OSUG News

My new project, the Open Source Usability Group is under way. I've gotten some great ideas on where this thing should go, and have started building the website. I just bought a domain name, osug.org, and am in the process of planning the backend. If you have any thoughts, comments, suggestions, criticisms, etc ... please feel free to let me know.

I am pretty excited about this, and if all goes as planned the Open Source community will never be the same ... muah hah hah hah hah ;)

Open Source Usability Group

I've had an idea for a website. It would be a place for the open source community to gather and exchange ideas on usability and user interface in open source software. The idea is to improve the usability of open source software, and to explore new methods of the human-computer interaction through open source software.

There are a lot of smart people with a lot of great ideas on this subject, and I would like to create a place for them to gather and exchange ideas. I would also like to create a place where open source developers can go to get ideas and feedback on their user interface.

Among the things I plan to offer are news, articles, forums, chat, project reviews, and resources.

What do you think?

Bold Moves in OSS

Where are all the bold moves in open source software? It seems that too much of our (I say our because I would like to think that I am a small part of the open source community) work on open source software is aimed at re-writing windows. So many things look, act, and smell like Windows. And well, I don't want Windows.

Not to say that there should not be interoperability with Windows, but GNU/Linux and Open Source Software is supposed to be different. There are also those who need an environment that is familiar, which is where KDE fits in. But we have the flexibility to try something new, our users are smart and adaptable, and something needs to be done.

New Domain

This site has a new domain name, joemonti.org. After being bounced around from joe.tgpr.org to jmonti.no-ip.org because of Adelphia blocking port 80, the bastards, I decided to place more emphasis on this site, instead of piggy backing off of tgpr.org. Is this a move to get rid of tgpr.org? Not likely, I've got about a year left on the registration, but who knows when that comes up for renewal.

I got a great deal on the domain name from go daddy. I also got an email address from them, joe@joemonti.org. The whole package is about half what I was paying before through Yahoo! Domains, $18/yr as opposed to $35/yr. With Yahoo it was also a pain in the ass to renew my domain, and they offered very little options. So things are looking better. Maybe I'll move tgpr.org next year if I decide to keep it.

Class Reunion

I got a piece of mail today. A piece of mail which made me feel old. Not old in the sense of time, but in the sense of being. So much has happened, so much since then has contributed to who I am now.

This mail informed me of a 5 year high school reunion. And well, I can't think of a reason not to go. I also can't think of much more to say. It is so very strange.

It should be interesting to say the least. We'll see how it goes. I am looking forward to it, but not quite sure what to expect. Maybe thats the good part :)

Site Redesign

I finally got around to finishing my site redesign, after scrapping several attempts. This one is pretty good. A bit simpler than the last, which I think is a good thing. But then again, who knows what I'll come up with next.

Well, I hope you like it, and if you have any suggestions (or if something doesnt look right) please let me know.