TPM points out that Dean might not be the Dem that's nominated at the national convention. He
lists several valid points; I'd like to add another:

To the average voter, Dean will be old news by the national convention. He
will seem like an insider and no longer the dark horse that needs to be
supported. He won't be any different than any other Dem, just “internet
enabled”. It makes me wonder if the Clark campaign is on to something. Cam
Barrett said in a Chris Lydon interview (at 9:39) “we never were out of
contention in Iowa, we just publicly said we're not going to focus on it.”
He goes on to mention the lack of funds compared to Dean, I believe setting
up the campaign to be the underdog on purpose. No, Cam is not the
spokesperson of the campaign and probaby doesn't set strategy, but it does
make me pause.

Update at : Added title and update notice, removed title from top of post since this was sent by email.

Amy Gahran via Nick:

What is RSS, and why should you care?.

Amy Gahran provides a basic overview of RSS, and why you need it.

[Nick Bradbury]

Nick mentions this nugget about CSS. It applies to life as well…

Keep CSS Simple.

Peter-Paul Koch encourages us to keep CSS simple and avoid CSS hacks.

All I can say is, “I agree.” Using CSS should simplify Web site maintenance, not complicate it. If CSS isn't simplifying your work, then you need to simplify how you're using CSS.

[Nick Bradbury]

Shareware. Last night at the Innovators presentation at the O’Reilly OS X conference, Rael Dornfest brought up the old days of Mac shareware. (I immediately thought of Anarchie and MacHTTP; there are other great examples.)

The question got me wondering about the meaning of the word shareware.

I’m not sure what it means these days. My company may be small (my wife, me, and a fierce gray tabby), and we don’t have a physical box for our product, but I don’t think of our business as being fundamentally different from larger software companies. I’ve never called NetNewsWire a shareware app (though other people have, and it doesn’t bother me.)

Three types of companies

You could break software companies down into three groups if you want. One group is the very small—companies like mine, like UserCreations and Flying Meat Software. The next group is the small companies: Bare Bones Software, the Omni Group, and so on. The last group is the large companies: Adobe, Macromedia, Apple, and so on.

What’s common to all three is that they develop and sell software. Some companies have boxes and large advertising budgets, sure, but I don’t think that’s the difference between shareware and commercial software.

You might say that there’s a difference of culture. Many small developers have weblogs, they’re open and accessible, outspoken but also good at listening. (Being good at listening is perhaps the key attribute of a successful small developer.) They are, in short, not corporate.

But the definition of shareware has traditionally had to do with how the software was distributed and not the attributes of the developer. What I think has happened is that the Internet has made even large companies shareware developers. Not long ago I downloaded Adobe Photoshop Elements, evaluated it during a demo period, then bought the software. I did the same thing with Transmit by Panic, which is a far smaller company. The experience was the same.

Is Transmit shareware? Is Photoshop Elements shareware?

Software

I prefer to think that Transmit and Photoshop Elements are, purely and simply, software. Software these days is often distributed online and has an evaluation period built in. Try before you buy. In that sense, I think the shareware model caught on all over the place, so much so that it’s now hard to talk about shareware as being different from the normal practices of software companies.

But… there clearly is something different about small developers. Something to do with weblogs and chat and talking and listening and sharing code and ideas. A community thing.

I just don’t know what to call it. Shareware community isn’t quite right (but I don’t really mind it, either). I’m not sure it needs a name, but maybe a name would be helpful? I don’t know.

Update: further reading

There are some good previous posts on this topic—here’s Buzz Andersen; here’s Slava of Unsanity: Shareware Is Dead. [inessential.com]

Starting a Business: Advice from the Trenches. Did that last “fire your boss” spam push you over the edge? Do your wish-fulfillment dreams revolve around letterhead, legal entities, and avoiding arrest for tax evasion? If you’re crazy enough to start your own business, Kevin Potts wants you to learn from his mistakes. [A List Apart: for people who make websites]