Once again, the boundary between geeky topics and political ranting is blurring. Not long after a report that Teddy Kennedy’s Senate office runs on Macintosh technology, we get a story about the technology choices of the Bush and Kerry campaigns. And, once again, it’s ironically appropriate.
The Bushies run their website on Microsoft’s Internet Information Services. Why? Well, it just seems natural that the folks who brought us the Enron crisis and have sold the White House to the oil industry would be happy with another huge corporate conglomerate. Actually, their official reason leaves one wondering whether to laugh or cry:
Steve Ellis, director of network and online services for the Republican National Committee, said the main consideration in choosing software was computer security and protecting the privacy of personal data on the Web site. The party opted for Microsoft’s Web server, called Internet Information Services.
You read that right. With the main consideration being security, they opted for one of the most hackable platforms they could find. I’ve lost track of the number of worms that have been spread via IIS. Of course, these are the same people who are spending multi-billion dollars on missile defense systems that don’t work to protect us from terrorists that don’t use missiles. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that their software security strategy matches their defense strategy of spending as much as possible for as little as possible.
The Kerry campaign, on the other hand, relies on open-source software (“the right technology at the right price” according to the DNC press secretary). The article was a little weak on details, but some very quick research reveals that johnkerry.com runs on Apache/Linux. (I suppose expecting a “moderate” like Kerry to be a fellow FreeBSD freak would be asking too much. I’m not even sure if Dennis Kucinich is that enlightened; the report on his site doesn’t say which Unix flavor is driving his Apache server).
And, speaking of geek stuff, I think I may have finally gone off the deep end. This report is coming to you from room 1214 of the Residence Inn in Tyson’s Corner, VA (a suburb of the nation’s capital). I’m here for a week of training, courtesy of my employer. At at time when we’re dealing with massive budget cuts and losing faculty, we’re pouring millions of dollars into a huge technology boondoggle, so, after 10+ years of absolutely no budget for travel/training, they’re throwing money at us to learn about all this garbage that’s replacing the stuff that’s gotten so reliable it’s boring.
But now I’m rambling. So what else is new? Well, back to what I was starting to talk about, one thing that’s fairly new is my Powerbook. It’s a sweet replacement for the Cube I’d been using at home. When it’s at home, with the same mouse, keyboard, and display that were plugged into the Cube, the only difference I notice is the speed increase (1.5ghz on the PowerBook vs. 450 mhz on the Cube). And now, I can just unplug a few cables and take my home computing environment with me. And, if I’m lucky enough to end up somewhere that has free broadband, or better yet, free wireless like this place, I’m even better off than sitting at home with my barbed-wire dial-up service. (Actually, I’ve noticed that the Powerbook modem usually connects at slightly higher speeds and stays connected more reliably than the Cube). So now I’m one of those pathetic laptop-toting geeks constantly in search of a hot-spot.
And, as if just mobile blogging isn’t geeky enough, I’ve been sitting here installing a webmail interface on my server. I’ve always hated web-based email systems, and still do. I’m much happier with a real Email client like Eudora. And, now with the Powerbook, Eudora can go with me wherever I go. So who needs webmail?
Well, as it turns out, sometimes I end up someplace like the classroom where I’m spending the days this week, with Internet-connected PCs available, but no connections for visiting Powerbooks (and, although it’s right across the street from the wireless-equipped Residence Inn, the signal doesn’t travel quite that far). So, I either soil my hands with Windows and Internet Explorer, or wait until I get back to the room with my beloved Powerbook and Eudora. So now, if I can’t resist the urge to sneak a quick peek at my mailbox, the option is there. Webmail still sucks, but sometimes it’s better than no mail at all. It’s nice to have options.
Okay, this has obviously strayed far from the political realm (is there anything more boring than a bored geek?); it’s going into the Geek Stuff category.