[ Thanks to Bryan
Morgan for this link. ]
“WDN: For starters, what are your thoughts on
emerging mobile technologies such as WAP, location-based services,
and Bluetooth? Are you excited about the possibilities? Any
reservations or doubts as to their potential?
[ESR:] I’m excited about the potential of
wireless broadband, of constantly-on Internet access that you can
carry with you. So I think Bluetooth is very cool, and I’d be
friendly to location-based services based on open stasndards. On
the other hand, I’m not thrilled by what I hear about WAP. It’s too
limited, and it’s essentially a vendor-controlled proprietary gloss
on HTTP. No thanks. Just give me TCP/IP and let me decide what I do
with it.”
“WDN: Do you use any of these technologies
yourself (i.e. Palm, WAP phone, etc.)?
[ESR:] A friend gave me a Palm III. I don’t use
it; I travel with a Sony VAIO instead. Basically, if I can’t write
code and handle email with a device, I’m not interested in carrying
it around.
“WDN: Are you still coding? If so, what tools
or products have impressed you most recently?
[ESR:] I am definitely still coding. I’m
enjoying my VAIO 505TR a lot. I’m doing a lot of hacking in Python
(the open-source scripting language for when you outgrow Perl). And
I’ve been a big fan of the Logitech line of optical trackballs;
they have true elegance.”