell it to your best buddy and no-one can tell you any different. Why – because you owned it – period.

In Canada when we go to buy any black media to copy onto (cassette tape, video tape, cd, dvd) there is a tax built into the price; otherwise known as The Private Copying Tax, that lets us make as many copies of something we want for our own private use. This has pissed off the folks like the RIAA and MPAA because it makes it next to impossible to enforce their perverse version of copyright law through our government. This is whyorganizations like the RIAA and the MPAA have been trying very hard to influence our Canadian government to change the laws – copyright laws that are in fact fairer to the content producers that anything the U.S. has.

It’s bad enough that organizations like this have gained the control they have in the US but this misappropriation of rights is now spreading beyond the U.S. borders and I’m sorry but it’s got to stop. As long as I am not breaking the law buy trying to profit from selling copies of things under sane copyright laws then why am I; and you being, treated like criminals. Why do we let this bullshit continue?

I’m an honest person as well I am sure that you are. Sure we’ve all probably downloaded something we shouldn’t have at some point in our lives but to continue to let these bastards extert the kind of power they have over our lives is just plain insane. Especially when you consider that we have the power to change this. A power so incredibly displayed by the Obama campaign – the power of the people. Not the power brokers, not the lobbiests but the power of the people to say enough is enough. They need to be told that we are not criminals and that both the entertainment corporations along with their trade organizations have no right to treat us as such.

The fact is that once we pay our money for a product; physical or digital, it is ours plain and simple. However until we tell these soulless greedy pricks to back off we get what we deserve. They aren’t going to stop doing everything they can to maximize every red cents they can regardless of our rights as consumers – as people. We are to blame for the situation we are in now and only we can change it. The companies won’t, the politicians won’t – we have to. But we’re too busy running to iTunes or other online entertainment content stores to get the latest and greatest even if we do whine and moan about things like DRM.

How do we change this? I don’t know because I don’t think this is important to enough people that any real concentrated movement to effect any change. Don’t bother crowing about Web 2.0 and social media and how it is changing things because right now those ideals don’t mean squat to the corporations and trade organizations. Just think though for a second if for even 6 months is not a thing was bought from iTunes, not a single game was downloaded or not a single pirated version made the rounds. How much of a change do you think could happen when all these companies that need our money in order to keep running suddenly are faced with this kind of action.

It could be done but honestly I doubt it will ever happen no matter what the power of the people showed during the election. I could be wrong but I don’t think so – what do you think?