Tsikbal: from my perspective

The extent of how much standardization should reach can be quite foolish, since it seems that many want to standardize everything. By doing so, the point of standardization is lost and made void. While there are several things that benefit from being standardized, there are others that actually are not quite as receptive from being standardized. Standards are more of a common set of rules, that certain thing or actions should follow in order to be useful. Others have no such need, since they are going to be used in a way that it doesn't really matter if they don't play nice with others. Standardization is useful, but it has to be applied where is needed in order for it not to become just a headache. In most cases, the standards can be applied on a limited basis in a way where it add value because it makes sense to do so. It's foolish to want to standardize everything just for the sake of doing so. Just because in some areas standardization has done wonders, it ...

When a standard is made, specially one that is meant for general use, that may include any component that may require the payment of royalties it has failed from the onset. Any standard made to use by the general public needs to be made entirely free and open, so that it can be used by all on equal terms. The moment royalties are possible, the standard is discriminating against those who can't pay since it would make that standard unusable for them. If that standard is supposed to be used by as many people or organizations as possible, it should be intrinsically open so that it can be adopted as widely as possible without having to worry possible liability of having found to be infringing of a patent or intellectual property. The standard used to make everyone using it as a base, should come without any strings attached. The moment there is even a possibility that someone owns even a part of the standard, it defeats the main reason of having that standard. In many ways...

Knowledge shouldn't be allowed to be monopolized, and need to remain open to everyone. Access to knowledge needs to be considered a basic human right, since knowledge is vital to improve not only the quality of life of the individual. It's also a way to improve the quality of life of the communities, since it allows to improve almost every aspect of life, by giving better tools and understanding of how things work. Knowledge belongs to humanity at large, and we all should not only be allowed unrestricted access to any part of it that we need. We also need to be guaranteed the ability to modify it in order to make better use of it, and to share with others freely those improvements. People, and communities, are empowered by knowledge. They become more readily able to better cope with any problem that comes their way, and to learn from their mistakes. Knowledge gives people the freedom to take on life on their own, and thus depend less on outside help to solve problems. ...

There's no valid reason why any government to spy on its citizens, specially one that prides itself of the freedoms it gives them while trying to make other governments give those same freedoms to their citizens. It strikes me as ironic, that the US government has been doing just that. A government that prides itself about how many freedoms its citizens have, has in effect being breaching those freedoms by spying without a valid reason to do so. Even the reasoning behind it, that it's fighting terrorism, is not enough for people to accept losing its privacy over it. No government has any business spying on any person without proving that it was a probable cause to believe that the person is involved in some sort of illegal activity. Such process should be transparent, and open to scrutiny by the people. The moment it's done behind the public's back, there is something intrinsically wrong with it and should be repealed. The citizens have the right to know how th...

It's both, ironic and outrageous, that many companies try to lock users on their proprietary standards in the name of compatibility. If their standard is proprietary, any one who buys into it will be locked to use that company products. That's why we need to make sure that open standards are used by all companies. This way, we can rest assured that as users we'll not be locked the products and services of a particular company. It's about our freedom to choose whatever product we want to, without having to worry about if it will be compatible with other things we have or with the devices of our friends. Open standards are vital to keep our freedoms, and rights, as users. Since open standards allow for anyone to use them, without having to develop solutions all by themselves all over again. Not only that, by the very nature of how open standards are developed, it's a lot easier for improvements to the standard to be shared and reach a wider sector of users. ...

What's needed for people to be better equipped to use the volumes of information on the Internet, are the tools that helps them to discern good from bad information. In essence, there is a need to have a better education so people do that data processing on their on. If we want the Internet really reach it's full potential, one which benefits all of us, we need to give those tools to individuals. Information in itself isn't all that useful, there is a need to be able to know how to make sense out of it in order to make it so. The ability to make sense of the information that can be accessed on the Internet is something that should be a given, since it's needed to be able widen the horizons of people and improve their quality of life. All starts with the education received from early age, we need to teach children to be critical of all information they come upon. Accepting information without first digesting it, it's detrimental not only for the individual. ...

The Internet has become so important mainly because it allows people to be social, and share what's important for them with others. It allows us to be social, to interact with others who have the same interests or share the same ideas. No matter where you go in the Internet, all is about being social and share stories with others just about anything. Even with all the advance technology we have, we all have that craving for sharing with other stories, or information, we like or find interesting. That's why the Internet has such an important part of our lives, because it allows to share or find those stories that are most interesting with friends and family. In effect, the Internet has become the fireplace where we gather around to listen, or tell stories, with other people with the same craving that us to do the same thing. We are social by nature, and the Internet gives an outlet to have a greater reach than ever before to find people to tell stories with. The pos...

Great software and hardware by themselves don't mean much, if their counter part isn't as good as the other. Some might argue that having crappy software or hardware interacting with great software and hardware can kill the whole thing. Software and hardware should be design as a single product, developed parallel to each other as much as possible. When it feels like both where design for each other, the user experience is much more pleasant. Thus, people will continue to use your products and you're more likely to create a loyal community around you. It's important to keep in mind, that both don't have to be design under the same roof to work together in a great way. It sure helps when both, software and hardware, are design that way, but it doesn't mean that you can't design great software for hardware made by others. Even the other way around is viable, it can be done if there is commitment to make it work that way. In order to have the best ...

It's hard to imagine what one can't do on the Internet, but the irony is that people often not know that the Internet as we know it is built on open technologies. If the the Internet wasn't built on those open technologies, it's impact on our world would have been much less important. Not only that, it has largely been unregulated as whole by third parties. There only have been rules of conduct enforceable on particular sites, or some particularities that affect the owner of the site. Yet, the Internet as a whole has been regulating by itself in a somewhat organic way. Basically, all technologies created for the Internet have been, some more than others, created by consensus in order to be applied by everyone that wants to be part of the Internet. More importantly, the Internet is the most visible success story for open technologies. The Internet demonstrate that open technologies are viable economically and technically, while being beneficial for a gre...

Smartphones have given us the opportunity to really be able to share with others a lot faster, and also to get information just about anything in seconds. In many ways, smartphones are step forward to making our world even smaller. More than ever, smartphones give people a chance to empower themselves and to do more to make change happen than ever before. Smartphones makes traditional power brokers to keep information to themselves, and lets people to actually get that same information to share it with others as its coming to them. People are no longer dependent on a few sources to get the information they need, or how to make use of it. We can be selective not only on the information we share, but also with who we share it with. There is less need for a middle man to handle the information we want to share, since we have the platform to do it so without the middle man. Smartphones gives us the such platform with its connectivity with the Internet. As such, we decide ...

For the looks of it, laptops and tablets will live along each other for quite some time. The smartphone being our constant companion when using a laptop or a tablet is not really that practical, or we aren't near them. The desktop computer will become a niche product, mainly used when mobility isn't necessary or it better fits the users computer needs. For most people, it would make a lot more sense to have a laptop or a tablet as their main computer. The choice between a laptop or a tablet, will be based mainly on what it's going to be used for. Each form factor has its strengths and weaknesses, laptops being more adept for working and tablets for consuming. So, which one you should get depends on what you intend to use it for. Yet, the smartphone will be the second companion for our primary device. Smartphones give us the practicability to be able to take them with us all the time, but the screen size isn't the best one to use for prolonged p...