- 10:34 If you're having Apple problems I feel bad for you son. I got 99 problems but an iPhone ain't one. #
I'm switching blogging platforms. I think I feel good about this.
Over the past couple of years, I've had an on-again, off-again relationship with self-hosting my own blog. There's been a couple of reasons why I've always been wishy-washy on the subject, but the biggest one that comes to mind is the community I've myself a part of on LiveJournal. You tend to gravitate towards the services which the majority of your friends, or potential audience uses. This holds true in the blogging world as well as the social networking world and down to the instant messaging world. In effect, I've been chained to a platform which I no longer care for by virtue of all my friends being there.
I've been doing this online journal thing for nearly 10 years. The vast majority of that has been in updates to LiveJournal. Ten years! A lot of things has changed in ten years, but not LiveJournal. As a platform, it's grown stale and tepid - a monument to 1999 views on web services. One would expect that with the huge amount of attention and focus these days on web platforms and social networking, LiveJournal would take full advantage of this and step up its offerings, implementing AJAX and maybe even an API to allow you to extend the interface. But no, in ten years LiveJournal has not changed at all. Sure, a few new features such as Scrapbooking have been added, but the experience today is nearly identical to the experience of ten years ago. This lends the service very well to the nostalgic crowd, but individuals that have a need for growth beyond the garden walls find very little of value.
There's also the generally accepted stereotype of LiveJournal users: whiny, self-absorbed emo kids/furries that feel compelled to "circle the wagon" in LiveJournal communities with other like-minded fellows. Like it or not, that's the general perception of the typical LiveJournal user. Personally I'd rather not be associated with such.
There's very little that I do on LiveJournal that can't be done elsewhere. I can keep track of friends using RSS, and reply if needed. If I really feel the need to update LiveJournal friends on blog updates, a simple link as a LiveJournal entry will suffice, and even this can be automated. A large majority of my friends don't even post reguarly to LiveJournal any longer, so much of it would be moot anyway.
Personally I think that people should start viewing sites like LiveJournal more as platforms than services. With the interoperability of the web these days, it's really the only realistic view. As a service, LiveJournal does alright, it gets the job done. As a platform, it completely fails. Add in a history of business trouble, recent transfers of ownership and controversial changes in levels of service, you have signs of an immient demise. Unless you're Russian.
So, where do I go from here? For one, I'm going to make use of my webspace that I pay for every month and jump aboard the WordPress bandwagon. WordPress is growing very well as a platform, and truly supports everything I want to do right now. It also moves my content back into my full control.
LiveJournal, it's not you, it's me. Sorry, that's a lie: It's totally you. But if you need me for anything you can contact me at any of the urls below. Peace.
http://jwwest.com
http://twitter.com/zerozephyr
http://friendfeed.com/penguinwired
Over the past couple of years, I've had an on-again, off-again relationship with self-hosting my own blog. There's been a couple of reasons why I've always been wishy-washy on the subject, but the biggest one that comes to mind is the community I've myself a part of on LiveJournal. You tend to gravitate towards the services which the majority of your friends, or potential audience uses. This holds true in the blogging world as well as the social networking world and down to the instant messaging world. In effect, I've been chained to a platform which I no longer care for by virtue of all my friends being there.
I've been doing this online journal thing for nearly 10 years. The vast majority of that has been in updates to LiveJournal. Ten years! A lot of things has changed in ten years, but not LiveJournal. As a platform, it's grown stale and tepid - a monument to 1999 views on web services. One would expect that with the huge amount of attention and focus these days on web platforms and social networking, LiveJournal would take full advantage of this and step up its offerings, implementing AJAX and maybe even an API to allow you to extend the interface. But no, in ten years LiveJournal has not changed at all. Sure, a few new features such as Scrapbooking have been added, but the experience today is nearly identical to the experience of ten years ago. This lends the service very well to the nostalgic crowd, but individuals that have a need for growth beyond the garden walls find very little of value.
There's also the generally accepted stereotype of LiveJournal users: whiny, self-absorbed emo kids/furries that feel compelled to "circle the wagon" in LiveJournal communities with other like-minded fellows. Like it or not, that's the general perception of the typical LiveJournal user. Personally I'd rather not be associated with such.
There's very little that I do on LiveJournal that can't be done elsewhere. I can keep track of friends using RSS, and reply if needed. If I really feel the need to update LiveJournal friends on blog updates, a simple link as a LiveJournal entry will suffice, and even this can be automated. A large majority of my friends don't even post reguarly to LiveJournal any longer, so much of it would be moot anyway.
Personally I think that people should start viewing sites like LiveJournal more as platforms than services. With the interoperability of the web these days, it's really the only realistic view. As a service, LiveJournal does alright, it gets the job done. As a platform, it completely fails. Add in a history of business trouble, recent transfers of ownership and controversial changes in levels of service, you have signs of an immient demise. Unless you're Russian.
So, where do I go from here? For one, I'm going to make use of my webspace that I pay for every month and jump aboard the WordPress bandwagon. WordPress is growing very well as a platform, and truly supports everything I want to do right now. It also moves my content back into my full control.
LiveJournal, it's not you, it's me. Sorry, that's a lie: It's totally you. But if you need me for anything you can contact me at any of the urls below. Peace.
http://jwwest.com
http://twitter.com/zerozephyr
http://friendfeed.com/penguinwired
You've got your Wii in my 360.
