Older blog entries for bjn (starting at number 6)

Never in a million years would I have imagined myself a Mac user. But Mac OS X has changed all that, and it's now my primary desktop. For a long-time Unix/FreeBSD/Linux user it has everything I want: a mature and stable Unix operating system and the open source software I could not do without (security tools; mail routers, servers, tools, and agents; languages; web platforms; directory), with a beautiful graphical environment, multimedia viewers, and productivity software that are to be had only with great difficulty on Linux, if at all. And then there are the stunning extra goodies.

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Here's a great article at rootprompt, from an author that loves Linux, but finds that (like Solaris), most distros do not follow the "secure by default" model, and take increasing amounts of time to secure (often much more than the install does).

That sums it up really well for me. I love Linux too, but I think he's right that we have a lot to learn from OpenBSD about how security should be done. I intend to take some time to try OpenBSD for some security-related project ideas I have.

[Well, this is shaping up to be "Brent's Browser Rants". :-) I'm not a one-issue person, honest... I just find this stuff interesting, and am curious where it will head.]

The Mozilla-bashing continues, as WaSP slams Netscape for delays, and Suck says it's time to pull the plug.

Here's the other side of the story.

Hannibal is one of the regular contributors over at ars technica. Not only is he very knowledgeable on technical issues, but he is an exceptionally good writer; his articles are always a great place to learn a lot about something you're new to.

He has been writing on ars about his concerns about IE 5.5's lack of W3C standards compliance. I share his concerns, and although IE is a good browser, from where I sit it sure looks like MS are up to their old tricks. He gave a pointer to a really good essay about the platform war coming to the web.

I sent the essay to a friend, and he wrote back that it was "very depressing". I agree that the prospect of a de facto, IE-only web is not a happy thought. However, a slashdot reader pointed out the other day that there is hope, from a surprising source. When AOL 6.0 is released, which browser will it use? That's right... the one they purchased not too long ago. ;-) A standards-compliant Mozilla/Netscape running on millions of AOL users' machines will be a powerful force in ensuring that companies can't afford to make their web sites IE-only.

On a personal level, I'm renewing my commitment to making my own web pages standards-compliant (viewable with any compliant browser) and using a compliant browser myself.

Other resources:

Web standards

Any browser campaign

The July 14th 2000 issue of NTK (a VERY entertaining rag, if you haven't read it) has a pointer to Galeon, a "minimalist wrapper" around Mozilla Gecko. This will be one I'll be watching closely; what I really want is a fast, standards-compliant browser that's JUST a browser, not an e-mail client, collaboration whiteboard, etc. etc. etc.