Hit Nick’s blog forall the other sites that’re blogging about ReMIX 2007 Melbourne.

A few short (and blunt) thoughts on ReMIX:

Good Stuff:

* Getting to meet and speak to various interesting people.

* Hearing honest case-studies/opinions from non-Microsofties as to how well the whole Silverlight thing worked for them. They were all using pre-release very early beta/alpha code, but it was interesting to see that several of the speakers basicly said “don’t bother with Silverlight 1.0, if you’re not comfortable with Javascript in a big way, and/or just want to do more advanced stuff”

* WebJam + Galactic Circus.

Not so cool things:

* Lack of free wifi (I’ve mentioned this already, but it’s a bit of a sticking point for me)

* Expression Web
Expression Web is of limited or no use to designers, and most or all of it’s functionality is replicated inside Visual Studio 2008, so it’s of limited value to developers. Expression Studio + Vista Ultimate were given out at MIX in Las Vegas - so Expression Studio would’ve been nice.

* Overrcrowding
There was a serious lack of space in many of the rooms and public lunch/morning tea areas. Some crowding is okay, but the way it was laid out meant that there were often very narrow walkways, which quickly get blocked by guys with backpacks (like me).
Very limited places to sit down for lunch. (Maybe about 40 spaces for people to sit down, for 300+ people - There really needed to be a sperate lunch/morning tea area)

And, uhm, yes, that’s Paul and me with the blue monster. I’m dreading my video showing up on Nick’s “The Geek Stories” site. Lots of “Umm… Ahh… ” + Shifty Eyes.

Darren writes a great no-fuss guide to better dressing for geeks.

I can highly recommend it.

I made it to melbourne, minus my jacket (it’s still sitting on the back of my chair at home!), and a few other minor things.

It’s err.. pretty cold here.

An uneventful flight (always good) and touched down ~10mins early.

I missed lunch, and I’m now really regretting it - going out to take a few photos before the light goes completely.

Updated: Monday, 11PM

First day at ReMIX 07 was good, presentations were great, for the most part (more on that later - and I’m sure Paul will have a good writeup & photos)

Two things of note.

#1 - Delivered Frank’s T-Shirt.

Read all about the background behind the shirt’s text here. Frank seemed pleased with the shirt, and it drew a few comments - so, score 1 for me.

#2 - Wifi at Crown Promenad
I think I have to let the Lolcat say it:

I’m off to Melbourne for about 8 days, starting Sunday.

I’m going to ReMIX, catching up with work people who I havn’t met, doing a server migration… oh, and going to Paul & Chix0rs engagement party.

I’m taking the camera, and depending upon airport security, the tripod too - so I hope to take some photos whilst I’m down there.

Here’s a rough itinerary:

Sunday 24th June:
- 12:35PM: Williamtown to Melbourne, Virgin Blue Flight DJ692, Arriving 2:05pm
- Check in @ The Albany.

Monday 25th:
- 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM: ReMIX Melbourne, Day 1
- 5:30 pm - 10:00 pm WebJam & Galactic Circus festivities

Tuesday 26th:
- 8AM-5:30PM: ReMIX Melbourne, Day 2
- Dinner w/ Paul, somewhere interesting.

Wednesday 27th:
- 8AM-5PM: Work, Exhibition St.
- 5PM-7PM: Grab dinner somewhere
- 7PM-10PM: Work, Server migration & App Upgrade.

Thursday 28th:
- 8AM-5PM: Work - Exhibition St.

Friday 29th:
- 8AM-5PM: Work - Exhibition St.

Saturday 30th:
- Paul & Chickz0r’s Engagement Party

Sunday 1st July:
- 1:30pm: Melbourne to Williamtown, Qantaslink Flight QF2796, Arriving 3:55

SMS or Call me: +61 400 486 399 or 0400 486 399.

I got myself a new phone yesterday - Nokia 6233, seems okay, has some decent improvements from my Nokia 6610i, most notably being a 2Mpx camera, and a slot for a microSD card.

And given that it has an expansion slot, I had to fill it, and I placed the order with AusPCMarket.

Today, the card arrived, and, well… I just had to take some pictures (with the phone, ofcourse):

Thats strange - I thought these cards were supposed to be small.

Maybe they’re just really fragile.

I’ll skip the 3 minutes of me struggling to open the heat-sealed rigid plastic packaging.

Ah, there’s the microSD card on the left - with it’s SD Card adaptor. on the right.

One thing I will say, is that AusPCMarket are really good - if something is in stock, you’ll probably find it arrives early the next morning. And, as shown, they don’t skimp on packaging.

This blog has taken a rather negative tone for the last few days, maybe it’s just the weather, or maybe it’s because I’d really just like people to produce better software.

So, to illustrate the difference between adding a mod to, say, Wordpress and PHPbb 3, I’ve drawn up this flowchart.
I think it’s quite obvious the difference in complexity (and thus, ability of non-experts to manage and maintain a forum running PHPbb).

