triptych

Free and Open Source software. My life would be a much more boring and hard one without FOSS. The web is the ultimate expression of open standards. Anyone can publish apps, stories, games, and ultimately any creative work.

We have been given keys to a very bright and expansive kingdom. Let's not fritter it away by willingly submitting to arbitrary walled gardens like Facebook and Instagram.

I need to just sit down and get a site up and running. I used to be able to do this. So I can do it again.

This might be a controversial opinion, but I'm thinking that maybe having Microsoft Edge be Chromium based is a good thing for the web. And why, You say? Shouldn't there be more competition in browser engines? Shouldn't we have lot of different implementations which keep the browser vendors honest?

I am realizing that this is exactly what's going to happen.

Instead of being off in a corner trying to get developers to adopt their code and platform, Microsoft has opted to “join the team” and contribute to a major open source project. This means that they will be there if Google tries to commit code that's suspiciously biased, or will be competing on a level playing field with Chrome over features and performance. And yet, they will both be trying to make Chromium the best it can be because they both benefit, and they can use any “wins” they make to the codebase as good PR for their company.

Instead of Google being the Big Boy in the room when decisions about Chromium are made, Microsoft gets to have a say as well and can hold Google's butt to the fire when it comes to code quality and performance. Instead of seeing this as “less competition” I see this as “fiercer competition” as they both vy for developer's mindshare. And we all win when the core codebase is improved.

Google can't just pout and fork the codebase, because they will essentially be ceeding victory to Microsoft, who will be seen as the generous company coming in to help keep Chromium alive.

Also, Microsoft is betting on this codebase in other ways with Electron, Visual Studio code, and more becoming web-based (or already are).

The only loser I see here is Firefox.

They are left out in the cold while fighting for user's rights. If they could just stop stumbling over their own feet, and double down on WASM and RUST, they could really make a big impact.

STOP SCREWING UP MOZILLA! WE WANT YOU TO SUCCEED! But it's hard when you keep punching yourself in the face with Mr. Robots, Broken Plugins, etc.

Anyway, take heart. Competition is good, and what Microsoft has done is take the competition back to Chrome and to fight on a level playing field. I bet Edge will gain a big boost of users if Microsoft can keep it up and innovate on top of Chromium.

( Image by Jan Vašek from Pixabay )

Microsoft has had a number of announcements lately around OSS. They are really taking the whole idea to heart, and beginning to reap the benefits in the developer community.

Today I faced a real challenge at work while digging through some legacy code changes. But, I persisted and while adding some breakpoints, I finally tracked down the issue. With 5 mins to spare before my shuttle was to arrive.

For my projects, I'm thinking about Faeren – my project to create a conversational interface to writing a book. Trying to decide if I should use Vuejs or just poke around in vanilla javascript. Perhaps I should reuse some of the code I was writing for #ittybittyrpg.

Not too much progress today, but staying focused.

(Photo by Romain Vignes on Unsplash)

There is so much going on in the world. And even in just the web in general. It's easy to get overwhelmed. Staying focused is not easy as the next new shiny makes its best attempt at taking your attention.

I'm finding myself out on my porch on a simply amazing wonderfully beautiful day going over Godot tutorials I bought on Gumroad Specifically the course I bought called Make Professional 2d Games with Godot

Thinking about the web, Firefox, Clojure, and all the things in one kind of big mixture. I also bought Pokemon Ultra Moon 🌝 to play through with my son.

Later today I'll continue my work on One Stop for Writers as I work on the backstory for Van Ella Magic .

Stay focused! And stay peaceful.

Koji seems like a promising new way to make web apps and games. I asked them about having iframe embeds, and they implemented the feature a few days later. Very cool!

Here's a test to see if it works in Write.as

I really wish someone would release a web-based version of Godot...

Tables	Are	Cool
col 3 is	right-aligned	$1600
col 2 is	centered	$12
zebra stripes	are neat	$1

Will this work?

Markdown	Less	Pretty
Still	renders	nicely
1	2	3

How about this one?

Definition list

Is something people use sometimes.

Markdown in HTML

Does *not* work **very** well. Use HTML tags.

---

Godot is cool

This daily log thing is a trip. If you haven't done this yourself, I highly recommend it. I still haven't figured out when is the best time to write, but spending 30 mins a day and writing about what I'm working on is really helping me stay focused.

Today

Today I'm getting my systems updated as they have been offline for a while. I'm realizing that the only way I can get through these tutorials is if I allocate time specifically for them. I'm having a kind of “tutorial backup” where my list of Udemy learnings is through the roof, but this is all about setting priorities and time management.

My goal for today is to get 1 chapter of FairyKnight edited and update my LeanPub site with the change. And look over all my projects including

• the godot fan site
• the bot based story editor
• the static site for my homepage
• the One Stop for Writers data input
• my next godot tutorial + app (a web editor)

Tomorrow

So much stuff! I need a week off just to get everything going. Tomorrow is declutter the house day. I spent time on the porch last weekend and having one space clean is like an oasis in the desert.

(Photo by Anton Sulsky on Unsplash)

Today I'm working on fixing up the CSS of my current project, and I learned something really cool about the browser – as I seem to do every day. Did you know that the events focus and blur do not bubble, but that focusin and focusout do? I just learned that today – and I've been doing this for many years.

Write.as is so freaking useful. It's like being able to long form tweet, while being able to re-edit your posts!

I'm also still working on Udemy tutorials. Looking forward to getting my Warioware DIY cartridge to try out a very cool, playful game making tool.