It's precisely a strong linear experience from which the power of the book derives. A book gives an author a chance to refine his speculation, research, and inspiration. It presents elevated thought and experience. It doesn't need improvement. That's why the book has been around so long.

I understand Mr. Godin's point about a new device like the Kindle needing additional value over the book in order to establish its relevance. If it just does what books do, why don't you just get books?

However, consider the iPod, another linear content delivery device. It didn't enhance the linear listening experience. So what did it do that portable CD players couldn't? It improved on portability and accessibility. With an iPod you don't have to decide what you want to listen to in advance and then lug CDs around. This boon helped make iPods and other digital listening devices ubiquitous.

Even if the Kindle proves to be nothing more than an iPod for books, it will still be a boon. It also highlights an interesting pendulum swing in attitude. When hypertext came along we began losing our ability to focus. Now everyone seems to acknowledge, at least to some extent, that we're a little too distracted with all of our multi-tasking.

An antidote
The Kindle speaks to our growing sense that maybe we just don't need to bounce around so much. We've been getting behind in our reading; so far behind that we can't lug around all those books we want to read. Hey, let's take the benefits of portability and accessibility that iPods gave us and apply them to our must-read reading list. Maybe we've been a little hungry to get absorbed by one thing and pay attention.

Uh, I'll get back to you. Right now I'm reading. Don't bother me...

It wasn't easy.

I had acquired all that information so assiduously. What if I wanted to look at one of those articles again? Two things were now evident. I could just go to Yahoo with my Netscape Navigator and find anything that I needed, and it was current, too. I had rarely actually looked at any of the material in my library of yellowing clippings. If I needed anything again, I would go to the web to get whatever was relevant now.

I adjusted.

Now I can't imagine keeping all that crud around.

I still have books in storage. Even paperbacks. Lately, I've been enjoying the New York Public Library more than ever. I can use their website to put items on hold and they'll transport them to my branch which is on the very block on which I live. I have a huge wishlist. What am I storing books for? A huge amount of what I want is already stored by the library. I don't need to rent space to store my own copies.

Perhaps very soon, keeping books on your shelf might be just as quaint as archiving newspaper clippings. We already have Google Books. I want to read Walden. It's in the public domain. I can download it in PDF. I don't need it on my bookshelf. The Kindle is coming. (I guess it is anyway. Have you ever seen one? I suspect Amazon never manufactured a one. Maybe it's still in development. Being "sold out" might be just one of the greatest marketing strategies ever imagined.) My entire bookshelf would fit in one gadget. I like physical books. I love them. Yet might I come to deal with them the same way I've dealt with my entire audio library? Practically the whole thing fits in one iPod that I can carry around with me. I haven't gotten a CD out in years except to import it into my computer.

Yes, I threw away books today.

Kurt Vonnegut, Frederik Pohl, Ernest Hemingway, Evelyn Waugh. As much as I enjoyed them, will I open them again? Well, maybe, but if I want to I could just put in the request at the NYPL, or I could download them to my Kindle (if I'm not still on the waiting list in 2010). Paying for the whole thing all over again would be a lot cheaper than renting storage to stockpile paperbacks. Why bother? Clear up my personal space for more library books!

All those textbooks from Chubb. Do I still need database textbooks? I learned the material, I have the job. Any references I need, I have at work. The textbooks on COBOL and Visual Basic? It hurts simply to discard them. I spent $10,000 on that education. But hey, mission accomplished. I work in technology now. Why would I want to store that stuff? If it were important, I'd have it at work!

I threw out books today. God have mercy on my soul.

Get this. They don't just mean that they won't provide technical support for the old version anymore. They mean that my existing functionality will cease to operate. I will no longer be able to download data from my bank.

It never occurred to me that a third party would be able to stand in between my client application and my financial services vendors. If my bank decided no longer to supply a file format for my old version of Quicken, well that would be between me and my bank. And if a software provider decided no longer to support an old release of an application, well I would be on my own as far as existing bugs. I accept that.

However, I expect to be able to use the existing functionality of a program I bought without obstruction from a third party. The application is a client that connects with a data provider. I expect to be able to fetch that data as long as the data provider provides it.

Quicken calls this a "sunset" provision, and yes it's mentioned in the End User Licensing Agreement (EULA). Per the sunset provision, they support the current version and two previous ones. I know, by buying the program and installing it I had to accept the EULA. On the other hand, I won't do it again. Continuing to use existing functionality to connect from my client software to my bank requires no "support" from a third party. I will not accept the sunset provision by purchasing another product from Intuit, the makers of Quicken.

Ironically, I wanted to upgrade my version of Quicken because I really like the product. However, I don't accept being required to do it.

I was going to start developing my own personal finance application using Universal Data Models out of my Len Silverstein books. I figured I would start out with a simple check register and put it in Access or mySQL. It turns out I don't have to. You can download free accounting software licensed under the GNU GPL called GnuCash.

Vista Excuses Don't Hold Water

Yep, I guess that means I'm passing water. No interest in Vista, at least not today. Here's an excuse you didn't mention, Bob. I'm busy doing stuff without any problem!

Not Broken
XP isn't holding me back. I have a smoking machine I assembled myself. It does what I need. I don't need to weigh it down with anything else.

Jerry Pournelle: Chaos Manor Musings

He's gearing up to do a video podcast. He says that it will encourage him to straighten up his office. I don’t know what he’s talking about. I think it looks just fine!

We miss you, Mom and Dad!

Here's a slide show from last Christmas, 2006, in case anybody needs any reminding about how everyone looks.

In spite of my detailed and exhaustive explanations, I know that I’ve probably given her a slightly inaccurate impression of what a “data warehouse” is, so I put together a couple of snapshots from the office to show her what my work environment is like.

Outside our office

My desk is in back just around the corner

This is why I'm so tired after loading data all day

Late one evening the floor thinned out and it gave our friend, Migdalia Romero, a chance to shoot some video of us.

Jan and Jai at El Arranque #1

Jan and Jai at El Arranque #2

Hi Dad,

I wish you the happiest of Father's Days. I pity every kid who doesn't have you as a dad! None could be luckier than I.

Jai

Hell's Kitchen sends birthday greetings to the best father in the whole world.

Love,
Jai and Jan

Last night we hosted our Milonga del Infierno. Literally that means the tango dance party from Hell. Now, that peculiar name comes from the neighborhood we live in. Since we live in Hell's Kitchen, we call it Hell's Milonga. Our evening was full of terrific friends, beautiful music, and swell desserts. It all contributes to what I call Heaven in Hell's Kitchen.

Dario y Jai
I took my good friend, Dario, aside and coaxed him into extending Mother's Day greetings to my Mom in Spanish.

You don't need to build websites anymore. Just get a blog. And you can even get them for free.

My friend and colleague, Bob Sala wanted to build himself a website. I suggested that he make technology work for him instead of him working for technology. He even quoted me. (This is a blatant excuse for a trackback.)

Similarly, my friend Francis Roach wanted to rework his website for Luigi's Dance Centre. Bob had found that it was easy to get a WordPress blog. One great service of WordPress is that they give you static pages, so it was easy for me to create a new WordPress version of the Luigi Jazz site by copying-and-pasting existing text from the old Luigi site into static pages in the new blog. Now maintaining the site becomes a non-programmer's job. Current news can go into the website as blog posts.

Great, huh? I don't know if Francis will point his domain to the new blog, but here's how the blog version of Luigi's Dance Center looks.

Motto: don't program, manage content.

Jan & I send you our love for the holiday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

Jan shot this picture of an amaryllis in front of our Christmas tree this year.