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Re: [xml-dev] Memorable quotes from Balisage 2013

On Sun, Aug 11, 2013 at 12:11 AM, John Cowan <johnwcowan@gmail.com> wrote:

On Fri, Aug 9, 2013 at 5:35 PM, Costello, Roger L. <costello@mitre.org> wrote:
 
Balisage 2013 was excellent. Below are some memorable quotes that I jotted down during the conference.

I know you don't necessarily agree with all of these, but I'll push back on some anyway.
 
3. The value of open source has been oversold. Proprietary is about taking responsibility of the product (contrast with open source, where no one takes responsibility).

*Commercial* software is about taking responsibility for the product.  It doesn't have to be proprietary to be commercial: see Red Hat.

Furthermore, there are plenty of examples of non-commercial FLOSS software where someone has gone to great pains to take responsibility, e.g. Python, the Apache projects, any of the many FLOSS projects led by universities and governments, etc.

Frankly I found the original quote so ridiculous as to be not worth a response.  Luckily few people actually believe such FUD attacks against FLOSS these days.

 
8. Namespaces is an enormous sledgehammer to solve a very small problem -- the collision of two names within a single XML document (the occurrence of which is highly unlikely).

That's not really true, though I raised no objection at the time.  The point of namespaces is the same as the point of domain names: to support multiple independent sources of authority.

Agreed, and using the network domain system as the lever of authority also makes sense. XMLNS just went way overboard in its syntactic intrusiveness.

  
13. People value things they pay for.

Not judging by the contents of my trash cans (which are shared with about 20 other families).

Nice one!
 

18. Research has shown that you will concentrate better if you remove your socks and shoes. The explanation for this is that shoes and socks keep the feet warm, thus blood flows into the feet. By removing socks and shoes, more blood flows to the brain.

Was this from Liam, or Elliot?

Nice thing about working from home is that I almost always work barefoot. I guess I can't blame my socks for my poor productivity.  I'm also a recent convert to the stand-up desk craze.

http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21583239-real-science-lies-behind-fad-standing-up-work-standing-orders


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