As if my previous pastings of Windows Live Writer wasn’t enough, I’ve got some more complaining to do about Windows Live Writer’s latest update.

Page Authoring

The latest update advertises that it now supports Page authoring (such as my About Page) - which is true. However, what it doesn’t tell you is that you need to jump through some hoops to get it.

When I register my blog in WLW, it defaults to a generic Wordpress configuration. This config, unfortunately, doesn’t let me author pages.

It is possible to get it - but it depends upon your setup, and how much stuffing around you’re prepared for.  Here’s how I did it, but I’ve got my blog in it’s own root directory.

Step 1: Add a new blog

Just as you normally would, select “Another weblog service”

Step 2: Lie to Live Writer

Feed it a false URL - it really doesn’t matter the URL as long as it’s not your blog’s default page. I Just added an ‘x’ to the end.

Step 3: Let it Error

It’ll try detecting your blog settings, and then error when it doesn’t work. Now select Wordpress 2.2+ as the blog type, and give it the correct XMLRPC URL.

Step 4: Done!

 Done! Go have a beer or something.

There is a bug that I’ve got, where categories fail to show up now - looks like it’s a bug with Wordpress though.

Jumpy posts.

Whenever I have a blog post (such as this one) which gets long and has a scroll bar - WLW develops a nervous tick.

If I try and drag and drop an image into the text at the bottom of the page - I suddenly find myself at the top of the post hovering with my selected image results in it scrolling down by a few lines at a time until I hit the bottom - and then it immediately jumps to the top of the post again.  This ends up being a right royal pain in the backside if you’re using a touchpad.

It’s not an issue with my particular setup either - I’ve tried it in three different PCs (two Vista, one XP), and all exhibit the same behavior.

More finicky Title Editing.

I think the WLW guys want you to write the title only once. Any time I try and click inside the title, it jumps the cursor to the start of the title. Selecting text isn’t possible either - I just get the ‘Forbidden’ icon, and nothing happens.

I run a relatively active forum for an online (unpublished) Author. We run on phpBB, because that’s what the previous hoster was running, and it’s open source - so no licensing fees.

Unfortunately, PHPbb2.x has some issues - there’s no easy way to track mod actions or user-notes, the anti-spam stuff is a joke (it all comes down to requiring registration, and battling spam-bots at the registration page), and mods (the PHPbb word for plugin) are, frankly, a pain in the backside to install.

A few weeks back PHPbb3 RC1 was released, and I was running a test board just to try it out.

It has a number of major improvements - performance seems to be improved, and overall management is significantly better. You can track what moderators and admins have done too, so there’s more transparency on that end. 

However, when I tried to install a mod (to provide a basic RSS feed from the forums) - I got a bit stuck. In PHPbb2, there was a mod which allowed you to upload other mods, and install them with just a few clicks. Somewhat similar to Wordpress’s plugin model, though more prone to breaking things.

I thought that the PHPbb3 developers would have taken a leaf out of Wordpress’s book, and implemented a proper plugin model - and given that there’s now this MODX format (basicly a zip file, with a bunch of other files in it, in a certain structure) - it seemed like that would be the approach.

The problem I was having was that I couldn’t find the location where to upload the MODX file. So, I jumped onto the PHPbb irc site hoping someone could quickly set me straight.

Here’s what happened (ps: “Spec8472″ is me)  - trimmed for brevity, but otherwise people’s comments are as written.

Start of #phpbb buffer: Sun Jun 17 15:52:59 2007

* Now talking in #phpbb
<Spec8472-> Okay, question that’s probably really obvious to some, but I can’t find an answer online… where do I actually upload the mods to, in the phpbb3
  directory?
<iWisdom> …
<iWisdom> You don’t.
<iWisdom> Unless, of course, the MOD instructs you to upload a file
<iWisdom> In which case, you follow the directions included in the .MOD file
<Highway_of_Life> .xml file
<iWisdom> There is no automated MOD installer
<Spec8472-> There’s not an automatic mod installation thingy like easyMod for PHPbb2?
<Spec8472-> damn
<iWisdom> Just open the .xml file in a web browser
<Highway_of_Life> no, spec, and don?t curse

Okay, so there’s no automated installer… Thats… disappointing. 

