Open data, standard formats
Simon Phipps has an excellent post on open data formats. Looking for a connection between a lot of new desktop tools, he notes:
all of these tools have worked out that lock-in is the new lock-out
And later:
injecting the network into society removes the commercial benefits previously achieved by closed behaviour […]. Truly open formats are creating the new market, and those who attempt to subvert the trend with pseudo-openness will fail.
While my sensitivity is not nearly as evolved as Mark Pilgrim’s outrage, Apple’s mostly closed data models are a doggedly nagging annoyance in my otherwise pleasant Dive Into Mac one year ago. I know where I want to go, and over time I’ll migrate my digital life into apps and formats that make me feel like the stuff is actually mine. It would be just ideal if Apple would move in this direction faster than I do, because I am so not in a place where I want to spend time doing what Fowler did here.
But how many people understand or care about open data? Far from enough to nudge Apple in a different direction I suspect.
(via t.bray)
September 2nd, 2006 at 18:31
[…] For trying to get organised, I’ve tried using Microsoft OneNote but somehow though it looked pretty cool at first, it got too messy eventually. The main advantage of OneNote would’ve been integration with the other Office products - so I’d assumed - and this was another let down (integration was very loose). Another thing is about formats. Dave as several other veterans have done earlier, reminded me of open standards - in this case, file formats. Everything in Onenote is in proprietary .one files. The biggest surprising limitation I’ve found with one note is that it dosen’t support tables. There’s a workaround but its only a poor substitute for a table. […]