Status-Q

A very interesting Wired article by Daniel Pink on what I think is one of the internet’s greatest creations: Wikipedia.

It’s about two years since Ole Eichhorn wrote an article about The Tyranny of Email, but I’ve only just discovered it.

Worth reading.

Follow-up: This one‘s also good if you’re worried about email overload.

MarkDown experiments
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Please ignore this post. I’m just learning about [MarkDown syntax](http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/basics).

MarkDown is:
* a syntax for writing structured text which is more readable and more writable than straight HTML
* a tool for converting the text into proper HTML on posting

In general, I’d rather store my posts in HTML, I think, but MarkDown seems to be sufficiently widespread (and available as a Perl command-line conversion tool) that I don’t anticipate any problem in getting my data out again if I decide to store it in MarkDown format. Mmmm…

Certainly much easier to write than HTML. And it’s a standard WordPress plugin. You just have to enable it…

Follow-up – I found that the plugin was also used on comments, which confused some people. So I’ve disabled it for now, which is why you can probably see the above as raw markdown source. Fortunately, that’s pretty readable too!

John and I haven’t been the only ones concerned about AIM’s new Terms of Service. Apparently, enough people have been upset that they’re going to change them.

Thanks to Dave Hill for the link

Follow-on from yesterday’s post…

This topic has been ranted about on Slashdot, discussed rather more intelligently on MacSlash and brought up on several other blogs. The key points seem to me to be:

• It is possible to establish direct peer-to-peer connections between AIM clients for chatting. iChat attempts to do this whenever you send a file, picture etc. It remains in direct-connection mode afterwards. You can also ask it to establish a direct connection using the ‘Buddies’ menu. After establishing such a connection, AOL would be unable to snoop on the data, though, legally, they probably still have right to it if you send it using an AOL product. iChat, Adium, etc are not AOL’s, though the initial connection would have been established using their services. Mmm…
• If you hang on for a couple more months, the version of iChat that comes with Tiger will have some new features. It supports the Jabber protocol, making it easy for you to set up your own server for sensitive communications, and the new Mac OS X Server edition includes such a server.

Of course, there’s nothing to stop you from downloading and using Skype, MSN messenger or a Jabber client now. It’s just that, if you’re like me, far fewer of your friends can be found on those systems, and the software is generally inferior from a user-interface point of view.

I’ve just read in John’s blog the rather worrying news that AOL have changed the Terms of Service for their instant messaging service, in a way which basically gives them carte blanche to do what they like with any content sent over AIM (and hence over iChat, which uses the same service).
The terms of service can be found here and does contain the rather blunt phrasing about content you post:

AOL owns all right, title and interest in any compilation, collective work or other derivative work created by AOL using or incorporating this Content. In addition, by posting Content on an AIM Product, you grant AOL, its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, assigns, agents and licensees the irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide right to reproduce, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote this Content in any medium. You waive any right to privacy. You waive any right to inspect or approve uses of the Content or to be compensated for any such uses.

This will stop a lot of people from using AIM, including me, which is a real pain. The logical alternative is Skype, and while it has better audio facilities than iChat, it’s markedly inferior for chatting. I really miss iChat when I use anything else.

This can’t be allowed to slip by unnoticed. If it gets enough publicity, AOL may be persuaded to change their minds. Tell your friends – bring it up with Apple, etc and see what we can do. Until then, I don’t think I can continue to exchange draft documents with my colleagues using iChat… or at least, I’ll have to be very careful that I’ve got a direct connection rather than one going via AOL’s servers.

See follow-up…