technology

After posting Why I don't like WebDAV, part 1 I got involved in a bit of email discussion with some people who are much more expert than I regarding the protocol (Kevin, Mike, Julian, Tim). I appreciate they included me, and I now know a lot more about WebDAV than I did before.

The protocol itself doesn't really suck. Rather, it's the implementations and the purposes for which it has been used, it seems. It's a bit odd in that it's a lower-level protocol for a high-level purpose. Use it for the wrong purpose, and it's like using the wrong tool.

Yesterday and today I spent a lot of time using WebDAV updating one web site, and creating another, both at hosts which use that protocol for accessing file directories on hosted sites. It has taken longer than it should have, possibly caused my Mac OS X 10.4.10 desktop to crash, and ultimately forced me to use both the shell and FTP to get permissions set right and the right files in the right places. It shouldn't be this hard. Part of the blame may lay with Mac OS's native implementation of WebDAV, but I've not seen any implementation that is better on the whole.

I came across this news release today, which describes how the Swedish Armed Forces have chosen Red Hat Linux and open source over Windows. In fact, they are replacing their existing Microsoft installations with Linux.

This is a good sign. With any luck, other NATO or EU nations will make similar choices, which will take them in the direction of being able to more easily collaborate with each other on multi-national issues, like security and anti-terrorism.

The Parallels Desktop looks like it might be just what the doctor ordered for users who want to get away from the many annoyances of Microsoft Windows, or for the Mac zealots who just need to run the one or two Windows-only applications. It's also possibly the best thing since sliced bread for software developers who want to develop in the Mac OS environment, but need to test on other Intel platforms. Parallels doesn't just provide a way to run Windows. One can virtualize FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris and even OS/2.

I had thought about titling this post “Apple's Dirty Little Secret” but decided that was a bit strong, and it's really not a secret to anyone who thinks about it.