West Side Meeting Recap

[Robert Bushman]

The West Side meeting was a lot of fun, and we all got a free car wash in
the deal. I was doubly blessed - left my windows open and got the interior
done as well :)

But I wasn't satisfied with my own car, I also treated Lee Einer to an
involuntary opportunity to learn about catastrophic lilo failure. Glad to
hear the machine is back among the living Lee! Safe to say I will be
focusing on things other than multi-boot installation support at the
upcoming install fest, haha.

We spent about 45 minutes discussing the upcoming install fest, which I
will recap in a separate email momentarily.

During the more conversational part of the meeting, some of the things we
touched on were:

Palladium
- Disney and MS might like it, but there's not much in it to help the end
user.

VoiceMail on Linux
- Check out VOCP: http://vocp.sourceforge.net/index.html

Mandrake 9.0 beta
- Compiled with gcc 3.1, which means some compatibility issues.
- No actual experiences yet, but typically when Open Sourcers say beta,
they mean it. Try it on a non-mission critical box first.

Mozilla 1.1 beta
- Again, beta means beta - try it, have fun, keep a copy of 1.0 around
just in case.

QuickBooks Migration
- GnuCash and (??? can't remember the other one) are good, but not up to
QuickBooks level yet.
- Try QuickBooks under Wine?

Keeping the Business Alive While Migrating
- Adopt a the strategy that you are comfortable with, and that fits
your situation - there's no one-size-fits-all solution.
- XFree86/CygWin, VNC, Wine, Multiple Machines, Multi-Boot
- Ask PLUG-discuss! We are here to help you.

WikiWiki
- Wikis are a fascinating attempt to do collaborative mind modelling.
- Try MoinMoin - it's written in Python and easy to install.
- WikiWiki is Hawaiian for "quick quick."
- MoinMoin is German for, "my name is der.hans."

Python versus Perl
- Used for similar things
- Both very useful languages
- Objects in Python are much more rewarding than in Perl

I think that's the bulk of it, other than the IF02.2 update, which
will be along directly.


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