I just set up Apache2 in my computer! Just one hour ago I knew nothing about web servers, and now I have one running! I am so excited… and it was sooo easy.
I reckon there must be a whole lot to learn, but the bare basics are almost trivial, at least under Debian. I don’t plan to use this computer as web server, since there’s no way I’m opening access to port 80 in the computer I work on… but at least I’ll be able to learn PHP using it locally.
Now I’ll go home and watch CSI…
I read in El PaÃs that the next MS browser, IE7, will sport a couple of new features, namely tabbed browsing and RSS support.
I knew of the lack of tabbed browsing in that poor excuse of a browser that IE6 is, but… they didn’t have RSS?. What kind of sh*t is this? IE6 users have to open another program to read RSS feeds? That’s pathetic, man!
Firefox and all the Open Source browser lot surely have had them (both tabs and RSS) for a long time!
Go, MS “innovation”, go!!
Some days ago I was dismayed (although not really surprised) to come across some “Technical requirements” for accessing a service in the Spanish Ministerio de Administraciones Públicas, specifically the online service to track the state of the tramitation of permission of stay for a foreign colleage.
This “requirements” where the dreaded MS Windows/IE combo, and thus it prompted me to write the complaint e-mail quoted below.
To my surprise, they have answered, today. They just say that they sent my complaint to the Subdirección General de TecnologÃa de la Información y Comunicaciones, so they might or might not do something, but that’s a start!
My e-mail:
Estimados servidores del ciudadano,
Constato con asombro e indignación que en su página web, al menos en la sección de extranjerÃa (link), mencionan como “Requisitos técnicos” para acceder a sus servicios, cito textualmente:
# Sistema operativo Windows 98 o superior
# Internet Explorer 5.5(SP2) o superior¿Cómo puede aceptarse que un organismo público, pagado con nuestros impuestos, tenga como requisito para su acceso un sistema operativo de pago, propiedad de una compañÃa privada extranjera? ¿Acaso el Ministerio distribuye gratuitamente licencias de Windows, para hacerlo accesible a quien no lo tenga? ¿O acaso todo potencial usuario de su página web debe hacer frente al desembolso requerido para obtener una?
Les recuerdo que existen alternativas a Windows, algunas de ellas LIBRES, GRATUITAS y PÚBLICAS, como BSD o Linux. Yo soy un usuario de este último S.O., y creo que como ciudadano, votante y pagador de impuestos, me merezco que den soporte no sólo a dicha plataforma, sino a todas.
Si su página es conforme a los estándares de Internet, en cuanto a formato (HTML, CSS, Java etc.), no deberÃan tener ningún problema en ser accesibles desde ningún sistema operativo ni con ningún navegador.
Sinceramente,
Iñaki Silanes
Today I came by train to Donostia, and when crossing the Maria Cristina bridge, out of the station, I met a woman giving away a free gazette called Metro Directo (which I believe is published in many places around the world).
Among the news I read while coming to the faculty by bus, one struck me (well, not really): a survey has been made among 1045 people in the USA (a fairly small sample, I’d say. Still meaningfull, however), to find out who people considered “most stupid person of the USA”.
The Top Five are:
1 – Michael Jackson
2 – Dick Cheney and Paris Hilton (ex aequo)
4 – George W. Bush
5 – Tom Cruise
Now, how sad is it that both the President and the Vice-President of a country are found by their fellow citizens to be second in stupidity only to Michael Jackson and Paris Hilton?