<bsdboy> how hard is it to install mods manually?
<bsdboy> i dont think ive ever automatically installed a mod
<iWisdom> bsdboy: Not hard
<Spec8472-> Brilliant… that, and no event hooks… 
<iWisdom> Spec8472-: Pardon?
<Highway_of_Life> bsdboy: it would depend on your level of expertise, for me it?s like combing my hair in the morning… well, easier actually… coming my hair can be difficult at times…
<iWisdom> Highway_of_Life: That’s since you basically live in the Olympus codebase
<karlsemple> following txt instructions on what changes to make is easy whether you know the code or not :p
<Highway_of_Life> But for some, they never seem to get it right, no matter how many times they try… but it usually depends on the quality of the instructions and how many code changes need to be made
<Spec8472-> Mod installation, should imo, be automatic - upload a file somewhere, click a few things,   hey-presto you’ve got some new functionality (see Wordpress) - sure, you might need to include some stuff in your presentation layer, but that’s all.
<WizardJames> ..
<iWisdom> …
<Highway_of_Life> ….
<iWisdom> Well, each person has the right to their own opinion
<iWisdom> But frankly that doesn’t mean we agree
<bsdboy> Spec8472-: You’re bloody lazy.
<iWisdom> Personally, I think it would be a bad idea
<iWisdom> It encourages users to go MOD crazy
<iWisdom> Which makes for a support hell
<WizardJames> bsdboy said my thoughts
<iWisdom> And it also increases the chances of things breaking during upgrades
<bsdboy> Highway_of_Life: Thhey shouldnt be allowed to live.
<iWisdom> It also encourages users, as bsdboy said and WizardJames echoed, to be lazy and not learn their way   around the codebase
<Highway_of_Life> I prefer to control the whole aspect… but still, MODs should be of good enough quality   that only a very small handful of changes need to be made
<Spec8472-> bsdboy: I don’t believe in extra effort, where effort isn’t needed.
<bsdboy> lol
<iWisdom> Spec8472-: To each his own
<bsdboy> Then write a fucking mod to install mods.
<bsdboy> Dont expect someone else to do it.
<karlsemple> please do not swear
<Spec8472-> bsdboy: Well, I would, except that I don’t code in PHP. Besides, that’s just more effort
<Highway_of_Life> you don?t need to code in PHP to install a MOD
<bsdboy> Spec8472-, go shove it where the sun don’t shine if you expect someone to come on IRC and make your   mods auto install. IF you don’t know at least basic PHP you shouldnt be running phpBB.
<Highway_of_Life> you just have to be able to follow instructions, that is all
<iWisdom> Copy/paste
<bsdboy> I didnt know PHP when i first started using phpBB, but you know what< I went and RTFM and followed   the instructions
<iWisdom> It’s not complicated
<bsdboy> its nNOT hard.
<iWisdom> Considering the endless hours MOD authors invest
<iWisdom> It’s not work at all
<WizardJames> not that hard,  just open file, find,  paste, save, next file..
<Highway_of_Life> bsdboy: knowledge of PHP isn?t necessarily required to run phpBB, but it might be required if you want to modify your board in any way…

I don’t agree with the approach that PHPbb3 devs are taking to it - they’re obviously not taking the (quite active) modding scene into account, and it just makes both administrators and modder’s lives more difficult.

Defined interfaces make things much easier all around - take for example something that we all use every time we use a computer - Device Drivers for hardware.

Hardware manufacturers, for the most part, stick to defined interfaces for their drivers. They don’t need to patch the kernel or other parts of the operating system. When they do step outside those bounds, things get… interesting. Updates to the OS, or indeed changes by other drivers can trample all over each other, and result in system or driver crashes.  All in all, a messy situation.

The same goes for other bits of software - if you need to extend Windows Live Writer, you use the SDK to create a plugin that conforms to certain specifications. You don’t need to patch the application’s code to add new functionality. 

I don’t think I’m wrong in asking that PHPbb also take this model - and I think over time it would reduce the level of work required by the developers and support staff.

Darren Barefoot links to an article by Gloria JW on DevChix entitled “Let?s All Evolve Past This: The Barriers Women Face in Tech Communities“.

If the title wasn’t obvious enough, it’s a pretty clear and interesting run-down on some of the challenges and barriers that exist for women in the IT industry and, tech communities generally.

To be totally honest, my interaction with women in IT has been very limited so far - I think I can count on one hand the number of women that were doing something relatively technical (i.e actual architectural design/code/admin/etc) that I’ve actually dealt with. The and (pretty much) all of that interaction has been over the phone (given how widely distributed the people in our company are).

The one actual face-to-face interaction I’ve had, I kinda goofed though. Not for any of the reasons Gloria writes about, more just a case of me misunderstanding*.  Ohwell, I think it worked out okay in the end though. 

* = Misunderstanding her interest/involvement in IT, that is - nothing else.

One interesting thing Gloria writes is that moderation policies in online forums should reject postings that are overly aggressive:

The ?You?re wrong, here?s the right answer? type of response constitutes picking a battle that most women won?t fight, or won?t even bother dealing with.

I (think) I understand where Gloria is coming from on this - but I still don’t think that saying “Sorry, you’re wrong - here’s the correct information” is necessarily bad. From the comments, I don’t think I’m alone in that either. But, perhaps that’s just the alpha-male combatative thing coming out in me

Just uploading some photos I took of the Pasha Bulker yesterday.