I'm only really excited about streaming Netflix, that is cool. Everything else is a rip off.
I'm only really excited about streaming Netflix, that is cool. Everything else is a rip off.
- 12:26 Ah, the fail whale! It's been a while. #
- 15:08 @Jukor congrats! #
- 16:14 Controller family tree.
www.axess.com/twilight/console/ #
That's the question I keep asking myself as I pass the first month into my first "real" development position. We use .Net 3.5 exclusively, and I've been learning a lot about the inner workings of C# and ASP.
I can't help but feel that going further and further into the .Net world will only bind me further to Microsoft. The framework is nice, but it seems so limiting in where you can run it, leaving me to wonder if it's better to build a system "on a beach" (C++) or "in a sandbox" (C#). I guess I'm starting to wonder about my own skills in being able to transition from .Net into other technologies such as Java or C++ if needed in the future.
I worry that .Net and Microsoft platforms as a whole have no "soul" to them. There's very little in the way of personality in the way they are implemented. I picked up an issue of CoDe Magazine yesterday, and after flipping through it and reading an article here and there, I've come to cement this idea further in my head. The magazine is easy to read, and has some good information in it, but it's just plain obvious that there is very little "love" for the platform or "elegance" put into software built with .Net.
Or maybe this is all in my head and I just need to accept my new metal overlords.
I can't help but feel that going further and further into the .Net world will only bind me further to Microsoft. The framework is nice, but it seems so limiting in where you can run it, leaving me to wonder if it's better to build a system "on a beach" (C++) or "in a sandbox" (C#). I guess I'm starting to wonder about my own skills in being able to transition from .Net into other technologies such as Java or C++ if needed in the future.
I worry that .Net and Microsoft platforms as a whole have no "soul" to them. There's very little in the way of personality in the way they are implemented. I picked up an issue of CoDe Magazine yesterday, and after flipping through it and reading an article here and there, I've come to cement this idea further in my head. The magazine is easy to read, and has some good information in it, but it's just plain obvious that there is very little "love" for the platform or "elegance" put into software built with .Net.
Or maybe this is all in my head and I just need to accept my new metal overlords.
- 11:46 Sleeeeeeeeeeeepy. #
- 11:57 New webhost uses UK merchant account. BoA charges me 29 cents every month for an "international charge fee". Still cheaper than my old host. #
- 14:17 Twitter + Hoe Check = Toe check? #
- 15:15 Hey @Jukor! #
- 15:15 @Jukor Just toe checkin' #
- 22:20 Sleepy time. #
Every bit of this video is pure truth.
- 11:26 @LockCole 5? I knew you were a mutant. #
- 12:19 www.jwwest.com/entry/5/
Stuff I like. Still trying to decide on keeping my code or switching to something else to run my site. # - 13:57 tinyurl.com/5gyvaj
So you didn't get it right the first time so you repackage and resell? # - 15:34 www.wowhead.com/?item=32473
I think I chose the wrong profession! #
- 08:47 Wondering if there's a way to filter out all the iphone updates. Honestly, it's just a phone. #
- 09:52 tinyurl.com/5vc4yt
Good idea. Let's just positively think our way out of this recession. # - 10:26 tinyurl.com/5qlmpf
Oh. God. # - 10:28 tinyurl.com/64rqpa
Oh. God. Part 2. # - 13:43 @pvponline Why are all of your pics upside down or sideways? 6O_o #
It's a rare day when me and ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
browren agree on something.
I accuse him of being a Sony fanboy all the time, but the release of the new iPhone has made me think twice about this. Not the fact that he's a fanboy, but the idea that this is negative.
Apple is primarily a marketing company now. Yes, most of the products they put out are well thought out and highly polished, but they rarely, if ever attempt to break new ground. Sony on the other hand are always pushing new technology (usually stuff that they develop and try to make standard, but whatever) instead of just revisiting old tech. I think I have more respect for the latter.
Apple's a great company, and their software usually kicks a lot of ass. But they rarely take risks and rarely attempt any groundbreaking development anymore. I can only think of two times when Apple has truly introduced game changing tech: the original Macintosh and the Newton. (And don't say the iPod, Creative introduced the Rio long before)
browren agree on something.I accuse him of being a Sony fanboy all the time, but the release of the new iPhone has made me think twice about this. Not the fact that he's a fanboy, but the idea that this is negative.
Apple is primarily a marketing company now. Yes, most of the products they put out are well thought out and highly polished, but they rarely, if ever attempt to break new ground. Sony on the other hand are always pushing new technology (usually stuff that they develop and try to make standard, but whatever) instead of just revisiting old tech. I think I have more respect for the latter.
Apple's a great company, and their software usually kicks a lot of ass. But they rarely take risks and rarely attempt any groundbreaking development anymore. I can only think of two times when Apple has truly introduced game changing tech: the original Macintosh and the Newton. (And don't say the iPod, Creative introduced the Rio long before)
- 14:12 Corner Bakery has a BLT now. nom nom nom #
- 15:37 LiveJournal's boring today, Twitter's boring today, Work is extremely boring today. #
- 21:51 No one ever role plays a janitor. #
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