Ode is simple! (Simple means that you know how it works.)

Hi.

This is the project website for Ode (pronounced oh-dee), a personal publishing engine for the web. Ode is unique in that it is designed to be simple – not necessarily easy.

Simple means understandable (at least it does here).

home > 2010 > 03 > 02

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  • Mar
  • 2010

Ode release date slips again (for the last time)

Ode release date slips again. If it's not available by the end of this week I'll give one annoyed prospective user $20.

No excuses (but also no problems). I'm just trying to make sure that there are no silly hang-ups (def: hang-up, noun informal, an emotional problem or inhibition) - that's not the meaning I intended but it's probably the right word to use :)

A first release means dealing with a number of issues that I've put off until now. I do not anticipate this sort of delay with subsequent releases, which is good because I'd bet there will quite a few of them. (Did I mention that upgrading Ode is as simple as replacing a single file?)

So here's the deal. I will have a first release of Ode available for download before 11:59pm EST this Sunday (2010/0307) OR else...

!--jump--!

...if I miss this release date I'll give away to one lucky person:

a $20 iTunes gift certificate OR a $20 amazon.com gift certificate OR some other gift certificate of their choosing (as long as purchasing it isn't especially difficult - at my discretion) OR I'll make a donation in the amount of $20 to a charity of their choice.

To be eligible:

leave a comment here, send me an email at ode.is.simple at gmail dot com, follow odeissimple on Twitter, or mention @odeissimple in a tweet.

If you've already done one of these things, consider yourself in the running.

Again, I'll pay IF I fail to have a release posted by 11:59pm EST this Sunday (2010/0307) which includes at least:

  • The script itself
  • 1 theme
  • Markdown addin
  • Installation instructions

So it's a win-win, but only for one person I suppose. For the rest of us it's win-lose as usual.

I believe, do you?

Glad to see that the folks responsible for the Mozilla Project are spending a lot of time these days thinking about the importance of the open internet.

Visitors to http://www.mozilla.org/ are greeted with this declaration:

"We believe that the internet should be public, open and accessible."

It is an introduction to a new "What is Open?" campaign, through which the Mozilla organization is encouraging it's community of participants to consider the real meaning of openness and the value of the open web.

From the 'What is an Open' page:

What does open mean to you?

We need your help in making the story of the open web crystal clear.

Tell us what an open web means to you and why you're part of this project. We're going to collect your words, photos and art to build a campaign to tell the world what open means later this year.

I'd like to extend that invitation to anyone interested this little project.

!--jump--!

Please head over to mozilla.org and let them know what the open web means to you). (Responses are limited to 500 characters or less.) Alternatively you can create a twitter post and include the hash tag #mozopen, or post to some other social networking platform. (Be sure to use the 'mozopen' as this allows tag as responses are being collected through friendfeed.)

After all this project, as well as every other site and service on the web from the humblest blog to largest commercial operations (e.g. Google, Amazon, Facebook) are only possible because of the open web. The web in turn could not exist without the open internet.

Here's my answer:

Open means freedom. Open means education. Open is accomplishment that can be shared in by all. It is the confidence and the capacity to assert one's independence. Open is the promise that one person can make a difference. Open means cooperation and collaboration. Open is an invitation. Open is at the heart of the best intentions. Open means asking a question simply for want of an answer, unencumbered by agenda or affiliation. The open internet is evidence that we can do good on a large scale.

What else can you do to encourage the continued health of the open web? Participate. Start a weblog and invest in your own online presence. Through your site, you can share with friends and family, connect with others to discuss topics of interest to you, and interact with online services. Before you continue to invest your time and effort in a single site like Facebook (which benefits from the open web but is not itself especially open), keep in mind that the web itself is a global social networking platform.

The goal of this project to to help you become a full active, full-fledged member of the read/write web.