Thursday October 30, 2008
Making Money with Free Software
When I saw today's Slashdot story with a similar name, I assumed it'd be about some business model for monetizing opensource software. That's a fairly dry subject, but nonetheless one that interests me. So I read on.
But much to my surprise, the money being made was this:
...and when they said it was being made with free software, they really meant it. The Dutch Ministry of Finance held a contest to design a new five Euro coin using the theme: "Netherlands and Architecture." And the winning entry came from Stani Michiels, who developed it using nothing but opensource software.
For the whole story, see Stani's blog. I particularly like the bits about how he did the design and visualization. On the front of the coin, for example, he took the names of famous Dutch architects, sized and positioned them according to how many web pages mention them, and finally varied the lettering's line widths to produce the image of Queen Beatrix. Pretty cool stuff.
Tags: opensource visualization
Posted at 04:50PM Oct 30, 2008 by Jamey Wood in Potpourri | Comments[0]
Tuesday October 07, 2008
Note to Google: I Drink Too Much
Dear Google,
Please help me. I'm prone to bouts of drunken foolishness. They usually end with me sending a string of ill-advised and highly embarrassing emails.
I feel good about sharing this with you, since you're already handling information about my health conditions, sexual preferences, and financial concerns.
Sincerely,
John Doe1975 Elm Avenue
New York, NY 10041
Ph: 212-555-1278
SSN: 123-45-6789
Sound like a good idea? Then you're going to love Gmail's new feature.
Posted at 11:05AM Oct 07, 2008 by Jamey Wood in Privacy | Comments[1]
This is a personal weblog, I do not speak for my employer.