It’s off to game seven.

I can’t believe I stayed awake for this!

The Sharks completely outplayed Colorado for the whole game and had many more great scoring chances only to lose in overtime.

I need a nap.

The judge in the microsoft case is mulling over possible penalties that could include Microsoft delivering a reduced OS.

This would mean that computer makers could choose which application software to include on their computers.

In theory, the stripped-down version of Windows would cost PC makers less to license, and they would be paid a bounty for middleware placement by AOL, RealNetworks and other software developers.

Microsoft hates it, DeGroot said. Now, instead of selling OEMs just the OS, they have to sell the OS and buy a spot on the desktop–something they used to get for free and could do at any time…

Does Microsoft really think it’s going to get off without any significant punishment? ***Think ATT***.

I guess if there’s a budget shortfall, the only right thing to do is take away the people’s right to decide how to handle it.

Blumer called the 2.5 percent limit on yearly property tax hikes *artificial*, and said Proposition 2 1/2 is a relic of a bygone era of fewer public school students and burgeoning commercial tax bases.

Listen up Mr. Blumer… my property taxes went up ***30%*** this past year because of prop 2 1/2 overrides. If I don’t have a say in this in the future, and the town is free to raise the taxes at whatever rate it sees fit to, I may be forced to move out of a house I love and a town I love!

***TAXES ARE NOT THE ANSWER***

And if that isn’t enough, this just adds insult to injury:

The House convenes this morning to debate how to spend the $1.065 billion contained in last week’s tax-hike package.

I thought the whole point of the (unnecessary) tax hike was to make up for budget shortfalls, ***not to fund new spending!***. This is really starting to piss me off!

It’s really Star Wars this time out!

I’ll give you the short version first, completely spoiler-free: I think it’s a great STAR WARS movie, a hell of a good ride, and well worth your time. See it in a digital house if at all possible. And, yes, it’s true… Yoda owns your weak ass.

OK… ya got me. I guess I’ll have to give it a try. Please, oh please, don’t let it be another [[Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace]]!!!!

Of course Microsoft is pushing the theory that interop means Works With Microsoft.

From [[Dave Winer]] at [[Userland]]:

The rest of us should just reject that without discussion. I’m perfectly happy to get interop with Everyone But Microsoft. They have an uphill battle to get developers to adopt their tools. Sure some developers will go anywhere Microsoft wants them to go today. More power to them. But for the rest of us, the more Microsoft isolates itself, the more appeal our technologies have to developers who value independence.

Mandrake has released its Linux 8.2 for the PPC platform.

I don’t think that this is serious comptetition for MacOSX, but it’s more evidence that the Mac is being taken very seriously as a platform again.

Thanks Steve!

Does everyone out there get it yet? Monopolies=bad.

The rules that applied in the late 80s don’t apply in the late 90s because Microsoft has a near-monopoly position in the operating system and application businesses, and it uses those positions to further cement the strength of each of them. Over time the lock-in increases.

The lock-in process has nothing to do with the quality of product or the economic cost to users and computer vendors. It’s a philosophic challenge our country has dealt with before, and in the past we decided that it’s not in our interest to allow this kind of lock-in to happen.

Sometimes Dave Winer gets it just right.

I think, in some ways programmers, who live the scientific method, are better prepared for life than non-programmers, but the opposite is often assumed. We all have a visual image of the programmer, but this is just the outer package. A great programmer is a seeker of truth and beauty. Successful programmers know how to ask questions, and they know how to ask the **right** question. You can’t go forward until that happens. A programmer is a rigorous scientist determined to coax the truth out of the ones and zeros. There’s the beauty.

I haven’t been a programmer as long as Dave (it’s been 15 years or so for me), but this piece captures for me exactly how I feel about the work I do.

When a programmer catches fire it’s because he or she groks the system, its underlying truth has been revealed. I’ve seen this happen many times, a programmer languishes for months, chipping at the edges of a problem. Then all of a sudden, a breakthrough happens, the pieces start fitting together. A few months later the software works, and you go forward.

***YES!*** I believe that programming is much more art than engineering, and that a good programmer has the soul of an artist. This is the way an artist works… when meaning is found, inspiration ensues.

Moriarty from [[Ain’t It Cool News]] hits the nail right on the head.

And like many movie fans my age, I grew up with Siskel & Ebert as a natural part of my unnaturally voracious movie appetite. Even when I didn’t agree with one or the other or both of them, the thing their show imparted to me, loud and clear, was the idea that it was okay to feel passionately about films, and that discussion of them could lead you to all sorts of unexpected pleasures.

EXACTLY!

Attack of the clones seems to ROCK!

I only hope that it really is this good:

I will always remember May 2, 2002 as the day I took a trip to a galaxy far, far away, and rediscovered something I haven’t felt in a movie theater since…well, since the summer of ’83: Unmitigated satisfaction. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones delivers enough fun, excitement, and thrills, one wonders if George Lucas didn’t have a sly grin on his face each time a critic proclaimed the first installment of his new trilogy a dismal failure. It is clear to this viewer that every element of Episode I was carefully calculated to lay a strong foundation which Episode II masterfully builds upon. In fact, what makes this film most enjoyable is the payoff received from events that had their seemingly lackluster origins in the first installment.

The rest of us will find out in the weeks to come.