kontrawize

Genericode – 3rd public review, and XML 2007

The 3^rd public review of genericode, the OASIS XML format for code lists, began yesterday and runs for 15 days. This is likely to be the last review before genericode 1.0 is published as a committee specification (it will then start the process to be voted as an OASIS specification).

At the  XML 2007 conference, on the 4^th December, there will be an evening of lightning rounds on standards. Each speaker presents 20 slides for 20 seconds each. I will be there for the OASIS Code List Representation Technical Committee (CLRTC), with 10 slides on genericode, and 10 slides on the CLRTC's new work, context value association. This allows you to associate particular elements in an XML document with a genericode code list; it's a piece you need if you are using genericode remove code lists from your XML schemas, so you aren't forced to republish your schemas every time a code list changes.

See the “ Genericode News” section at  genericode.org for more details.

XML 2007 – last chance for conference hotel

The  XML 2007 Conference is on in Boston from Monday 3 December to Wednesday 5 December 2007. The special hotel rate has been extended until 21 November (Wednesday this week), so make your booking now! It should be a great conference.

I'm speaking on the Tuesday at 9am on “ Semantic data models and business context modelling”. I will be discussing the ways that “Semantic Web” technologies are becoming of interest for more traditional data modelling activities, making use of their expressive power rather than the more “gee-whiz” features like automated inference.

I hope to see you there! If you are there, please feel free to find me and have a chat.

Holy Cow! Flying Cow!

Can I get those rump steaks delivered? Via  Jalopnik.

openSUSE 10.3, part 2

Previously:

• openSUSE 10.3 on an HP Pavilion dv2000 (dv2058ea)

I've been happy with openSUSE 10.3 on my laptop, so I decided to install it on my deskside PC. One key difference is that my deskside PC is a twin processor 64-bit machine, whereas my laptop is a dual-core 32-bit machine.

The upgrade went quite smoothly, there were only a few issues worth noting:

• AppArmor – I don't consider virus checkers to be useful for Linux, but Novell's AppArmor is very useful. It allows you to lock down the permissions on particular applications in a very fine-grained way. It's ideal for securing applications like e-mail clients, web browsers, and instant messaging clients. Basically, it stops applications from reading and/or writing files for which they haven't been given permissions, which means it can provide protection against as-yet-unknown future viruses.
  After upgrading, I found that my VMware Server virtual machines wouldn't run, and the VMware log files indicated a permission problem with the configuration files in the user's “ .vmware” directory. This happened even when logged in as root. It turned out that I had to run the AppArmor updater to allow some extra permissions to VMware Server, and then everything was OK.

• Skype 1.4.0 – this is only available as a 32-bit application, there is no 64-bit version for Linux. To install this, I first had to install some 32-bit libqt4 compatibility libraries (core, dbus, x11), and the 32-bit lib compatibility library for libsigc++.

• I was running the "compiz" 3-D desktop under openSUSE 10.2, but the version that comes with openSUSE 10.3 won't run with the NVIDIA Quadro FX 1000 graphics card in my deskside PC.  That's not a big issue, it just means that the windows will no longer has semi-transparent borders, they won't wobble like jelly when I move them, and the desktops won't spin from one to another in a Mac-like style.  I don't really need this visual frippery, but I'm still slightly disappointed to see my graphics card slide of the "supported" list for an application (is that the thing end of the wedge?).

Opera 9.50 beta, part 3

Previously:

• Opera 9.50 beta, part 2

• Opera 9.50 beta

I wrote previously that Opera 9.50 beta for Windows would not open HTML files from the file system (i.e. it would not open “file:” URLs).  This has been fixed in the latest test build, so it should be OK in future Opera betas and releases.

On the weekend, I logged two other issues against the 9.50 beta (I haven't retested these yet with the latest test build):

• 9.50 beta - IMAP e-mail re-downloaded every time Opera is started

• 9.50 beta - have to type master password multiple times each time Opera starts

Live Long and Prosper. And Ouch!

I like Star Trek as much as the next person, but this is too much. (Oh, and read the comments below the main text.)

A Little Bit of Fry

Thanks to Tim Bray for pointing out that Stephen Fry now has a weblog! As blogs go, it is nothing if not sesquipedalean. It's a must-read for lovers of British satiritical writing.