Staying on Task with RRWolfgang

I am what you would call a Ryan Wolfgang and all things considered, I am impressed by the indomitable, open-source minded, industrious hackers of Apple's iPhone. If memory serves, a friend of mine was commenting not too long ago how simple it was for him to download an interface-mod "hack" from apptapp.com for his iPhone. The steps were pretty easy and whatnot: you download the darn thing onto your iPhone, plug it on in, turn off iTunes, and install. Pretty easy, right? You might be tempted to think so, but for this accommodating mass of anonymous techies that we'll refer to as "open-sourcers," it was not nearly easy enough. For the next generation of iPhone hacks, all you have to do is go to the website, say, jailbreakme.com, and with one simple click of a button, you're hacking away happily. Think about that notion, though, "next generation of iPhone hacks." The iPhone has been out a few paltry months, and already the second wave of modifications is poised and ready to accommodate the unfulfilled whims of the users. For my own part, I really like these open-sourcers. It seems that all they want in return is to get their names out there. In that sense, they are very much like the mildly nerdish freshmen that would do most anything just to be your friend. Of course, if I was honest with myself, I think I'd say that that's much the way I am even today.

Posted by Ryan Wolfgang at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It would seem that any article you read about Web 2.0 has a subsection entitled "Criticisms" or "Legitimacy" or something equally inspiring. These sections typically include some reference to the lack of a standard definition for "Web 2.0" but honestly, who would care about that sort of thing? Well, for some reasons, web programmers care about that sort of thing. If history's any indication, programmers have to respond to the wishes of their clients (as do all professionals) and frankly, the introduction of the phrase "Web 2.0" invites unclear specifications to be introduced into a business transaction. When a potential home-owner is pitching his ideal domicile to an architect, he's not likely to leave it at, "Well, I just want a house that's really twenty-first century." That's only slightly more helpful than saying that you want a house with plumbing already installed. For programmers, the more specific the better. If you want your website to have an RSS feed, to be table-free, or to accept user input, that needs to be outlined and made clear in the site specifications. Web 2.0 is a marketing term. Marketers, being the mortal enemies of programmers, only partially understand the programmer's love of standards. Since the voice of a product is its marketing department, the expression Web 2.0 does not look to be in any immediate danger of expiration... Sigh. The system works!

Posted by Ryan Wolfgang at 05:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)