Notable URLs on 2007-03-24

• ? Report: Open-source e-mail systems biggest threat to Microsoft Exchange | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com: "In an ominous portent for Microsoft, 23% of the survey respondents indicated they intend to migrate away from Exchange Server and switch to an alternative Linux or open source Email and messaging distribution platform over the next 12 to 18 months.
  ( eMail ms_Exchange co_Zimbra co_Scalix Opensource MTA co_Microsoft Research )

Posted by ben at 11:59 PM

Notable URLs on 2007-03-23

• Converting a Range of URLs to Hyperlinks: If you have a whole series of non-linked, plain-text URLS in a worksheet, converting them all to hyperlinks can be a tedious task—if you don't use a macro.
  ( ms_Excel Macro Reference )

Posted by ben at 11:59 PM

Notable URLs on 2007-03-21

• GNOME Documentation System: The GNOME Documentation System consists of DocBook, Yelp (GNOME Help), Scrollkeeper (document cataloging system), and the XML tools (called DocBook Tools) to transform and check the documentation. Use of this system is necessary to write good docum
  ( DocBook Documentation Reference )
• >e-novative> DocBook Environment - Features.: eDE is the leading DocBook environment for Windows with unique features:
  ( DocBook Documentation Software Win32 )
• The Linux Documentation Project: Resources: Some interesting looking DocBook resources...
  ( DocBook Reference Documentation )
• InWords - the open documentation company - Inwords Announces New Docbook XML Services: InWords - the open documentation company, today announced that it will be providing services to assist customers in porting their existing technical documentation and training material file formats to Docbook XML.
  ( Services DocBook Documentation )
• InWords - the open documentation company - Docbook Glossary: Docbook Glossary, dbgglossary for short, is an open source project, released under terms of the Creative Commons ShareAlike 2.5 license, that aims to develop a Docbook XML glossary database containing definitions of computing nomenclature.
  ( DocBook Documentation Content Glossary )
• DocBookTools - DocBook Wiki: Links to various tools/utilities for DocBook
  ( DocBook Documentation Software )
• DocBookAuthoringTools - DocBook Wiki: Validating editors (sometimes also called schema-aware, DTD-aware, or context sensitive editors) are applications that interactively validate documents against a certain schema or DTD as you edit them. Because they understand the schema or DTD rules, they
  ( DocBook Documentation Software )
• DocBookTutorials - DocBook Wiki
  ( Documentation DocBook Tutorials )
• DocBook 5.0: The Definitive Guide: Version 0.0.19 is DocBook 5: The Definitive Guide. It is a “work in progress” and purports to document DocBook V5.0CR2
  ( DocBook Documentation Reference )

Posted by ben at 11:59 PM

Four short days in Moab

After David's move out to Aliso for work at Medsphere, he needed to head back to Salt Lake to collect his car and the last of his belongings. Rather than drive back through 3 states alone, he invited me along -- enticing me with a few days in Moab over St. Patrick's Day weekend. He had gotten us invited to stay with a college buddy at his place in Moab. It was a beautiful location and his friends were welcoming and anxious to show off their town and the surrounding landscape (I can see why). Moab is a pretty cool town and his friends went out of their way to show me a good time.

David was signed up for a half marathon on St. Patty's Day morning and kept trying to convince me to run it -- while I was perfectly willing to drink the traditional pint of Guinness for breakfast, I wasn't interested in running on the street in a pack of other runners. After his friends helped start the race, they were kind enough to show me a nice 4-5 mile trail run (pictured here) in the canyons -- this was a great run (with a view!) and much preferred to the terrain that David was on...

We left early Sunday morning and angled our trip back through as many National and State parks as we could -- clearly there's much more to see in Utah. Hol and I will definitely have to travel back this way... I must have taken over 300 pictures today alone.

Posted by ben at 11:00 PM

Notable URLs on 2007-03-13

• Open Culture: University Video Collections: enriching video collections from America's leading colleges and universities. Take a look around, and you'll be sure to find something that speaks to your personal passions and interests.
  ( Education PodCast Lists Videos )
• How to Make a Killer Photo using 8 Simple Composition Rules: once you start taking photos and before considering lighting, exposure, noise and other settings, you should take good care of composition.
  ( Photography Tutorials )

Posted by ben at 11:59 PM

Notable URLs on 2007-03-09

• Application publishing: 2X ApplicationServer for Windows Terminal Services: With 2X ApplicationServer for Windows Terminal Services companies can reap the benefits of thin client computing without having to switch the network infrastructure to a thin client OS.
  ( Software Win32 AppServers TerminalServices )

Posted by ben at 11:59 PM

When branding goes bad

As some of you may know, I own an old, but special (to a few) BMW. I've owned the car for quite a few years now and it still makes me grin (especially over 4500 RPM!). Well, since purchasing the car, I've joined the BMW car club of America and a special interest group dedicated to my very specific model. This group is made up of members from across the globe (from Australia to Thailand, Sweden to Brazil) and over 1000 members. Maybe that doesn't seem like a big number, but when you consider that there were only 12000 of these cars produced (ending production in 1995), it's not too bad.

Some years ago I volunteered to take over the Frequently Asked Questions list from a friend in Australia. Since that time, the FAQ has grown to over 300 questions, a car registry, related articles archive and more. This FAQ has been produced by the group at large w/ a few dedicated editors coalescing the varied responses into useful answers and categories and publishing them.

In October of 2006, I was sent a letter by BMW GMBH (the German company) telling me I was using their brand name inappropriately. I responded with details of our special interest group and exactly what we were about (i.e. not for profit, big promoters of the BMW brand, providing a service to the enthusiast community, etc.).

After two weeks and no response, I sent another email asking if they had received my response. I received a prompt reply that helped me understand the issue -- they included a screen capture of the website from the time of their original email. It was for a different, non-BMW related website hosted on the same server. Apparently they had grabbed this capture during a server upgrade and the web server software was still being setup. In a response dated the same day (10/30/06), I explained what had happened and reiterated my not-for-profit/BMW enthusiast intentions.

No response. Time passed and I assumed that BMW had reviewed my emails and the website and ruled that in fact, our FAQ site was a positive addition to the BMW brand. It seemed obvious to me and anyone I spoke to about the situation.

Apparently not -- today I received another email from the same attorney:

After four plus months of nothing, they've decided that displaying the BMW logo and a common German phrase on a tiny enthusiast website is eating away at their brand AND causing confusion for consumers (please note, the very first line of every page on the site reads: "A non-profit site for enthusiasts, by enthusiasts. No affiliation with BMW GMBH.").

I've spent hours upon hours promoting their brand. I've recommended their products to countless people. I've gotten family members to purchase BMWs. When I look at purchasing my next car, the first place I look is at BMW's product brochure.

I am sure that it won't last, but at this moment I feel like selling my car and never purchasing or recommending a BMW again.

Posted by ben at 10:49 PM