Michael Boyle — Page 44

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber

February 23, 2007 by Michael Boyle

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber

asks an important question: Would Apple Mix DRM and Non-DRM Music at the iTunes Store? and refers to longtime Mac developer Peter N Lewis, whose blog post about Why Apple Cannot Allow DRM-free Indie Music is a worthwhile read as well. Lewis covers ground that I covered in my initial post about Jobs’ letter and reaches the same conclusion that I did. However, I think Gruber makes (as usual) some very valid arguments, in particular pointing out that there are interface conventions available in iTunes that make it possible that ITMS could stock non-DRM songs alongside DRM songs without causing too much confusion.

Compare and contrast these views with Cory Doctorow’s analysis, presented in an article in Salon today. Doctorow (who is a friend of a friend and someone whose views I tend to agree with) doubts Jobs’ sincerity and simply doesn’t believe that the DRM hasn’t given Apple the lock-in as Jobs suggested. I disagree with Doctorow that Apple is an eager DRM advocate – I think the evidence is pretty clear that they were overly cautious at the beginning (and so were more pro-DRM in the past) and now they’re only very grudging supporters.

Jason Kottke looks at

February 22, 2007 by Michael Boyle

Jason Kottke looks at

gender diversity at web conferences. Interesting, though I’m not entirely sure what conclusions I would draw from these figures. It should also be noted that where many people would jump straight to the discussion on an issue like this, Kottke has gone out and gathered the evidence.

This is a test

February 22, 2007 by Michael Boyle

This is a test

of MarsEdit, a weblog posting program that I haven’t used in ages. I’m prompted to by the news that MarsEdit has been acquired by Red Sweater software. I also think this might be useful for me now that I am using a single machine for everything. When I juggled a home computer and an away computer, an installed app didn’t work very well but now it might. The user experience with MarsEdit has always been fantastic, that’s for sure.

A couple of days ago

February 21, 2007 by Michael Boyle

A couple of days ago

something quite unique happened. Evan Williams (CEO of Obvious, co-creator of Blogger) put Odeo up for sale: Obviously: Looking for Odeo’s new home. He followed up with an interesting piece on his weblog about the lack of a marketplace for websites. It’s a very interesting development – Odeo isn’t a runaway success, but it’s not a failure either. It’s a marginally successful site that could, in the right hands, become a very good if not great site.

The traditional approach to unloading a property like that is to hype it beyond recognition until some big company can be goaded into buying it. But that wouldn’t serve Odeo well at all, and so Williams is charting an alternative path. As Anil Dash implies, that Williams has “Thank you” money is both refreshing to see and, ultimately, good for the web and the future of the industry.

On my way out to dinner tonight,

February 16, 2007 by Michael Boyle

On my way out to dinner tonight,

I heard on the radio that Ryan Larkin has died. Larkin was a gifted artist – a film animator – and tormented man who finally succumbed to brain cancer following years of abuse. I’ve written about Ryan a couple of times before here, and he was a fixture around my community in Montreal for as long as I can remember.

My most poignant memory of Ryan is from Oscar night 2005, when the short film about Larkin won the Award (though I tactfully left this out of my post about that special night). The bar was packed that night, and there were many people from the film world in Montreal as well as a pack of the Copa regulars, who all knew Ryan because he spent time there almost every day. At one point, all of the excitement was clearly upsetting the poor guy, and he walked by a friend of mine that he knew and quietly asked if she could help him get out of there. It was all – the attention, the alcohol flowing so freely, the cheering and the crowd – simply too much. Ryan Larkin was a sensitive, tormented man, and we are all the poorer for his passing.